[Amateur_vince]

Because of brown waters, I want to re-run the hot/cold water pipes for the entire house. But there is one major problem, the existing galvanized pipes had some grounding wires attached to them and I'll plan to use the PEX pipe. I have no ideas how to run the new grounding wires when I take out all the existing galvanized pipes. Please help.

Thanks

[tkrussell]

Can you tell me what these wires are for? Here should only be a couple of wires at the entrance where the water line comes into the building.

[Amateur_vince]

Here is what I saw, there is a copper wire out of the 125 Amp circuit panel, I believe this is a grounding wire which is then clamped onto the old, rust galvanized pipes. I also saw there's an grounding clamp on the incoming supply water line to the water heater. My intention is to replace all the old galvanized pipes with a product called PEX tubing. This is basically plastic water lines. How would this grounding be done with the plastic water lines when I replace the galvanized pipes?

Thanks for your help.

[tkrussell]

OK what you have is a normal grounding system. The ground wire will need to be replaced and redirected so that it connects to two 8 foot copper ground rods, that must be driven in the earth.

If any of the metal water pipe is still exposed , esp the incoming line, you must still connect the ground wire to it also.

The two rods must not be closer to each other than six feet apart. The new ground wire must come from the panel and connect to each of the rods ,and the wire must not have any splices. Use approved wire connectors to clamp the wire to the ground rods.

The wire must be a minimum of #6 copper, and must connect to the same location in the panel as the existing ground wire.

You may need to be careful when you work on or disconnect the existing ground wire, as it may be carrying fault currents to ground, there is a chance to feel a shock if you disconect the wire and get between the wire and a grounded surface, like the existing metal water pipe.

[Amateur_vince]

Thanks for a quick response, I have a long week end coming up and I want to get this done. Based on your response, I have layout the following steps and the order that I'll plan to do.

1. Install the two ground rods outside of the house and the distance between them must be at least 6 feet or more.

2. the new ground wire must be a minimum of #6 copper, and it must be long enough from the circuit panel to the two outside ground rods. This wire must not have any splices.

3. Use the approved wire connectors to clamp the wire to the ground rods.

4. Replace the existing ground wire that's currently clamping on the galvanized pipes with the new ground wire, which have been set up from prior steps.

5. As for the existing ground wire from the water heater, I'm not very clear here. Can I get another #6 copper ground wire that is long enough from the water heater to the circuit panel and from there I'll use the clamp to piggyback on the new ground wires?


I'm just a dump person with very limited of eletrical knowledgel, but I'm willing to willing to learn. I hope you can give me feed back or suggestions for the above steps.

Thanks again for your help.

[tkrussell]

You were fine up to the water heater. Why is there a wire frm the heater? I am not sure this is necessary.