Ground rod for the XO on a transformer in a marina

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Boat211

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Tell me if any of you have seen this before. At a marina there is a transformer on the dock. This marina is 20 years old. The majority of this hookup looks pretty standard. The one item that seems rather odd to me is the ground rod for XO. The ground rod is attached to the dock and just dangling down into the water with a bare conductor from the ground rod back to the XO lug. :confused:
 
It wouldn't meet code 250.53(G), but if this is a salt water marina and the rod stays below the surface at low tide and is in a place where it is protected from damage, it probably would work well.
 
sandsnow said:
This gotta be joke right? Can anyone be that unknowledgeable?

I didn't look in Chapter 5. Are xfmr's even allowed on docks?
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i think he was asking if anyone ever seen it. were here to teach and learn ourselves. dont be mean to him. i installed a few transformers next to docks before and never had a problem. they were not actually on the wooden dock just right near the water inside of a wooden shed. it was wired up to code and worked fine with no problem at all
 
sandsnow said:
This gotta be joke right? Can anyone be that unknowledgeable?

I didn't look in Chapter 5. Are xfmr's even allowed on docks?
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Transformers are very common on marina docks. The fact that 555.4 permits the voltage on the docks to be up to 600 volts implies the use of transformers and there is nothing in the Article that prohibits them.
 
how do you handle the GEC, on dock transformer that is lets say 50 ft from shore, the dock would be treated as a separate structure and run a GEC back to land and drive a couple ground rods?
 
mpd said:
how do you handle the GEC, on dock transformer that is lets say 50 ft from shore, the dock would be treated as a separate structure and run a GEC back to land and drive a couple ground rods?
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Yes, but with some dock designs there are metal pipes driving in to the earth below the dock that may be suitable for use as grounding electrodes.
 
thanks don,

what if you had 5 floating docks (wood & wood pilings) all connected to a fixed dock that had a distribution panelboard that fed a transformer on the end of each dock, the DP would need a GEC and all the transformers would have to connect to that GEC
 
mpd said:
thanks don,

what if you had 5 floating docks (wood & wood pilings) all connected to a fixed dock that had a distribution panelboard that fed a transformer on the end of each dock, the DP would need a GEC and all the transformers would have to connect to that GEC
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If the docks are very close to each other that should be ok, but if they are spaced out I think each dock would need its own grounding electrode at the shore end of the docks.
 
electricalperson said:
i think he was asking if anyone ever seen it. were here to teach and learn ourselves. dont be mean to him. i installed a few transformers next to docks before and never had a problem. they were not actually on the wooden dock just right near the water inside of a wooden shed. it was wired up to code and worked fine with no problem at all
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My comment was not meant toward the OP, but the person who came before him.

My apologies if it was taken wrong
 
sandsnow said:
My comment was not meant toward the OP, but the person who came before him.

My apologies if it was taken wrong
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i apologize too didnt realize it. well just as long as his equipment were above the electrica datum plane then i believe its too code

and 12 inches above the deck according to article 555
 
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