Pole ground

[ptonsparky]

Noticed that some of the pole grounds were broken on the utilities feed to a customer. Other poles had no ground, while some just jumpered to the guy wires attached to the anchors.

What is typical for a rural area?

 

[K8MHZ]

Are there many goats in the area?

 

[ptonsparky]

Whoooooossh!
:-?

 

[mdshunk]

Every utility has their own rules and standards on that. Some put a down ground on every pole, some do every third span, and some only do the poles that have equipment on them. Regardless, guys are always bonded to the system.

 

[ptonsparky]

Are the guys used instead of, or as the pole ground?

 

[mdshunk]

Are the guys used instead of, or as the pole ground?

They're not supposed to be. They're just bonded. On poles that feature both down grounds and guys, they're both connected.

 

[charlie]

Are the guys used instead of, or as the pole ground?

They're not supposed to be. They're just bonded. On poles that feature both down grounds and guys, they're both connected.

Actually, the guys are normally required by the NESC to be bonded but sometimes they are permitted to be insulated with fiberglass sticks (porcelain in times past). Guys are never permitted to be used for grounding.

Pole grounds are required by the NESC to be installed at the rate of four per mile and at every place where necessitated by the installation of lightning arresters and some equipment. Customer grounding is not permitted to be counted to get the four grounds per mile.

My above statements assume a multi-grounded system neutral for the electric utility's distribution system and that the NESC applies in their area.

 

[mivey]

In general, per NESC 096.C (Multi-Grounded Systems), the NESC requires the neutral to have at least 4 grounds per mile plus one at each transformer.

[edit: sorry charlie, you had already given a better answer]

 

[charlie]

[edit: sorry charlie, you had already given a better answer]

No problem, but you had a good answer also (mine was just longer) :smile:.