Posted on 04/12/2018 6:58:36 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
It is a long apartment. Electric meters for basement and first floor are on the outside of the South wall and cables go to separate boxes on West side of a bay window. One box is in the basement and the other above it on the first floor. Water pipe comes in basement floor on East side of the bay. Two wires attached to the galvanized pipe coming from behind the drywall lining the bay window, so I presume one is from each main panel. The metal cover over the water meter is in the ground several feet in front of the house to the South so there is nothing I can see that puts the ground clamp BEFORE the water meter. There is no readable meter after the pipe coming inside where the water cutoff and the two wires are reachable. It is a row of about 10 houses and I presume they were all water metered the same.
The water pipe with the cutoff and the two wires serves the entire 4 story house, and the water heater, and the water based heating system. Moving toward the rear (North) one is first in the living room, then a hall. On each side of the hall is first the kitchen and then the bathroom on the West side, and the closet for the water heater and the house heater on the East side. In back is a bedroom with the sump pump and a door to outside. The kitchen, bathroom, and sump pump drain into a 4 inch pipe that enters the sewer running down the alley behind all the houses.
The house was built in 1901, and I don’t remember seeing a GREEN wire fastened to the galvinized water pipe. Both wires were stiff. At the time I thought that sanding down the pipe and reattaching might be a good idea and perhaps a more modern clamp. So far as I know these are the only ground wires for the electric boxes. The water heater is gas, not electric heat, although it may have some sort of electric based on/off mechanism. Have to look at that. The stray voltage was in the copper pipes coming out of the water heater. I don’t know what you mean by “the lug inside the box.”
A friend with an electrician buddy forwarded this advice: “bury a metal plate in the ground) with a grounding wire attached. Then connect the other end to the water main.” I asked if pounding a piece of rebar into the very small area of earth would serve as well as a metal plate. No answer yet from him. Your thoughts? Thanks for everything.
Further thought, while the pipes coming into the building are galvanized, there was considerable renovation before we bought the house in the early 1980s with the (not original) English basement probably put in at that time as has/is being done with other houses in this row. The interior pipes are likely to be some sort of plastic. Will have to look under the sink, etc.
The main ground (around here) is required to be on the street side of the meters, because gaskets may interrupt the connection.
A visible cable jumper around the meters is used.
No need for a new clamp, but the connection occasionally corrode.
No need to ““bury a metal plate in the ground) with a grounding wire attached”.
IIRC mine was four or five feet in length, if the earth is soft easly pounded in, the rods are steel and copper plated. NOT REBAR.
Needs a tag: https://www.garvinindustries.com/fittings/grounding-clamps-straps/electrical-connection-warning/j-tag
If the ground is hard, a rotor hammer with a socket is used.
Technically the main ground should be one continuous wire from the main ground (earth) to the main panel.
Hopefully, you have resolved the problem already.
Thanks for the follow up. There are definitely two wires attached to the water pipe with the whole house cut-off handle. These two wires go behind the dry wall in the direction of the nearby basement and first floor electric boxes, each of which is attached to an above ground meter. The water meter is several feet down in the ground surrounded by a round container with a metal lid on the surface of the earth.
Other emergencies have prevented me from following through with the suggestions already received. Once there is some forward movement I may post again.
Potsdam Gravity Potato keyword:
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.