Grounding electrode conductor vs EGC vs Bonding jumpers

[WorstJobIveEverBeenOn]

I'm kind of confused on the terminology of what is a grounding electrode conductor is and where it becomes an EGC, bonding jumper or if its all a GEC.

For example, If I go from my ground rod and run up a column setting a ground terminal bus bar on each floor, then go from my GTB to ground a pipe on the roof, would every conductor connecting each of these points be referred to as a grounding electrode conductor. Or does the wire become a bonding jumper or EGC when I go from the GTB to the pipe?

In my head, the grounding electrode conductor is the connections between building steel and the ground rod and all my connections for equipment, pipes, floor pedestals, ETC tied back into the GTB would be bonding jumpers or EGCs. Any help clarifying this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[infinity]

The GEC would be the conductor to the electrode from the service neutral. Any conductors after that interconnecting other electrodes would be bonding jumpers. EGC'S have no real role in the GES.

 

[LPS]

I certainly wouldn't be able to answer your question very well, as I find the use of the word "bonding" in the NEC to be a little confusing myself. I've been dabbling in 250 part V and part VI recently and they seem to cover different topics, but they also seem to overlap a bit. I advise everyone in the electrical trade to take the course on Bonding and Grounding. Nobody is going to be able to properly answer all your questions here, and it certainly isn't going to happen on the job. I'm a little rusty, but the information in that course answered a lot of questions I didn't even know I had. :}

 

[jaggedben]

Nec definitions:

Grounding Conductor, Equipment (EGC). The conductive path installed to connect normally non–currentcarrying metal parts of equipment together and to the system grounded conductor or to the grounding electrode, or both.

IN No. 1: It is recognized that the equipment grounding conductor also performs bonding.

Grounding Electrode Conductor. A conductor used to connect the system grounded conductor or the equipment to a grounding electrode or to a point on the grounding electrode system.

Bonding Jumper. A reliable conductor to ensure the required electrical conductivity between metal parts required to be electrically connected.

Bonding Jumper, Equipment. The connection between two or more portions of the equipment grounding conductor.

Bonding Jumper, Main. The connection between the grounded circuit conductor and the equipment grounding conductor at the service.

 

[jaggedben]

EGC and GEC meet at the main service panel (or separately derived system) where they both typically connect to the grounded conductor (i.e. the neutral, almost always).

 

[WorstJobIveEverBeenOn]

Thank you for the responses.

Grounding Electrode. A conducting object through which a direct connection to earth is established.
-So, this isn't meaning the actual object that's making the connection to earth i.e. the rod. But essentially every grounding bus bar would be considered a grounding electrode?

So if I'm understanding this right, the rod (electrode) connected to a series of ground terminal boxes (all electrodes) then connected to the lug on the pipe (electrode) and every conductor connecting them would be a GEC. And the split happens at the main service, everything before that and everything having to do with the building grounding not directly pertaining to power distribution is a part of grounding electrode system.

So, would the ground bus bars in sub panels still be considered a grounding electrode and the connection between the sub and main ground bars would be a bonding jumper?

 

[jaggedben]

Thank you for the responses.

Grounding Electrode. A conducting object through which a direct connection to earth is established.
-So, this isn't meaning the actual object that's making the connection to earth i.e. the rod. But essentially every grounding bus bar would be considered a grounding electrode?

So if I'm understanding this right, the rod (electrode) connected to a series of ground terminal boxes (all electrodes) then connected to the lug on the pipe (electrode) and every conductor connecting them would be a GEC. And the split happens at the main service, everything before that and everything having to do with the building grounding not directly pertaining to power distribution is a part of grounding electrode system.

So, would the ground bus bars in sub panels still be considered a grounding electrode and the connection between the sub and main ground bars would be a bonding jumper?

No. The electrode is only the actual thing(s) in the earth, such as a rod. The grounding electrode conductor is the wire that connects the electrode(s) to the grounded service conductor, i.e. the neutral.

The wire between main and sub ground bars is an Equipment Grounding Conductor.

 

[WorstJobIveEverBeenOn]

Okay so my real question is about building grounding:

-Ground ring>Ground rod>column mounted GTB>Miscellaneous pipes, tools, steel that needs to be grounded
- The GTB that is grounding the pipes/tools is daisy chained between multiple floors with a column mounted bar on each floor before it gets back to the rod

-From the ground bus bar in GTB to the lug on the pipe clamp on the gas line located on roof. What would be the proper term for the insulated conductor bonding the gas line to the bar in the GTB? a GEC, EGC, or a bonding jumper?

The argument I am having is over job spec stating the grounding electrode conductors need to be ran in PVC. I interpret this to mean conductors tying the rod and the GTBs together are the GECs.

-Their interpretation is that everything is a grounding electrode and everything is a GEC.
-Because of their interpretation this would mean I would have to reroute the grounding conductor out of the cable tray, run PVC on the bottom of the trapezes holding the tray, punch a hole in the building, 4 point saddle under the framing for the block out for the tray, seal the hole in the side of the building with a PVC pipe going through it then follow the tray path all the way back to the GTB which is full of offsets and 90s forcing me to have set pull boxes all over the place in order to fulfill their spec requirement. I feel that this is incorrect, but I also could just be wrong.

 

[roger]

Job specs do not have to be inline with codes. The specs were part of the bid documents and the AE can enforce them.

As far as GEC's verses Jumpers here is a small illustration.



250.64(F) might help as well.

 

[infinity]

The argument I am having is over job spec stating the grounding electrode conductors need to be ran in PVC. I interpret this to mean conductors tying the rod and the GTBs together are the GECs.

The GEC basically goes from the neutral in the service to the electrode or to a ground bus if you're using one. Everything after that is a bonding jumper as shown in Roger's graphic.