Re: [TCML] Grounding Coil to Water Pipe

[jimlux <jimlux@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Brandon Hendershot wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I got DirecTV the other day and notice that the installer grounded
> the satellite dish to the protruding water pipe leading up to my
> garden hose. I'd never thought to ground there before!

And your installer may not have made a legal ground, in any case.  Cable 
TV and Satellite installers are *notorious* for bad grounds, both 
electrically and code compliance wise.

I can say with a fair amount of certainty that grounding the dish to a 
water pipe coming up from the ground, if there's no other bonding wires, 
 is NOT code compliant. (call your satellite company and/or your city 
code enforcement folks...)




 But I've got a
> few things I'd like to run by you all before I try it there;
>
> 1. The running water shouldn't be affected by the coil due to the
> 'skin effect' factor. It should limit the current only to the surface
> of the pipe, right?

Wrong.  You cannot depend on skin effect.  What if there is a partially 
insulating gap in the pipe (pipe tape/pipe dope)? What if there is a 60 
Hz short (e.g. arc to the primary)..



 2. The satellite ground should be disconnected
> before powering on the coil, right? Seems like a bad idea to pump
> thousands of volts into a satellite dish 

It's probably ok. even with the non-code ground.



;P 3. The pipe should
> provide sufficient RF ground, yeah?
No.

> I've searched the list, but I didn't see anything particularly
> definitive on the subject...
>
> P.S: The ground wire is actually leading up to the coaxial splitter
> looking thing. 

Actually, if they're doing it normally, there's a grounding block that 
the coax connects to that bonds the coax shield to the grounding system. 
The ground wire itself has to be solid copper, aluminum, or copper clad 
steel of a particular gauge.


http://www.mikeholt.com/documents/lowvoltage/pdf/LowVoltBook.pdf is 
based on the 1999 code, but has all the data you need.



The thing that'll take the satellite output and split
> it up to the different recievers throughout the house. I dont know if
> it's a necessary part of the system or not, but if anybody knows
> anything about this, I'd sure like to know what you do.
>
> Thanks everybody! Brandon 
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