I've never done a service on a house with a well. With city water i bring the ground to where the water line comes in and i put a jumper to the other side of the meter, as well as putting the usual jumper on the hot water heater pipes, and the ground wire to the ground rods. Now if the house has a well do i still run the wire over and ground where the water line comes into the basement? Its also about 100 ft away from where the panel is.
Water pipe bond for well?
- Thread starter tataco84
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- Occupation
- Licensed Electrician
Oops, misread the question.
your referring to the circuit for the water pump? if so thats not what I'm referring to. I'm talking about the grounding electrode you typically install from the panel to within 5 feet of the water pipes entrance into the building
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- Occupation
- Licensed Electrician
You are right. I misread your question the first time.
If the water line is metal and qualifies as a grounding electrode then yes you would run the proper size grounding electrode conductor to it. Most of the well water lines I have seen are plastic, that may regional thing though.
GerryB
Senior Member
- Location
- woodbridge, ct. USA
Probably up to your AHJ. Around here I have done just ground rods on a new house with all plastic plumbing. On existing if there are copper lines the closest cold water line. Have also run to the breather pipe on the well on a revamp because that was how the old one was, and finally to the conduit going to the well if it's not plastic.
ok guess ill see if i can get an answer from the ahj.. the house has metal piping now to the well (its an older house getting gutted and redone, but they won't be running a new line to the well).. the current panel has a ground going outside to ground rods and another going right to the copper water pipe running through the joists
- Occupation
- Licensed Electrician
That was legal at the time the house was built but now you are required to bond the water line within the first five feet of it entering the building because of the likelihood that any plumbing repairs or modifications will be done with PEX.
Makes sense, Thanks !
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
The piping from the well is metal and qualifies as a grounding electrode? If yes then as Dave stated you need to connect the GEC to it within 5' of its entrance into the structure.
For clarity try to remember that the word ground is generic and somewhat ambiguous. Try to use the proper code term of grounding electrode conductor (GEC) it makes answering questions easier.
We still have a number of well installations in this area although few have metallic piping. For those that do, the practice, based on 250.52, has been to bond the service to the interior piping within 5 ft of its (the piping) entrance to the structure and to bond the water pipe to the well casing if its a metallic casing.
1964element
Senior Member
- Location
- Chicago
Ground rods
Ufer grounds
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Ufer grounds
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K8MHZ
Senior Member
- Occupation
- Electrician
My own house has a well with metal pipe from the pump (in the house) to the well point. My area has hundreds of homes like that.
My bond is done a few inches from the inside wall. Metal well and piping all the way to a well point is just about the best grounding electrode one could get. That being said, it can carry much more current than a ground rod so the electrode conductor will need to be larger.
My bond is done a few inches from the inside wall. Metal well and piping all the way to a well point is just about the best grounding electrode one could get. That being said, it can carry much more current than a ground rod so the electrode conductor will need to be larger.
junkhound
Senior Member
- Location
- Renton, WA
- Occupation
- EE, power electronics specialty
If not for your own house, simply follow code as others have advised.
FWIW, On my own home, where the first 40 ft is steel pipe, I was kworried about electrolytic corrosion over time as I have lived here 45 years and hope for another 20 or so.
Thus, I put a mA meter on the ground to the well casing (2 AWG in my case as I had a spare spool) and for normal operation (e.g no lightning or shrt circuit transients) I balanced the grounds (conc encased electrode in house) by adding or subtracting wire between main panel and the 4 dirrenet ground Ihave on differte buildings and the well so that the normal (non-fault) current to the well casing is less than 2 mA (my own arbitrary number based on 50 year corrosion possibility)
Worked on some Titanium and Aluminum saltwater boats in the past where we had a special active current sensor to 'zero' out hull currents.
FWIW, On my own home, where the first 40 ft is steel pipe, I was kworried about electrolytic corrosion over time as I have lived here 45 years and hope for another 20 or so.
Thus, I put a mA meter on the ground to the well casing (2 AWG in my case as I had a spare spool) and for normal operation (e.g no lightning or shrt circuit transients) I balanced the grounds (conc encased electrode in house) by adding or subtracting wire between main panel and the 4 dirrenet ground Ihave on differte buildings and the well so that the normal (non-fault) current to the well casing is less than 2 mA (my own arbitrary number based on 50 year corrosion possibility)
Worked on some Titanium and Aluminum saltwater boats in the past where we had a special active current sensor to 'zero' out hull currents.
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