In the interest of safety, before you decide to dig to look for a buried
ground rod at the pole mounted meter or drive an additional ground rod, you
should have the exact location of the buried power cables clearly marked by
one of those "call before you dig" services. Your power company or co-op
may be able to mark the cable location for you.
Then if it were mine, I'd want to verify that there really was a ground rod
at the base of the meter base pole and that the bare copper wire you
described running down the pole was connected to a ground rod with a good
electrical and mechanical connection. Then I'd add a ground rod just
outside your basement wall close to your loadcenter and run no smaller than
a #6 solid copper wire from the ground bar in the loadcenter to the ground
rod just outside the basement wall and then to the ground rod at the base of
the meter pole. Then you would know for sure the meter socket base, the
loadcenter ground bar, and the 2 ground rods were all solidly bonded
together.
There are those on this reflector with considerable knowledge on this
subject, and they may have other and better suggestions.
73,
Marsh, KA5M
-----Original Message-----
From: TowerTalk [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Gary
"Joe" Mayfield
Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2012 10:45 PM
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] Another Grounding Question
I need to make one more grounding connection by bonding the tower grounds to
the electrical ground.
My power meter is on a light pole about 20 feet from my house. The power
comes to the pole underground and then goes to the house underground as
well. It just pops up out of the ground for the light and then the meter.
The power enters the house through a basement wall.
There is no obvious ground rod to be seen. The pole has a bare wire running
from the meter into the ground. I suspect it is attached to the bottom of
the pole. If I bond the tower grounds to this wire have I done what I am
supposed to do? If not what do folks suggest?
Thanks and 73,
Joe kk0sd
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