Location of ground rods?

[GerryB]

I pulled a permit today for an upcoming service. This service the meter is on the side of the garage, then conduit around the garage and breezeway and down the side of the house and into the basement and the panel about two feet in, so no need for an outside disconnect. So in talking to the EI I said I was going to put the rods right where I enter the house, close to the panel. He said the rods have to be at the meter, (is he making that up?) which means I have to run 50 more feet of ground wire to get there. Any code section on location of rods?

 

[iwire]

I pulled a permit today for an upcoming service. This service the meter is on the side of the garage, then conduit around the garage and breezeway and down the side of the house and into the basement and the panel about two feet in, so no need for an outside disconnect. So in talking to the EI I said I was going to put the rods right where I enter the house, close to the panel. He said the rods have to be at the meter, (is he making that up?) which means I have to run 50 more feet of ground wire to get there. Any code section on location of rods?

The NEC allows the GEC to be connected to the grounded conductor anywhere between the point of connection to the utility all the way to the service disconnecting means enclosure.

In other words, assuming the power company allows it you can put the rods near the meter and run the GEC into the meter enclosure.

As far as the location of the rods themselves the NEC does not say where to locate them so either the EI is making stuff up or he knows the local power company requires rods at the meter.

 

[Cavie]

Some POCO's don't allow meter connections. Ask you inspector how he would deal with that.