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Discussion Forum

grounding a satellite dish

house567 | Posted in General Discussion on March 15, 2006 12:13pm
My wife purchased a satellite dish and receiver over the internet in hopes of increasing our knowlege through economical means.  She says it is all legal.  The dish has to be grounded.  She knows that appliances can be grounded to cold water lines on the interior of a house.  She asks if this external appliance can be safely grounded to our external water line (water faucet) since it is directly below the area in which we will probably mount the dish?  The satellite installation instructions offer no help.  Thank you!
The husband.
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  1. philarenewal | Mar 15, 2006 12:19am | #1

    Tell your wife:

    can you do that? yes.

    will it work as an effective ground bond?  maybe.

    does it meet code? No.

     

    "A job well done is its own reward.  Now would you prefer to make the final payment by cash, check or Master Card?"

  2. Lateapex911 | Mar 15, 2006 12:29am | #2

    I am assuming you are referring to a DirectTv type dish..

    Has anyone ever seen one that WAS grounded at ALL, much less properly???

    (I saw a DirectTV sent crew just drill right thru the roof once, and goop it up, another just ran loose to the gutter, wire tied to that, then loose down the side of the house and drilled thru the wall, thru the back of the cabinet to the device! Somehow, they missed all objects. If I had done that, I would have drilled into a water line AND an elect wire, then after I fixed that, a branch would fall and pull the wire and the gutter down! They got away with it....)

    That said, LOL,  RG6 wire is availble in a siamesed pair with a ground wire in the center. Run that to the grounding block you use (Radio Shack) and set it near the utility entrance and ground thusly.

    From the grounding block proceed to your interior distribution point and then to the individual locations.

     

    Jake Gulick

    [email protected]

    CarriageHouse Design

    Black Rock, CT

  3. Gimby | Mar 15, 2006 01:20am | #3

    I grounded my dish to my panel which I believe meets code. My dish is attached to the eave and the grounding block underneath is screwed into the soffit. I ran the ground wire through the eave and into the attic. Then I was able to fish it through the wall to my panel and grounded it there.

  4. woodway | Mar 15, 2006 02:03am | #4

    The Sat dish stories remind me of one of our custom homes. Took us about 9 months to build a two story home in the price range of $1.6 million and we did everything to make it custom. We ran the cable for sat dish up a 1 1/2 inch pipe onto the roof and flashed the whole setup like you would for a vent. We secured the pipe to the frame of the house to support the weight of the dish with the idea that they could attach the dish directly to the pipe rather than to the roof. A couple to months later we happen to go up on the roof, to do some minor cleaning, and noticed that the satellite guys pulled the cables out of the pipe as was intended but rather than attach the dish to the pipe, they drilled four holes in the roof, mounted their bracket with lag screws and put caulk around the edge of the bracket.

    Lesson : You have to watch them during every step of the process. Don't let cable installers on site without escort and close monitoring.

    1. TLE | Mar 15, 2006 03:10am | #5

      Slight change of subject.

      Some time ago, in the new products section of JLC, they had a roof mount for satallite dishes that mounted and flashed into the roof like a vent and incorporated a chase/opening for the coax to feed up through the bracket into the dish.

      I have been unable to locate that issue or find the maker.

      Anyone have that information?

       

      Terry

  5. User avater
    Nuke | Mar 15, 2006 02:47pm | #6

    I have a 3-LNB DirecTV satellite dish mounted on my deck. The cables (4xRG6) coming off of it include a ground wire that enters the home and that ground wire is coupled to a cold water pipe on the inside of the house. Legal? Heck if I know, but that is the way DirecTV (or their installers) does (does) it.

    1. User avater
      MarkH | Mar 15, 2006 04:32pm | #7

      So if you're sitting in the tub, and lightning hits your dish, it goes right to the tub.  That may not be a real problem, but if your cold water pipe is not well grounded for some reason, it could be your last bath.  Be afraid, very afraid.

      Kidding, but still???

      1. User avater
        Nuke | Mar 15, 2006 04:38pm | #8

        Hey, I am not advocating anything. I'm stating what has happened in the redneck country I am living in. :)

        Of course, considering the building practices and the lack of inspections by the county, I could blow my home up everytime I take a dump. Hahahaha

      2. VaTom | Mar 15, 2006 04:47pm | #9

        Recently got satellite TV here.  Friend in the business traded me a yrs' worth for a rock.  We discussed grounding and the industry standard.  My installation isn't standard, with a pair of dishes hanging on a walnut tree.  Works great. 

        After discussion, we didn't ground.  Whether our risk assessment was correct remains to be seen, but standard dish grounding practice didn't make much sense to either of us.  We're mountaintop, lightning has hit trees within 15' of our copper-sided house.  Unworried.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!

        1. User avater
          MarkH | Mar 15, 2006 06:46pm | #10

          Grounding may attract lightning. 

          1. VaTom | Mar 15, 2006 07:26pm | #11

            Yup.  That's pretty much the point of lightning rod protection systems.  Equipment protection is a little more difficult.

            So far, we've had tall trees hit, rather than our well-grounded copper siding.  The walnut carrying the dishes is one of the shorter trees behind the house, maybe 50' tall.  PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!

          2. User avater
            Soultrain | Mar 15, 2006 08:57pm | #12

            Not true.  Your dish, since it's connected to your TV (or set top box) currently has a path to ground.

            At the very least, you want to make sure that the cable is going through a point of use TSS.  I'd also want it bonded to the ground coming from my electric service panel.

          3. User avater
            MarkH | Mar 15, 2006 09:13pm | #14

            I would probably do that, but I don't have a dish.

          4. philarenewal | Mar 15, 2006 10:21pm | #15

            Soultrain, most TVs and boxes these days have double insulated power supply sections and have only two prong plug.  Good thinking on your part, but the cable shield from the TV or box might not be actually bonded to ground through the TV or box. 

            "A job well done is its own reward.  Now would you prefer to make the final payment by cash, check or Master Card?"

          5. Lateapex911 | Mar 16, 2006 02:50am | #16

            Well, all bets are off when it comes to direct hits by lightening, but.........the best way is using the real ground wire and tieing it to a real ground stake at the grounding block. Path of least resistance and all that.

            This will also aid in interferance rejection and reduced ground "loops".Jake Gulick

            [email protected]

            CarriageHouse Design

            Black Rock, CT

          6. DaveRicheson | Mar 16, 2006 04:30am | #17

            Article 820.10 (A) 1 thru 6 and (B) 1 thru 7 of the 2005 NEC say the same.

            For the OP: 14 AWG minimum wire size within 5" of entrance into the home and bonded to the metal water pipe is acceptable with a grounding block  for the cable, or the grounding (driven) electrode. Proper grounding clamps are required for either.

            This is just a summation. Many inspectors don't look at cable or satelite runs because they are not considered current carrying conductors, and in fact are required not have any voltage ratings on the insulation jacket. However they are covered in the NEC.

             

            Dave

          7. FrankDuVal | Mar 16, 2006 06:50am | #18

            Oh, you are right that it is not bonded, but when the lightning comes in the ungrounded/unbonded coax to the satillite receiver and television it will jump to the neutral and go to ground! Just a lot of damage along the way! Oh, and lots of potential damage to anything else on the circuit.Ground ALL coax that enters a building through grounding blocks designed for it. Just because you ground the dish with the wet wood of a tree does not mean lightning will go down the wet wood instead of the nice metal coax. Lightning typically splits the tree because of the resistance of the wet wood causing heating effects (steam). Metal coax has much less resistance.Frank DuVal You can never make something foolproof because fools are so ingenious.

  6. user-97209 | Mar 15, 2006 09:05pm | #13

    Where did your wife find the dish on the web?

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