Grounding to Meter or Service

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benmt

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I'm upgrading my GEC because the current one that was installed before I bought my house is undersized and they used THHN stranded wire run underground to the ground rod in EMT. I dug it up last night and there wasn't much of the EMT left.

I now have added another ground rod about 12' apart from the other one connected together in series by a #4 bare copper and I'm running a #4 bare wire to were my copper water main comes into the house to my service . The previous GEC from the ground rod was connected at the meter, but wouldn't connecting it at the service be a better option? Let's just say you don't have the option of a water line and the neutral for some reason becomes loose or breaks between the service and the meter. Wouldn't having the ground rod connected in the meter be useless if you lost that conductor in that situation? Where would your path to ground be since it was dependent on the neutral wire? I'm just trying to make this the safest system that I can.

Or maybe I'm over thinking this



Thanks
Ben
 
I think you are over thinking it. IMO the meter is a better place to land the GEC, if your main is inside the house you are simply inviting a lightning event to come inside. If you lost the neutral connection anywhere at or before the main you will have the same situation whether the connection is in the meter or the main enclosure. The GEC (earthing) connection is mainly for Lightning and HV surges, the earth is not there for an intentional current path at our voltage levels.

Roger
 
Thanks for the reply. What you said made a lot of sense.

As for the water line, I have a new ground going to were the copper main enters the house. The old ground was connected to the water pipe across the about 25' from the main. Is it alright to leave the old one? The main is copper and the rest is galvanized. I've heard you can ground the water pipes as many times as you want and I've also heard that it should only be grounded at the main.
 
I would leave the old water connection in place and not bother with a connection at the house.

Roger
 
benmt said:
I'm upgrading my GEC because the current one that was installed before I bought my house is undersized and they used THHN stranded wire run underground to the ground rod in EMT. I dug it up last night and there wasn't much of the EMT left.

I now have added another ground rod about 12' apart from the other one connected together in series by a #4 bare copper and I'm running a #4 bare wire to were my copper water main comes into the house to my service . The previous GEC from the ground rod was connected at the meter, but wouldn't connecting it at the service be a better option? Let's just say you don't have the option of a water line and the neutral for some reason becomes loose or breaks between the service and the meter. Wouldn't having the ground rod connected in the meter be useless if you lost that conductor in that situation? Where would your path to ground be since it was dependent on the neutral wire? I'm just trying to make this the safest system that I can.

Or maybe I'm over thinking this



Thanks
Ben
Click to expand...

The fact that it is stranded or has insulation (as long as it is removed at connections) makes no difference. Running in a metal raceway does create some inductive problems that are resolved by bonding the conductor to the ends of the raceway. EMT in the ground just doesn't last very long in most cases, though there may be ways to do so that comply with codes.

As others have said, a grounding electrode is not there to replace a neutral if it fails, it is there to absorb transients from lightning or other power line events.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I'm still going to run a new wire to the water main where it enters the house. I just don't like the way they have the old one. It's #10 and at one point it is spliced with a wire nut. I'll still leave it up though.

Thanks

Ben
 
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