RGPATTER
Sep 4, 2009, 12:09 PM
I am running electrical service from one building to another by running two hot wires, a neutral, and an insulated ground wire underground from from building #1 to building #2. Building #2 has a grounding system consisting of a piece of rebar labeled "electrical ground" protruding from the concrete in the foundation. I am not planning to connect the ground bus in the panel in building #2 to the rebar because I am getting the ground for building #2 from building #1 through the ground wire. I have two electricians who disagree with me and say I should run a bare copper wire from the ground bus to the rebar. KISS recently posted a paper by EXACTPOWER which seems to address this problem on page 5 which I thought I could use to defend my position. However the diagram they use to illustrate the problem would have the same problem with or without the second /auxiliary ground rod. I called the EXACTPOWER technical support and talked to an electrical engineer who is an electrical inspector in the state of New Jerjey and he said the diagram was not intended to apply to separate buildings - only an electrical system in the same building. He offered that if I was dealing with two buildings, they should both have their panel ground busses tied to a grounding system at their respective buildings, but that I did not need to run a ground wire between buildings. This seems to contradict what I have read in the ASKME Help Desk answers. Can anyone clarify this for me? A reference to a paragraph in the NEC would reallybe appreciated.