Grounding Blocks - Who does NOT use them

[chefwong]

To a certain degree....I never did get the whole grounding block thing.
In a ideal world, I would just run a #10 from the dish down the side of the house and then 10 feet AWAY from the house.

Coax would run straight in. Wouldn't this make more sense to have the ground point AWAY from the house as a whole ?

[randyk47]

I get it to the point of understanding bleeding off static charge. I get it to the point where it's understood that it might bleed off a close lightning strike. What I don't get are the folks who seem to think that a dish and the grounding block/wire will survive a direct lightning strike. Ain't happening. The closest I've been was a neighbor 3 houses away getting a direct strike on his chimney. The dog and I just happen to be outside when it happened. We're weren't directly bothered by the strike, other than both of us covered the 15 feet to the house in one giant leap, but the guy down the street pretty much lost anything electrical in the house. The house was properly grounded but, as he had it explained to him, there's virtually no possibility you'll experience a direct hit and not suffer some damage. In his case, the house didn't catch fire, and that's a good thing.

[Birdman79]

I get it to the point of understanding bleeding off static charge. I get it to the point where it's understood that it might bleed off a close lightning strike. What I don't get are the folks who seem to think that a dish and the grounding block/wire will survive a direct lightning strike. Ain't happening. The closest I've been was a neighbor 3 houses away getting a direct strike on his chimney. The dog and I just happen to be outside when it happened. We're weren't directly bothered by the strike, other than both of us covered the 15 feet to the house in one giant leap, but the guy down the street pretty much lost anything electrical in the house. The house was properly grounded but, as he had it explained to him, there's virtually no possibly you'll experience a direct hit and not suffer some damage. In his case, the house didn't catch fire, and that's a good thing.

Try explaining that to an HSP trainer or QC guy!!!

[Matt9876]

As an installer that deals with many lightning hit systems, when a ground block is properly installed it will more than 80% of the time save the indoor electronic equipment. Outdoor stuff LNB,Diplexers,cables always get fried.

This is how I think about lightning, a finger is a branch off the main bolt, if it hits your dish the above listed damage will result, If the main bolt hits the dish or house all bets are off "If it were not for the pipes,wiring,down spouts,gutters and appliances in your home you could very well get zapped"

One story that hit the news recently, The dish was hit with bolt of lightning, 4 were home at the time and made it out OK but the family dog laying next to the kitchen oven was killed. The house had burn marks on the outside cabling areas but the home itself didn't catch fire.

[bt-rtp]

You are exactly correct. That is not the primary purpose of grounding, but at least grounding does provide a path of least resistance to an earth ground as opposed to everything else inside a structure.

It is impossible to provide full protection against a direct lightening strike.

<snip>... What I don't get are the folks who seem to think that a dish and the grounding block/wire will survive a direct lightning strike. Ain't happening....<snip>

[bonscott87]

I ground all the coax but I've never grounded the dish itself (going on 12 years now).

[GirkMonster]

Never grounded a dish. Know several people who have and they all had LNB failure issues. I've never lost an LNB in 12 years.

[Nick]

As a jackleg engineer, I wouldn't have a dish or any other outside antenna
without gounding. Metal things sticking up in the air become lightning rods.

[bt-rtp]

I refer you to this posting....

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=1377385#post1377385

Never grounded a dish. Know several people who have and they all had LNB failure issues. I've never lost an LNB in 12 years.

[joe diamond]

When I arrive for upgrades or service I do not correct ungrounded situations. The "last man on site" deal is for employees who are being managed efficiently. Several hours of time to correct other's errors & ommissions just is not happening.

The specification says "ground block" so I provide one and install it at the time of the installation.

I have never heard of a job being canceled because there was no practical way to ground the installation. Consider every apartment installation.

The other source of surge damage is phone lines.....they never get a ground block.

Joe

[bt-rtp]

Actually, all phone lines are grounded at the point of demarcation, thus there being a ground wire in use there.... It's been this way for a long time.

<snip>....The other source of surge damage is phone lines.....they never get a ground block....<snip>Joe

[joe diamond]

Actually, all phone lines are grounded at the point of demarcation, thus there being a ground wire in use there.... It's been this way for a long time.
BT,
You are correct.............I do a little phone work and the NID (demark) is electronically a ground block.

I guess what I meant was that power surges do get to DTV equipment if they are connected to the telco system. There is a specification for the RG6 cable & ground block but none for the phone line coming from a jack.

Good one,

Joe

[EXTREMUM]

Ground blocks are only effective for minor electrical discharges, only, and 10AWG ground wire is only effective up to 20'. Do you think a simple ground block is going to save your DTV from a direct hit? I don't think so. That's like saying your concrete home is safe from a nuclear blast, when you're well within the blast radius.

Direct Lightning Strikes will most likely wipe out everything electrical inside your home, and may also set your house on fire. The only way to fully protect your home theatre equipment from a direct lightning strike, is to unplug surge protector from the power source and switch to UPS battery, and disconnect all coax leading to the dish and CATV. Indoor/Attic OTAs come in handy, with these scenarios.

[bt-rtp]

We don't care about direct lightening strikes, read this post:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=1377385#post1377385

Ground blocks are only effective for minor electrical discharges, only, and 10AWG ground wire is only effective up to 20'. Do you think a simple ground block is going to save your DTV from a direct hit? I don't think so. That's like saying your concrete home is safe from a nuclear blast, when you're well within the blast radius.

Direct Lightning Strikes will most likely wipe out everything electrical inside your home, and may also set your house on fire. The only way to fully protect your home theatre equipment from a direct lightning strike, is to unplug surge protector from the power source and switch to UPS battery, and disconnect all coax leading to the dish and CATV. Indoor/Attic OTAs come in handy, with these scenarios.

[MONSTERMAN]

Ground blocks are only effective for minor electrical discharges, only, and 10AWG ground wire is only effective up to 20'. Do you think a simple ground block is going to save your DTV from a direct hit? I don't think so. That's like saying your concrete home is safe from a nuclear blast, when you're well within the blast radius.

Direct Lightning Strikes will most likely wipe out everything electrical inside your home, and may also set your house on fire. The only way to fully protect your home theatre equipment from a direct lightning strike, is to unplug surge protector from the power source and switch to UPS battery, and disconnect all coax leading to the dish and CATV. Indoor/Attic OTAs come in handy, with these scenarios.

I never understood the Directv requirement of having #6 grounding wire. Is #6 grounding wire actually 6AWG wire (wouldn't that be huge)? I have never seen 6AWG solid bare copper insulated. I fail to believe that 10AWG solid insulated wire and a single 1/2" 6ft grounding rod wouldn't be enough to get rid of any built up charge in the coax or dish. :nono2:

Not worried about lightning, if I was I would get a lightning rod b/c any grounding wouldn't help against it. As of now I just have lightning surge arrestors, the Altelicon Lightning Protector Coaxial Gas Discharge Tube Surge Protectors - 0-3 GHz Operation.

[bt-rtp]

The larger #6 wire is recommended to provide the best possible path of least resistance for longer distances. If the length between the two points was only a few feet, a smaller size ground wire would be effective. However, most ground wire runs are much longer than that, on the order of 50 feet or so, thus the use of #6 wire.

I never understood the Directv requirement of having #6 grounding wire. Is #6 grounding wire actually 6AWG wire (wouldn't that be huge)? I have never seen 6AWG solid bare copper insulated. I fail to believe that 10AWG solid insulated wire and a single 1/2" 6ft grounding rod wouldn't be enough to get rid of any built up charge in the coax or dish. :nono2:

Not worried about lightning, if I was I would get a lightning rod b/c any grounding wouldn't help against it.

[bwaldron]

I ground all the coax but I've never grounded the dish itself (going on 12 years now).

Same here -- going on 20 years w/ various dishes in the lightning capital of the U.S.

[glennb]

I've never grounded my dish either. Never had a problem. I don't lose any sleep over it.

I don't have a UPS in the house either.

I do ground the coax before it comes in the house.

[houskamp]

I have mine grounded but seems kinda redundant figuiring that you have the sheilds of 4 rg6 cables grounded (at ground block and/or switch)

[aim2pls]

As a jackleg engineer, I wouldn't have a dish or any other outside antenna
without gounding. Metal things sticking up in the air become lightning rods.

actually grounding them makes them a ligthning rod ..... go look at some barns or commercial buildings with "lightning" rods on them >>>> they are grounded

[aim2pls]

consider the "fact" a very large number of power surges caused by lightning strikes come in thru the power lines and telco lines .... here in the last 30 years ...2 power line hits ...1 telco hit .... since 1983 ZERO satellite dish hits (un-grounded)

[glennb]

actually grounding them makes them a ligthning rod ..... go look at some barns or commercial buildings with "lightning" rods on them >>>> they are grounded

Is this a sentence or sentences ?
I don't see any indication of a beginning or an end of a sentence or sentences.
:D

[ironwood]

Isnt dish automatically grounded if cable is grounded since cable is connected to the dish anyway?

[aim2pls]

Is this a sentence or sentences ?
I don't see any indication of a beginning or an end of a sentence or sentences.
:D


there is no beginning or ending to the grounding issue

[wildbill129]

there is no beginning or ending to the grounding issue

AMEN to that!!!!

[flogduh]

there is no beginning or ending to the grounding issue

This issue is the equivalent to the Mustang Forums "synthetic versus petroleum motor oil" debate...:D

[BK EH]

This issue is the equivalent to the Mustang Forums "synthetic versus petroleum motor oil" debate...:D
You're now grounded for bringing that one up. :lol:

[jaguar325]

No blocks here.. I am in a woods surrounded by pine trees.. they will take the hit unless my house takes one directly and a burned up HR2x will be the least of my worries then. I have had power line and cable line strikes - blew a part in my A/V receiver on the power line spike and fried a router, PC modem and Laptop soundcard on the cable spike (all were run through surge protectors).

[Canis Lupus]

My dish is grounded with #12, but the run from dish to ground service (left over from previous cable co.) is only about 8 feet.