gimmeshocktreatment
Member
- Location
- Michigan
- Occupation
- restaurateur
Reusing a directtv mast on attached garage for a small yagi. Coax and mast bonded to a single grounding block at base of the mast. Coax and a single #14 grounding wire (from coax block) enter home through attic vent. Ground wire is cut 10" long inside the attic, no evidence of anything it may have previously been grounded to.
Electrical service and ground rod way over on other side of the roof (60ft) and 2 storeys down, can't relocate antenna because of line of sight. House also has a grounded water main also nowhere near antenna, no spigots either.
I want to drop two #10 or #8 exterior grounds straight down to a NEW ground rod, but can't bond the new rod with #6 (as is code) to the original service because of the long distance and that the only route passes through paved parking, a driveway and the front walkway.
Here's the twist- auxiliary grounding electrode, but not what you're thinking.
In the attached garage is an unused subpanel fed from a 50A breaker at the main panel, previous owner was growing weed in the garage so they installed a 125A capable subpanel but only fed by 50A. All of the guts of the subpanel were removed by the previous owners as a condition of the sale. What remains, is the empty subpanel and the #1/0 aluminum quad feed from the main panel. The neutral is isolated.
The line goes up one storey into the attic, 60 feet through the attic to the other side of the house, where it exits the exterior wall goes down 2 storeys and reenters through the wall and into the main breaker panel in the basement.
Question: Can I use the NEW grounding rod as an auxiliary grounding electrode to ground the antenna, hooking into the garage subpanel with #6, so that now my extra grounding rod is hooked into the houses ground?
There will be no power coming to the subpanel as the 50A breaker at the main panel is shut off, I'll basically be using like 88 feet of #1/0 grounding wire and nothing else. I'm hoping I can now use the NEW grounding rod without worrying about potential difference with the original rod to ground the antenna coax and mast to the NEW rod. Also since there is no longer electrical service to the subpanel I don't think I'll need to worry about frying anything because any discharge from the antenna will be fed directly to the NEW rod, bypassing the subpanel entirely.
Seems there is a lot of leeway in the NEC about using a auxiliary grounding electrode, even though most times they are unnecessary. But this might actually be an occasion where it serves a purpose.
Crazy? Absolutely code violating and dangerous? Or something to consider doing as it seems to follow code but kinda works around it in ways?
Thanks for any help.
Electrical service and ground rod way over on other side of the roof (60ft) and 2 storeys down, can't relocate antenna because of line of sight. House also has a grounded water main also nowhere near antenna, no spigots either.
I want to drop two #10 or #8 exterior grounds straight down to a NEW ground rod, but can't bond the new rod with #6 (as is code) to the original service because of the long distance and that the only route passes through paved parking, a driveway and the front walkway.
Here's the twist- auxiliary grounding electrode, but not what you're thinking.
In the attached garage is an unused subpanel fed from a 50A breaker at the main panel, previous owner was growing weed in the garage so they installed a 125A capable subpanel but only fed by 50A. All of the guts of the subpanel were removed by the previous owners as a condition of the sale. What remains, is the empty subpanel and the #1/0 aluminum quad feed from the main panel. The neutral is isolated.
The line goes up one storey into the attic, 60 feet through the attic to the other side of the house, where it exits the exterior wall goes down 2 storeys and reenters through the wall and into the main breaker panel in the basement.
Question: Can I use the NEW grounding rod as an auxiliary grounding electrode to ground the antenna, hooking into the garage subpanel with #6, so that now my extra grounding rod is hooked into the houses ground?
There will be no power coming to the subpanel as the 50A breaker at the main panel is shut off, I'll basically be using like 88 feet of #1/0 grounding wire and nothing else. I'm hoping I can now use the NEW grounding rod without worrying about potential difference with the original rod to ground the antenna coax and mast to the NEW rod. Also since there is no longer electrical service to the subpanel I don't think I'll need to worry about frying anything because any discharge from the antenna will be fed directly to the NEW rod, bypassing the subpanel entirely.
Seems there is a lot of leeway in the NEC about using a auxiliary grounding electrode, even though most times they are unnecessary. But this might actually be an occasion where it serves a purpose.
Crazy? Absolutely code violating and dangerous? Or something to consider doing as it seems to follow code but kinda works around it in ways?
Thanks for any help.
