cable line grounding

amakarevic

If a cable (as in cable TV and internet) comes to the house from a nearby pole, does it have to be grounded?

I am asking that because my current cable line does not seem to be grounded but my unused phone line does as it is tied to a water spigot outside.

There is currently a mess of wires coming to my house, most unused. A Comcast guy came to do pole service on the street and clean up unused but he actually disconnected my live line. So he is coming back Monday to reinstall. Not so much inconvenience since I will use the opportunity to tear all the wiring on the side of the house and make it clean ans orderly. I will have him run the line to a gray pvc elec box that I will mount tomorrow and then I will run the wire inside from there. So I am asking this because I need to know whether I need to drill an extra hole on the box for grounding.

It is incredible how sloppy utility companies are if you let them do things on their own. They don't bother to examine existing lines and eliminate unused, just adding to the mess. And then they just run the cable line directly into the house without having a box outside. Well I ain't gonna let them do it like that any more. Corner cutters...

joecaption

I have my cable, phone and cords for my TV and computer plugged into a surge protector now that I picked up at Wal Mart. I had lighting hit a tree about 10' from my house right were my phone and cable run and it came in and blew out my computer and phones so I figured I'd play it safe and not go through that again.
And yes my old cable was grounded. I would not suggest just attaching it to a water pipe. Any break such as any plastic pipe, tape on a joint, oxadation and there is no ground. A ground rod in the ground would be best.

amakarevic

Comcast definitely does not go that far. At least not in my case. I can try to drive a grounding rod in a foot wide strip of dirt between the house and the concrete walkway but if I hit a rock I'll just have to try a different spot, I.e. can't dig. But I will make an extra hole on the box for the ground wire.

Thanks

bobelectric

All utilites : electric, phone, cable, satellite, water ect. must be bonded at the same point.The days of little ground rods are done

AllanJ

I suggest that the first box to which the incoming cable TV cable attaches be grounded. A sure fire way of doing this is to have a #14 copper wire fastened to the stud to which the cable screws or presses on (or to some other part of the chassis of that equipment). The other end of this wire is connected to a known ground

All ground rods for a building need to be bonded together (using #6 copper wire). (Two objects are considered bonded if they are both bonded to the same third object for example two rods with separate wires going to the same panel).

A problem that is seen once in a blue moon is incorrect connection or bonding of cable company equipment up on the utility pole, resulting in the cable itself having voltage on it relative to ground. The ground wires I mentioned prevent energizing of exposed metal parts of your equipment that is passive (such as splitters) or that has 2 prong power cords.

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J. V.

The NEC requires a grounding means like Bob mentions above. Cable and satellite are brought to a grounding block before they enter the structure or dwelling. This grounding block is designed with a grounding screw and is where you connect the #10 ground wire to the system ground/bond. Usually directly to the ground rod. Adding a rod or any other electrode without connecting it to the system ground is pointless.

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amakarevic

Bob, are you saying one ground rod for all, electric, phone, cable, etc.?

If electric was added to the house 60 yrs ago from the street and cable 20 yrs ago from the alley, as well as the phone, how is that possible???

I think that's a nice idea in case you are building a new house but how is that feasible when you're adding utilities as you go?

To summarize, are you saying it won't work if I ground the cable and phone to a new ground rod?

Finally, if that is the case, I wonder why Comcast and Verizon certainly don't do it like that...

Yoyizit

Grounding in more than one place can result in electrical currents in the shield of coaxial cable. You probably want a Single Point Ground.

gregzoll

Yes, all communication lines (ie catv, satellite, telco), must be bonded as of the 2008, to a single point, which means the common ground point for the home, whether it is a Ufer, or rod driven into the ground. Now, if the install was done prior, it falls under older rules, and can be attached to the inside cold water pipe, but there is no telling if that is still good, due to who knows if it goes far enough out into the ground, or especially in places like Florida, sand is not a good ground.

For incoming telco, catv, satellite, it should be attached to a common ground block, that then has a wire grounding it to the ground point for the structure. I got smart and moved my telco & catv to the back of the house, ripped of the strap on the side of my meter pan that Comcast had installed, and properly ran the ground wires from the block for the catv & ground point in the telco NID, to the ground rod, that sits two feet from the house.

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amakarevic

Physically impossible in my case. It is a city row house with attached houses on both sides. The electricity comes from the street front, and that's where its ground rod is, the cable and phone from the back alley pole. You'd have to drill a tunnel under the house to connect the two ground rods.

Jim Port

Where does your water line enter the house?

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Answers based on the National Electrical Code. Local amendments may apply. Check with your local building officials.

amakarevic

Street side. There is a spigot near where the other 2 utils come from the pole.

It is the case with, I'm sure, well over 85% of homes around here... So they must have a workaround

gregzoll

Can you bond to the cold water pipe where it comes into the structure, then in turn have the cold water pipe bonded to the panel Neutral/Ground bus bar? That is a possibility.

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amakarevic

I think that's how it's currently done through the spigot

gregzoll

Take a picture and post of this attachment for ground. You can not attach to the spigot outside, due to it is not a proper ground. You may end up having to have telco and cable ran around the side of the house to enter where power does, so that it can be properly bonded to the ground rod.

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