Quote:
Originally Posted by thom
You raise an interesting point. Perhaps this is an SDGE thing or a California thing, but for the life of me, I cannot find our service ground. Everything that comes into the exterior power panel is enclosed in conduit that doesn't look like it's meant to be opened up.
I had to resort to the independent grounding rod. Why is its resistance so much higher? Any way to mitigate that?
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Soil is not nearly as good a conductor as copper or other metals. Dry sandy soil is a very poor conductor. FWIW, in new construction, it's becoming quite common to see the foundation re-bar used as the 'ground rod'.
If the conduit coming out of the ground to the electrical-meter base is steel or aluminum, you can place a
grounding clamp on the outside of the conduit... be sure to scrape paint off were the clamp is to make electrical contact to the outside of the conduit. If the conduit is aluminum, use a clamp rated for use with aluminum (to avoid corrosion problems) and use an anti corrosion compound on all aluminum connections (
http://www.amazon.com/Noalox%C2%AE-A.../dp/B0019KHHRE).
Don't remove your new ground rod... but connect a #6 AWG copper 'bonding' wire to the rod and to the service conduit. Now, your electrical service has a bit more ground... and your antenna ground is in common with the rest of the electrical service ground system.
If in doubt, buy your electrician friend a beer or two...