Greetings!
I've been lurking here long enough to know that it is time to put on my asbestos suit before asking this question.
So. The long and the short of it is that I'm renting a new (to me) house. It is littered with 3-prong outlets, none of which are grounded. (And thankfully, none of which have the neutral tied to ground at the outlet -- according to my meter, anyway.)
I understand the safety ramifications of this, and will be using plug-in GFCIs as appropriate for my own safety, and I live here alone so I do not have anyone else to worry about. GFCI outlets are already installed in locations where it would be appropriate for them to normally be.
However, I need a good ground for EMI/RFI filtering/shielding and surge protection for my AV gear equipment in the living room, and the computer gear and test equipment in my office. Two branch circuits.
There is no ground rod installed in the immediate vicinity of the service entrance, though there is one at the telco demarc just around the corner from there.
At first, I wanted to home-run two 12AWG wires from the ground lugs on my surge protectors and UPS to the communications ground at the telco demarc, as the location of that existing rod is good (it is near where the water falls from the roof above, so the soil should be nice and moist there much of the time).
However, it occurs to me that doing this by itself may allow potential and/or current to develop between the telco ground and neutral (which is presumptively referenced to ground at the pole and/or the transformer), and that this potential must be mitigated lest my EMI/RFI ground become a potential path for lightning (or other static discharge)...through my equipment. Which, of course, is bad. Doubly-bad because I use DSL (actually, that part is already bad for lightning season and common-mode voltage spikes).
So the neutral and the ground need tied together somewhere upstream. Options that seem obvious to me:
1. Install a small bus bar inside of the panel (tek screws), run 6 AWG copper wire from said bus bar to both the neutral bar and to the communications ground external to the house (probably shallowly-buried along the foundation).
2. Install a new ground rod nearer to the service entrance (easy enough -- I've got tools for that and the parts are cheap). Install bus bar and home-runs of 12AWG copper and 6 AWG copper bonds as in option 1.
3. Instead of bonding ground and neutral in the panel box, do so in the meter base. (I only mention this option because it will be much, much easier... but it defies all of my basic sensibilities. OTOH, the meter base is quite new, and the panel is quite old, and I dread to see what is inside of the latter. I've got no issues yanking the meter out of there and doing this work, if that is a reasonable approach.)
4. Sue my landlord because he's a dolt. :lol: (Actually, the landlord is a pretty nice guy who likes to learn new things. When I tell him what my plan is, he'll either not care, lend a hand, or take the ball and run with it. But first, I need a plan to present to him, because that's just how I operate.)
5. You tell me.
(Disclaimers: There is no residential building code in this area, and therefore no requirement to follow NEC :jawdrop:. I'm reasonably well-versed in RF lightning-protection grounds, and avoiding ground loops, due to my day jobs (wherein Motorola R56 is my bible). I mention 12 and 6 AWG copper because I already have some laying around that would seem to be appropriate, but am open to suggestions as to best practices. And I'm now wearing my asbestos suit.)
I've been lurking here long enough to know that it is time to put on my asbestos suit before asking this question.
So. The long and the short of it is that I'm renting a new (to me) house. It is littered with 3-prong outlets, none of which are grounded. (And thankfully, none of which have the neutral tied to ground at the outlet -- according to my meter, anyway.)
I understand the safety ramifications of this, and will be using plug-in GFCIs as appropriate for my own safety, and I live here alone so I do not have anyone else to worry about. GFCI outlets are already installed in locations where it would be appropriate for them to normally be.
However, I need a good ground for EMI/RFI filtering/shielding and surge protection for my AV gear equipment in the living room, and the computer gear and test equipment in my office. Two branch circuits.
There is no ground rod installed in the immediate vicinity of the service entrance, though there is one at the telco demarc just around the corner from there.
At first, I wanted to home-run two 12AWG wires from the ground lugs on my surge protectors and UPS to the communications ground at the telco demarc, as the location of that existing rod is good (it is near where the water falls from the roof above, so the soil should be nice and moist there much of the time).
However, it occurs to me that doing this by itself may allow potential and/or current to develop between the telco ground and neutral (which is presumptively referenced to ground at the pole and/or the transformer), and that this potential must be mitigated lest my EMI/RFI ground become a potential path for lightning (or other static discharge)...through my equipment. Which, of course, is bad. Doubly-bad because I use DSL (actually, that part is already bad for lightning season and common-mode voltage spikes).
So the neutral and the ground need tied together somewhere upstream. Options that seem obvious to me:
1. Install a small bus bar inside of the panel (tek screws), run 6 AWG copper wire from said bus bar to both the neutral bar and to the communications ground external to the house (probably shallowly-buried along the foundation).
2. Install a new ground rod nearer to the service entrance (easy enough -- I've got tools for that and the parts are cheap). Install bus bar and home-runs of 12AWG copper and 6 AWG copper bonds as in option 1.
3. Instead of bonding ground and neutral in the panel box, do so in the meter base. (I only mention this option because it will be much, much easier... but it defies all of my basic sensibilities. OTOH, the meter base is quite new, and the panel is quite old, and I dread to see what is inside of the latter. I've got no issues yanking the meter out of there and doing this work, if that is a reasonable approach.)
4. Sue my landlord because he's a dolt. :lol: (Actually, the landlord is a pretty nice guy who likes to learn new things. When I tell him what my plan is, he'll either not care, lend a hand, or take the ball and run with it. But first, I need a plan to present to him, because that's just how I operate.)
5. You tell me.
(Disclaimers: There is no residential building code in this area, and therefore no requirement to follow NEC :jawdrop:. I'm reasonably well-versed in RF lightning-protection grounds, and avoiding ground loops, due to my day jobs (wherein Motorola R56 is my bible). I mention 12 and 6 AWG copper because I already have some laying around that would seem to be appropriate, but am open to suggestions as to best practices. And I'm now wearing my asbestos suit.)
