Grounding a pneumatic driven hydraulic pump

[masterelect1]

I have never seen or heard of this BUT on the inspection job I am now involved with the plans call for a driven ground rod with #4/0 GEC to ground the above mentioned pump which is of course not an electrical piece of equipment. Also, the plans call for the GEC to continue on to system ground!?
This installation is in a heavy lift equipment repair garage.
My reaction is that since this is not an elect piece of equipment that I don't care about the ground rod/GEC except the part that wants to tie this into system ground.
Has anyone seen or dealt with this circumstance?

Thanks, John

 

[barbeer]

Sounds like a pure safety measure to me. Maybe the manuf. or PE could enlighten you/us!:smile:

 

[Psychojohn]

Pneumaticaly driven pumps tend to develope static electricity. We ground all of our pumps we use to pump solvent.

 

[GeorgeB]

Pneumatically driven pumps tend to develop static electricity. We ground all of our pumps we use to pump solvent.

I agree about the static charge. This grounding would be equally important in a vehicle garage as the fuel may be ignited by a spark.

In the installations I have been involved with, the hydraulic tubing or pipe has always been conductive, and is usually decently grounded, by luck, in general construction practices. If not, whether code or not, it would be good practice. Energy is very low, so if protected from damage, wire size is immaterial. Most hydraulic hoses, unless colored orange, have enough conductivity to dissipate static charges if "earthed" somewhere.

 

[masterelect1]

System Ground

System Ground

I understand the static electricity concern as was explained previously, but my main concern is that the plans reference continuing on to the "system ground". I would think a ground rod or building steel with a GEC to the pump casing would be sufficient to discharge any static build up to the earth.

Thanks,
John