I'd posted earlier about this but have run into an unanticipated development today, as I was running my final ground. To make a long story short, it's a 30' antenna, and I have to run my antenna ground into the house to the house panel ground bus. AD Tech had kindly advised me on this so I'm going with one of his recommended options.
But getting to the original single point of entry of the house service has proven to be harder than I thought (never buy a 200 year old house). It's a lot easier to run a new, more direct entry... let's call it Entry #2... BUT that's only about 1.5' away from my oil tank fill pipe, to the tank in the basement. BTW the closest point of the tank itself is only about 3' from the panel. And it will enter at ground level.
I'm almost certain that the panel is grounded to my 450' well, much better than a ground rod. The original existing panel ground wire exits just 2' from the tank fill pipe and 2' underground. So my new entry point is about the same place as the existing ground cable.
So here’s the dumb question: Is it a really, really bad idea make this new Entry #2 so close to the tank fill pipe... the lightning arcs to the oil filler and the tank, and, well... I'll have an extremely bad day.
Or, since the existing ground is practically the same distance, and even if I use the original entry which is about 8' from the fill pipe, the current's going to hit the panel and then the existing ground cable anyway, and will still pass within 2' of the fill pipe on it’s way to the well ground…?
The other thought I had, I could easily add some kind of "barrier" or shield between the ground wire and the oil fill pipe. Don't know if that would help at all, I mean, I know how powerful lightning is… or what material I would use... wood, flashing, sheet metal? OK, I'm clearly grasping at straws here.
The other possible concern with going to the original existing entry, it's is much further from the fill pipe at 8’, but it’s a longer run inside the basement and passes on top of a lot of wires, BX conduit, etc. to get to the panel. On the other hand, this new Entry #2 results in a much shorter run
inside the basement to the panel ground, only about 4' total inside.
I may be splitting hairs, but I want to do it right. I'm more than willing to do the extra work to go to the original Entry if that’s worth the effort. Any thoughts are appreciated... thanks!