Grounding Dish to an OutSide 220 Hot Tub electrical box

747 Views 6 Replies 6 Participants Last post by techrep, Aug 14, 2008

scottchez

Discussion Starter · Aug 13, 2008

Yes I know there are so many Grounding threads, I searched and have read all of them.

Proper Grounding is very important to me as we had Two Lightening hits near by both just several houses down already this summer.

====New Question====

Can you ground to a Hot Tub Electrical Box that has 220 service?

I went out and re measured (I was way off).
It is 57 feet to the Main Ground from the Dish location and Coax IN. About 67 to the Dish if you count the Dish on the 1st story roof line.

It is about 25' to an Out Side Hot Tub Electrical Box with 220 service in it. The box is out side mounted on the house.

Can I ground to it?
If so how do you connect to it?
I would not need a 2nd ground rod bounded to the main using the expensive #6 cooper as this box is a lot closer. Its the closest thing.

Does this meet Code? If it does not meet code guidelines, is it the best solution anyway since the dish is so far away from the electrical main ground?

Save

1 - 7 of 7 Posts

RobertE

· #2 · Aug 13, 2008

You'll get a lot of replies as to what is and isn't acceptable.

To be blunt, no one here can say for sure what will pass in your town. The only one that can is your local building/code enforement officer. Many will quote NEC this and that, which is fine, NEC will keep you safe. Compliance with local code is the only thing that will keep you legal.

Save

BattleZone

· #3 · Aug 13, 2008

That hot tub box *should* be grounded to the main house ground already. Grounding there would pass DirecTV's grounding rules. As Robert correctly pointed out, though, your local code may require above and beyond NEC requirements.

Save

harsh

· #4 · Aug 13, 2008

The box is not a valid NEC bonding point if:

1. The box isn't metallic
2. The box isn't connected to the service entrance ground by continuous metallic conduit.

In my experience, most hot tubs are wired with non-conducting water tight conduit.

Using the hot tub's ground wire is not allowed by NEC.

Save

techrep

· #5 · Aug 13, 2008

The hot tub disconnect box should have a grounding bar inside of it. If that grounding bar has at least a number 8 ground wire running to the house main ground, I would not have a problem with grounding the dish to the disconnect's ground bar.

Save

K4SMX

· #6 · Aug 13, 2008

If you drive a separate 8' ground rod directly underneath your dish and ground your dish to it, you might be able to use a run of #6 from there to the hot tub panel box ground as a means of bonding your dish ground rod to the service ground, if it's in the same direction as a separate line would be. Not allowed by the NEC, but for sure you don't want to use a 60' run as your primary ground of a roof-mounted dish, especially through the hot tub wiring, which in any case, is probably not #6.

Save

techrep

· #7 · Aug 14, 2008

K4SMX said:
If you drive a separate 8' ground rod directly underneath your dish and ground your dish to it, you might be able to use a run of #6 from there to the hot tub panel box ground as a means of bonding your dish ground rod to the service ground, if it's in the same direction as a separate line would be. Not allowed by the NEC, but for sure you don't want to use a 60' run as your primary ground of a roof-mounted dish, especially through the hot tub wiring, which in any case, is probably not #6.

Sound advise and, there may be a ground rod at the hot tub as required in some areas.

Save

1 - 7 of 7 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month