[RE-wrenches] Water Pipes as Grounding Electrodes

[Darryl Thayer]

Grounding has two purposes in the code.  We use a grounded system, and deliberately ground one conductor of the solar system and we then require equipment ground such as if any conductive surface of the array or other equipment becomes energized the current will be traced to ground (the other conductor) This protects against solar generated electricity being a hazard.  

The other reason we ground is for protection from 'atmospheric energy' this is air carried charges, static if you like, and lightening in the extreme.  Our arrays are sky coupled capacitors, and carry induced energy if the sky changes potential.  This energy has to be drained to earth, therefore in the code it is addressed as "additional" ground. This conductor has to be sized a minimum of #8 and must terminate in a grounding electrode.  

Darryl

--- On Thu, 1/7/10, Ryan LeBlanc <ryan at naturalenergyworks.com> wrote:

> From: Ryan LeBlanc <ryan at naturalenergyworks.com>
> Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Water Pipes as Grounding Electrodes
> To: re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
> Date: Thursday, January 7, 2010, 12:54 AM
> Thanks guys,
> 
> Follow up:
> 
> When providing a three-line drawing, in New York, on a new
> construction, few
> story building, which means they'll have a ground rod
> (hopefully) at the
> Main cabinet, do you think it's necessary to detail any
> ground connections
> from the solar to the water pipes?  No right? 
> (Unusual inspector)
> 
> They are totally different systems when there is a
> Grounding Electrode
> present.  In modern construction practices, they are
> bonding the water pipes
> only, not using the water pipes as any part of the
> grounding electrode
> system and therefore don't come into play?
> 
> And then, If on top of this building, there was a Satcon
> inverter, on the
> roof, and that Satcon was getting grounded to the
> structural, can I run just
> one ground wire to the roof, or do I need to run a ground
> conductor and some
> kind of bond wire?  And again, the water pipes are not
> involved here, at
> all.
> 
> With appreciation,
> 
> Ryan J. LeBlanc
> NABCEPT Certified Solar PV Installer
> Cell: 707.591.1950
> Direct: 707.536.9839
> ryan at NaturalEnergyWorks.com
> http://www.NaturalEnergyWorks.com
> 
> 
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