This is a follow up to my previous post where the electrician ran a ground wire laying on the dirt outside the building before clamping to a water pipe faucet.
I called the city to find out the code on this. The guys said that the wire on the dirt was definitely not acceptable.
As to grounding a receptacle to a cold water pipe: the code allows it with no restriction whatsoever on location. I asked about the "first 5 feet" that some brought up, and he said that was not a requirement.
Anyway, I am of course going to undo that electrician's work and start over. I am having another electrician come over and take a look. He said he is open to doing it anyway I want (i.e. first 5 feet, add grounding rod also).
So I want to get opinions on what you think should be done. Remember, the object here is to ground 2 or 3 outlets--NOT to redo the entire electrical system.
I think what had been confusing me here is that I thought ALL houses had a grounding rod. Now, if I am correct, these houses (1960) were built with no grounding rods, and the water supply pipe (metal) IS the ground! So if that is true, then the grounded wire that they did run to the kitchen and bathrooms is grounded by the water pipe. Am I correct?
So, if that is true, if I just ground these to the water pipe it should be equal protection to what I have in the kithen, bath, and garage now. In that case, I am thinking what is the point in exceeding that for a computer or TV? (again, this is not meant to "upgrade" the entire electrical system or ground every plug).
So this gets to the issue of the ground rod. If it is just for these 3 outlets, I can't see it making sense. I'm sure you will have opinions on that :)
Now where to clamp to the water pipe. First, I am positive ALL the water pipe is metal. But I am open to suggestions on this. I can see the 5 foot thing making sense. But obviously will be more expensive. So should I request that (especially if there is no ground rod)???
Again, to be clear, my city does allow grounding to the water pipe in this situation.
So what do I do? I'm pretty open to the five foot thing, but the rest I am not sure if it is necessary in this situation.
-- John