Light Poles Grounding

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MV DM

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Denver, CO
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Contractor
Does the NEC require new light poles on existing older caissons to be connected to a ground rod? They are bonded to the equipment grounding conductor.
 

4x4dually

Senior Member
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Stillwater, OK
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Electrical Engineer/ Ex-Electrician
Holt has a nice video on that subject...and he "really likes them extra ground rods." [/sarcasm] LOL
 

Hv&Lv

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-
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I don’t know any specific code that requires one.
Manufacturers used to and some drawings show them but I think they are mostly cookie cutter drawings.
Besides, and steel poles that are connected to anchor bolts in a concrete foundation and grounded to the EGC already have an extra “grounding point”
 

Charged

Senior Member
Location
Ohio
Occupation
Electrical Designer
The first time I removed the ground rod and connection from a detail to make things cheaper , the plans reviewer made me add it back. Literally my first attempt at not providing one. I’m just leaving it from now on. I tried.
 

tom baker

First Chief Moderator
Staff member
Ground rods are installed as that’s the way it’s been done.
But…it may of been done as up until 1970 there was not the emphasis on circuits having an EGC. Before then it was grounding. Until recently, the title of article 250 was “grounding”.
 

don_resqcapt19

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Location
Illinois
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retired electrician
240.4(A)(1) Electrical System Grounding.
Electrical systems that are grounded shall be connected to earth in a manner that will limit the voltage imposed by lightning, line surges, or unintentional contact with higher-voltage lines and that will stabilize the voltage to earth during normal operation.
 

jap

Senior Member
Occupation
Electrician
They do not serve any purpose with respect to lightning at all.
I guess if you didn't connect the end of a grounding electrode conductor to an actual grounding electrode in the earth such as a ground rod or the like, no it wouldn't.

JAP>
 

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
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engineer
240.4(A)(1) Electrical System Grounding.
Electrical systems that are grounded shall be connected to earth in a manner that will limit the voltage imposed by lightning, line surges, or unintentional contact with higher-voltage lines and that will stabilize the voltage to earth during normal operation.
It seems highly unlikely that the electrical system would be grounded at each pole. That would be a code violation.

.
 

jap

Senior Member
Occupation
Electrician
It seems highly unlikely that the electrical system would be grounded at each pole. That would be a code violation.

.

A ground rod driven at a pole light and connected to the equipment grounding conductor pulled to and connected to that pole is not re-grounding the system.

JAP>
 

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
A ground rod driven at a pole light and connected to the equipment grounding conductor pulled to and connected to that pole is not re-grounding the system.

JAP>
No, it is not. The provision that was quoted in a previous post though does refer to connecting the electrical system to ground 250.4(A)(1), and nothing directly to do with the EGC.
 
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