DIY – Installing a new panel and would like to locate a modified ground ring consisting of a 20′ trench 30″ deep with 2 AWG copper augmented with 2 6′ rods BUT on the opposite side of the structure as the panel. Question is can I bring the grounded electrode conductor through the structure, protected, no bends a distance of 25′ to the panel?
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No problem doing that where we work.
Wow. Is that normally done? I thought that copper rods did the trick. Will there be an atomic accelerator involved?
It's just another type of grounding electrode, check 250.52.A.4.
I don't know what a "modified ground ring" is, but the part about running 25' of protected copper to the other side of the building sounds fine.
In our jurisdiction it's not even necessary to protect the ECG conductor, at least not with armor. It can be surface fastened in such a way as to be out of harms way.
Scott.
I vaguely recall that protection is required for ground electrode conductors smaller than a certain size. But most are larger than that size anyway.(Of course there's no prohibition against protecting the conductor, and it's wise to do so in places where it might be exposed to damage through some obvious mechanism such as stuff being stored against a wall.)
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. -John Kenneth Galbraith
Why not just keep the 2ga going underground all the way to the area where the service enters? I assume you are trying to limit the length of the GEC for ESD/transient issues.
The inspector gave me the ok to run the ground through the structure, I thought there may be some restriction on the distance the grounded electrode conductor could be but I guess not. The reason I don't continue undergroud is my house sits on bed rock, see a picture in the gallery called New Mexico Cliff house, I started a trench on the other side with a jack hammer in tight confines and got nowhere, my hands are still numb. The other side has alot of fill which should be easier to trench through, now if I can avoid the water line. Thanks for the feed back