Quote:Originally posted by inspectort

The NEC references this only once that I know of in ART. 250.116 Nonelectric Equipment. It doesn't really get into the subject in the article itself, but it does reference a FPN article that basically says that siding is not electrical equipment so it is outside the scope of the NEC. But the FPN says that by bonding and grounding the siding, it will provide additional safety. My references are the 2002 and the 2005 NEC Handbook. Hope that answers the question.

T.

Quote:Originally posted by Brian G.
. . . Think of all of the little, short, odd-shaped pieces that you would have to account for, the trim, etc. The only practical potential solution that comes to mind would be some kind of bonding clips to go between pieces at installation, then ground (or "earth", Jim loves that term) in a few different places for insurance. It could be reasonably effective if it were done right (and therein lies the rub of course).

Brian G.

Quote:Originally posted by Terence McCann

Most of the homes I see have a piece of coiled aluminum wire attached to the outside silcock and the siding. I have also seen a wire attached to a ground rod however, the majority have the 1st method. I always thought that it was due to electrical items attached to the home such as porch lights, outside power outlets and the like and the possibility that these could energize the siding and present a shock hazard if the siding was not grounded in some fashion. No?

Quote:Originally posted by Jim Katen

However, I was trying to describe another reason for the bonding that isn't so obvious and has to do with lightning. When lightning strikes the earth, the voltage in the earth 20 feet away from the strike is higher than the voltage 23 feet away from the strike. It could be a *lot* higher. Imagine two metal objects buried in the ground three feet apart. If you were touching both of them when the lightning struck, you'd become part of the path that the voltage followed. ZZZZZap! If, however, there were a wire connecting the two objects, way more electricity would flow through the wire than flow through you. If it were a nice big wire with good connections, you might not feel anything.

Make sense?

- Jim Katen, Oregon

Quote:Originally posted by Jim Katen



It might or it might not. That would depend on the resistance of the ground rod and the earth in that area. (The cold water pipe doesn't trip breakers because its in contact with the ground.) In order to trip a breaker, you've got to complete a circuit. So if the hot wire on a porch light were to slip and touch the aluminum siding, the electricity would have to flow through the siding, through the wire, through the ground rod, through the earth to another grounding electrode (water pipe, ground rod, foundation steel, whatever) and then through a wire to the service neutral terminal bar (or up the pole to the street transformer) (or, by chance, into your neighbor's service panel -- that's a discussion for another day). This path might be so fraught with resistance, that the current would just trickle and not have enough oomph to trip the breaker.



I'm on shakey ground here because I don't know anything about lightning protection systems. But it seems to me that grounding the aluminum siding to the earth would tend to attract lightning strikes. Also, if lightning struck 50 feet away and you were standing on the ground, and you touched some siding that was grounded by a ground rod that was 10 or 20 or 30 feet away from you, there'd be a nasty voltage gradient between you and the siding.

Cramer probably knows all about that stuff, he lives in lightning country.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

Quote:Originally posted by Terence McCann



Back to the topic of stray voltage from an attached electrical device for a moment though. If the aluminum siding had an earth ground, such as a ground rod, and not attached to a cold water pipe that might be directly used for a electrical ground, would it still trip a breaker in a short condition? After all the cold water pipe is nothing more than a connection to the earth.