pasadena_commut
Well-Known Member
Hi all,
My house currently has galvanized pipes everywhere. The electrical service has a ground which runs down the wall from the breaker box and clamps onto a pipe which in one direction goes to the back sprinklers and in the other to the rest of the plumbing. (Probably less than 10 ft total in the dirt in the backyard , but not much less, maybe 8?.) We are going to replace the main water line and the code apparently (have not seen it myself yet) says that the final 10 ft. of that must be metal. That makes perfect sense as long as the rest of the galvanized pipe remains - it grounds the electrical service through the wire, to the clamp, then through the house pipes to the earth. However, if we repipe with PEX there would no longer be an electrical connection between the breaker box and that 10ft of pipe on the main line, so that 10ft of metal would no longer do anything useful.
What happens in that case?
Other grounding methods exist, like driving a rod deep into the dirt and attaching the electrical service ground to that. Does code allow that mode of grounding or is there some specific reason they want a long ground wire run all the way under the house to that specific 10ft of water filled metal pipe in the front yard?
The main point being, I don't see any particular advantage to grounding the electrical service to an isolated chunk of metal pipe filled with water when alternative grounds are available. If we were to bury a 20 ft long thick copper rod near the plastic water pipe, and run a ground wire to that, that seems like it would be an adequate ground, as would a 10 ft rod driven into the ground near the breaker box.
I am not averse to copper pipe per se, but one of the contractors I spoke with said to try to avoid it in our area because the chloramine levels in the water supply are high and people have had a lot of problem with pinhole leaks. He wasn't against copper generally and said he used it a lot in regions without the chloramine issue.
My house currently has galvanized pipes everywhere. The electrical service has a ground which runs down the wall from the breaker box and clamps onto a pipe which in one direction goes to the back sprinklers and in the other to the rest of the plumbing. (Probably less than 10 ft total in the dirt in the backyard , but not much less, maybe 8?.) We are going to replace the main water line and the code apparently (have not seen it myself yet) says that the final 10 ft. of that must be metal. That makes perfect sense as long as the rest of the galvanized pipe remains - it grounds the electrical service through the wire, to the clamp, then through the house pipes to the earth. However, if we repipe with PEX there would no longer be an electrical connection between the breaker box and that 10ft of pipe on the main line, so that 10ft of metal would no longer do anything useful.
What happens in that case?
Other grounding methods exist, like driving a rod deep into the dirt and attaching the electrical service ground to that. Does code allow that mode of grounding or is there some specific reason they want a long ground wire run all the way under the house to that specific 10ft of water filled metal pipe in the front yard?
The main point being, I don't see any particular advantage to grounding the electrical service to an isolated chunk of metal pipe filled with water when alternative grounds are available. If we were to bury a 20 ft long thick copper rod near the plastic water pipe, and run a ground wire to that, that seems like it would be an adequate ground, as would a 10 ft rod driven into the ground near the breaker box.
I am not averse to copper pipe per se, but one of the contractors I spoke with said to try to avoid it in our area because the chloramine levels in the water supply are high and people have had a lot of problem with pinhole leaks. He wasn't against copper generally and said he used it a lot in regions without the chloramine issue.