I want to ground my satellite dish and my phone line. (both installed by so called professionals and not properly grounded) Both enter the house 75 feet or so from where the main electrical enters the house. I want to drive grounding rods at each of the satellite and phone locations. I believe the rods all must be bonded together and also bonded to the main ground. My question is how long can the copper bond wire be that connects the rods? (is 75 to 100 feet OK) Also, in general, do I need just one rod at each location? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Dennis

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Originally Posted by dnau12

I want to ground my satellite dish and my phone line. (both installed by so called professionals and not properly grounded) Both enter the house 75 feet or so from where the main electrical enters the house. I want to drive grounding rods at each of the satellite and phone locations. I believe the rods all must be bonded together and also bonded to the main ground. My question is how long can the copper bond wire be that connects the rods? (is 75 to 100 feet OK) Also, in general, do I need just one rod at each location? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Dennis

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No, you NOT have to "bond together" the ground rods - if they are driven into the ground, they are already bonded together by the earth's grounding.

A wire from the ground rod to the application is sufficient.

If you want to ground more than one item on one ground rod, then you can run a ground wire from one ground rod to multiple items.

If your ground wire is more than 50 feet, you might want to go to heaver gauge wire, or perhaps use two strands. But that stuff is getting expensive, so you might want to just use separate ground rods.

Again, ground rods can be separate, just grounding a single item each, with no need to run "connecting wire" between the ground rods.

However, running "connecting wire" between the ground rods won't hurt anything, other than your wallet.

SpaceRat

I am not sure where the advice give is published, but it is incorrect, in so many ways.

You are exactly correct with the statement :"I believe the rods all must be bonded together and also bonded to the main ground."

Any and all telephone, data, and antenna systems need to be grounded at the main system grounding electrode for a building, or be bonded back to the main grounding electrode with no smaller than a #6 copper wire.

For the lengths you mention, #4 would be more appropriate.

If each system was grounded separately, and no they are not bonded just because they are all grounded to earth, there is the likelihood of having a voltage difference between the systems where they are exposed near each other in the building.

If you need any code references, I can provide Article and Section. There are several and would take a bit of time to list all those that are related to this topic.

Do like tkrussell says. He mostly sticks to the electrical questions he knows well, rather than posting poor answers all over the site.

Two follow up questions on grounding.

1-Are the phone companies required to connect all ground rods per NEC? The ground rod at the phone interface is not tied to the main ground for the electrical. I checked and none of my neighbors are either.

2- Somewhat off the subject, does a crimp type ring connector met the definition of a "listed pressure connector" under 250.8?

Yes the utilities are suppose to know better. They have access to special connectors to clip onto the meter socket and any exposed wire or pipe, and they often forget to do what is code.

Most inspectors will respond to a complaint such as this.

Yes as long as it is listed as a pressure connector, your good to go. All crimp connectors made by T & B, Burndy, and similar companies will be listed.

Does the phone system have anything to ground other than the lightning arrestor at the NID? Since I have VOIP, I guess my NID is at another internet connection.

When I had a phone ground, I don't think it was connected to the electric ground. There was a separate rod they pulled when they removed their wires and NID.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dnau12

I want to ground my satellite dish and my phone line. (both installed by so called professionals and not properly grounded) Both enter the house 75 feet or so from where the main electrical enters the house. I want to drive grounding rods at each of the satellite and phone locations. I believe the rods all must be bonded together and also bonded to the main ground. My question is how long can the copper bond wire be that connects the rods? (is 75 to 100 feet OK) Also, in general, do I need just one rod at each location? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Dennis

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TKRUSSLE, thanks for the accurate reply. Will 1 rod for each of the devices entering the house be OK? (satellite and main phone line) I assume these rods should be located within 10 feet or so of the devices? Thanks again.

Dennis

How close does not matter, just need to be at least sxi feet away from any other ground rod. One each should be sufficient, all bonded together.