We had an installer come out and install our dish awhile back and he couldn't figure out the best way to ground it. He finally ran the wire down the side of the house and into the basement, grounding it to our well pump. Is this safe or should it have been done another way?? Thanks.
Can dish be grounded to well pump?
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It should be grounded in accordance with the NEC and any other prevailing local codes. If the cold water supply coming into your house runs through the earth to get there through copper pipe, then you can ground to that within 5' of the place where it enters your basement. It has to be a solid connection, i.e, nothing in between the entrance point and the ground point like a meter or plastic connection. If you meet these criteria then the ground should be adequate. The alternative is to bond it to your electrical entrance panel.
I too have a deepwell system, but the pipe from the pump into my pressure tank is all flexible PVC so it would not be adequate.
Welcome, BTW...!
I too have a deepwell system, but the pipe from the pump into my pressure tank is all flexible PVC so it would not be adequate.
Welcome, BTW...!
As a rule of thumb Dish made it clear that we were not to ground to a cold water line if it was a well system because of the probability that there is pvc in the system. I never would do it because lightning will can travel pretty far into the ground along the water line and take out the pump wich it did to my mothers well wich is around 100ft deep.
grounding to the pump --NO-- to the well casing should be OK. The pump or anything that can be removed is unsafe, the casing "should" be at least 20 feet of steel pipe to meet codes, so it should be safe. (Cannot find my code book at this moment, but think it is listed in NEC 2006 bonding chapter).
I don't know what code says about it, but in general I dislike water pipe grounding. You might consider getting an 8 foot ground rod and driving it into the ground within 20 feet of the coax ground block. Then bury a bare #6awg copper wire from there to the house electrical system's ground rod and connect the two rods together.
Here are the places the NEC allows grounding cable.
(1)The building or structure grounding electrode system as covered in 250.50
(2)The grounded interior metal water piping system, within 1.52 m (5 ft) from its point of entrance to the building, as covered in 250.52
(3)The power service accessible means external to enclosures as covered in 250.94
(4)The metallic power service raceway
(5)The service equipment enclosure
(6)The grounding electrode conductor or the grounding electrode conductor metal enclosure
(7)The grounding conductor or the grounding electrode of a building or structure disconnecting means that is grounded to an electrode as covered in 250.32.
The order in which I listed them is not indicative of preference.
However, Bonding to the water piping is indeed a very good method of grounding the system.
The one caveat is if the water system has been remodeled recently and includes PEX (Plastic) tubing. This decouples the water pipe system from the main ground.
(1)The building or structure grounding electrode system as covered in 250.50
(2)The grounded interior metal water piping system, within 1.52 m (5 ft) from its point of entrance to the building, as covered in 250.52
(3)The power service accessible means external to enclosures as covered in 250.94
(4)The metallic power service raceway
(5)The service equipment enclosure
(6)The grounding electrode conductor or the grounding electrode conductor metal enclosure
(7)The grounding conductor or the grounding electrode of a building or structure disconnecting means that is grounded to an electrode as covered in 250.32.
The order in which I listed them is not indicative of preference.
However, Bonding to the water piping is indeed a very good method of grounding the system.
The one caveat is if the water system has been remodeled recently and includes PEX (Plastic) tubing. This decouples the water pipe system from the main ground.
