Shocked!

If the wiring in the house is done to code, grounded correctly, etc, it's virtually impossible for the cause of his energized water pipes to be caused by something external.

That would be you. "go look for any ground connection to water pipes! That's no longer code!"

Check the NEC for how it is not only code, but required in many cases.

They focus in on one aspect of the

Wow, you figure that out?

Unless the guy

Then if the guy doesn't know anything, why did you send him looking for ground connections to water pipes that are "no longer code"? Good grief.

Interesting how easily the ignorant are amused.

What he said and what he meant are both incorrect.

It's not a tiny issue when you tell someone to go looking for ground connections to water pipes and that if they find them, "It;s no longer code"

It's not nuances, numb nuts. If you have a metal water service pipe, then it *must* be one of the grounding electrodes. The electrical panel must be bonded to the metal water pipes in a house. So, per YOUR advice, the guy goes looking, sees that, and according to you, "It's no longer code". That isn't an exception, a nuance. It's that you simply don;t know WTF you're talking about.

You knowledge base comes from watching a Verizon imbecile who told you that he doesn't want to bring the phone service in where the electrical service is. Instead, he chose to bring it in elsewhere and run a long ground wire back to the system ground. That is not the prefered and recommended way of doing it. And more remarkable, from that, you concluded that it's "no longer code to have ground connections to water pipes". Try reading the NEC.

No s*it Sherlock. Yet YOU sent him out to do that. To figure out what a ground connection to water pipe is, without even knowing what it looks like, what it does, what code is, etc. And you told him that if he finds any, "They are no longer code", which is BS.

Yet in the next post he

What on earth are you talking about? It's perfectly permissible to use water pipes as part of the ground system today in new work. In fact, in many cases, it's required. It's also required to bond the panel to the metal water pipes. So, he sees a clamp, a wire running from his water pipes to the panel, and per your admonition, "It's no longer code." The NEC says you're wrong.

You ignore it at the point that it's clear that I'm right and you don't know what you're talking about.

Once he gets a missile lock, true or false,

It's not argumentive quagmire when you have the NEC on your side. It only appears that way to you, because you're wrong and don't know WTF you're talking about.

Why don't you do it with 240V and use your pecker as a probe?

Thanks. I have noticed some stereo/radio equipment will have neon pilot lights that take a few seconds to extinguish after the power cord is unplugged so I assume that's some sort of capacitor discharge occurring. I would imagine that to receive a UL listing the equipment can't present any sort of real shock hazard in that state - just a tingle as the residual charge dissipates.

That's something I was unaware of - soil so dry it's not an effective ground. Doesn't sound like pouring water on them is a viable solution unless you have some sort of drip irrigator doing it automatically. How much longer than 6' do ground rods need to be to make good earthing contact?

Yes, agree. It's not just Mike writing, either, but a whole team of electricians with knowledge it a lot of different areas. They always provide plenty of background information and NEC citations to explain what they're talking about. I invariably end up reading a lot more than what I came to the site to look for because it's so well-written and interesting.

Look up chemical ground rod. Ufer grounds came into being during WWII. The U.S. needed to protect bomb shelters in the deserts of the Southwest U.S.

Doesn't sound like pouring water on them is a viable solution

And yet here you are pontificating on grounding systems, proper ground connections, sending a poster to look for any ground connections to a water pipe and telling them it's "no longer code". Go figure.

Probably needed to protect munitions from static charges, too.

Here's one site I found: (-: