K8MHZ
Senior Member
- Occupation
- Electrician
I will ask this to the inspector next time I see him, but he did something I don't quite understand. This guy is very knowledgeable about the code.
This occured at an inspection of an existing residence. At one time, residence used well water for the entire water service. City water became available (long time ago, still metal pipe) and house is now connected to city water. Well and pump remained in service for outside / sprinkler use. Well point all metal, likely 20 feet or so down and was used as the grounding electrode. The pipe from the pump was no longer continuous to the rest of the metal water pipe. The inspector made the EC remove the electrode conductor from the pipe for the the well system and made him connect a new one to the city water side.
Now, I can understand why the city water service is required to be used as the electrode, what I don't understand is why the pump and associated metal piping are not bonded to the rest of the metal water pipes served by the city system. This could be done very easily as the two systems are only inches from each other. The way it is now, the only grounding conductor to the well is through the 12 AWG Romex that runs the pump.
One thing I should point out is that the pump and well are both in the basement. For the well system, no metal water pipe comes from outside the house to the inside, unless you count the well below the floor to be outside. The water gets from the well to the outside through a spigot and that is never under ground.
This is a 100 amp service. In my mind, the two metal water systems should be bonded together with the same size conductor as the city system needs for bonding, a #4 I believe. I see the metal well as being as good as an electrode as the city system and capable as carrying as much fault current to the earth as the city system, therefore (to me) the 12 AWG would be insufficient as the only means to bond the pump and related piping. Even if we disregard the low impedance earth connection, the metal pipe is still exposed metal likely to become energized (by virtue of the 120 VAC at the pump).
Now, Don, the inspector is a walking code book and is usually, if not always, right.
So I am thinking I am missing something......
Thanks for the feedback in advance.
This occured at an inspection of an existing residence. At one time, residence used well water for the entire water service. City water became available (long time ago, still metal pipe) and house is now connected to city water. Well and pump remained in service for outside / sprinkler use. Well point all metal, likely 20 feet or so down and was used as the grounding electrode. The pipe from the pump was no longer continuous to the rest of the metal water pipe. The inspector made the EC remove the electrode conductor from the pipe for the the well system and made him connect a new one to the city water side.
Now, I can understand why the city water service is required to be used as the electrode, what I don't understand is why the pump and associated metal piping are not bonded to the rest of the metal water pipes served by the city system. This could be done very easily as the two systems are only inches from each other. The way it is now, the only grounding conductor to the well is through the 12 AWG Romex that runs the pump.
One thing I should point out is that the pump and well are both in the basement. For the well system, no metal water pipe comes from outside the house to the inside, unless you count the well below the floor to be outside. The water gets from the well to the outside through a spigot and that is never under ground.
This is a 100 amp service. In my mind, the two metal water systems should be bonded together with the same size conductor as the city system needs for bonding, a #4 I believe. I see the metal well as being as good as an electrode as the city system and capable as carrying as much fault current to the earth as the city system, therefore (to me) the 12 AWG would be insufficient as the only means to bond the pump and related piping. Even if we disregard the low impedance earth connection, the metal pipe is still exposed metal likely to become energized (by virtue of the 120 VAC at the pump).
Now, Don, the inspector is a walking code book and is usually, if not always, right.
So I am thinking I am missing something......
Thanks for the feedback in advance.
Thanks, I'll watch for your answer when you get it.