[mtnagel]

Okay, my installer did a crappy job of my installation. He actually removed the grounding block that was on two of the lines from the dish because he had issues with the signal when it was on. He just put adapters to hook up two lines together to make 1 long cable on instead of the grounding block.

I may do the work myself, but I may call Directv to see if they'll send someone out to correct it, but either way, I want to see what you guys would suggest about how to set it up. I have the AT9 dish, 3 DVRs, and the Zinwell multi-switch. The 2 DVRs are easily accessed through the basement floor, but the other DVR is on the second floor in our daughter's bedroom with no easy access since the house was built in 1937. Before the AT9 install, it was directly connected to the dish and then the lines went along the roof and into the wall of our daughter's bedroom. No grounding. Now it's doing the same thing except it's going through the multi-switch. I'd like to set it up correctly and ground all the lines and the dish and move the multi-switch in the house.

Questions:

I assume I can ground the lines in the basement, right?
I now have a ground wire now that's attached to the gas pipe and one attached to the water pipe in the basement. Does it matter which I use?
Do I ground the 4 lines that go into the multi-switch?
Or the 6 lines after the multi-switch?
Is there any problem with running the 2 lines for my daughter's DVR from the multi-switch in the basement back outside and running the lines outside and back through the wall to her DVR?
How do you ground the dish?

Here's an awful drawing using MS Paint that should hopefully explain what I'm thinking will work. Of course nothing is to scale and the 4 lines that go through the house and 2 lines that come back out will all go through the same hole. Please correct anything that's wrong or just stupid. Thanks.

 

[carl6]

Questions:

I assume I can ground the lines in the basement, right?

You want to ground them as close to the point they enter the house as possible, either inside or outside.

I now have a ground wire now that's attached to the gas pipe and one attached to the water pipe in the basement. Does it matter which I use?

Is either tied to your actual electrical ground? One should be, I would guess water. That is the one you want to use.

Do I ground the 4 lines that go into the multi-switch?

Yes

Or the 6 lines after the multi-switch?

No

Is there any problem with running the 2 lines for my daughter's DVR from the multi-switch in the basement back outside and running the lines outside and back through the wall to her DVR?

No.

How do you ground the dish?

Run a line from the dish itself (attached to one of the screws or bolts that hold the mount) to a ground point.

Carl

 

[mtnagel]

You want to ground them as close to the point they enter the house as possible, either inside or outside.

Is either tied to your actual electrical ground? One should be, I would guess water. That is the one you want to use.

Yes

No

No.

Run a line from the dish itself (attached to one of the screws or bolts that hold the mount) to a ground point.

Carl

Thank you. How would I know if either is tied to an actual electrical ground? If you can't tell, I don't know much about electricity.

 

[carl6]

I can't really think of an easy or simple answer to that question, sorry. Look at where your electrical service comes in from the street. See if you can identify a rather heavy, bare copper or green insulated wire running between the electrical panel and a water pipe. Something along those lines, but I can't really be more specific as it could vary from case to case.

Carl

 

[mtnagel]

Thanks Carl. I'm pretty sure that's there, but I'll check when I get home.

So I guess the fact that the water pipe and gas pipe go into the ground doesn't mean they are grounded then, huh?

 

[Mike500]

First, the grounding should never be to a natural gas line.

The coaxial cables should be grounded with grounding blocks, outside of the structure. An 8 ft long ground rod needs to be driven into the ground at a point near the pole and bonded to the system house ground with a #6 copper conductor.

If your house was built in 1937, ad the electrical system has not been upgraded, yoy need to add an 8 foot grounding rod at the electrical panel. This rod should also be bonded to the water pipe system.

The bonding conductor can pass into the nasement to connect to the water pipe,
if the basement wall is of brick or any other masonary material. You'd have to check down the water pipe line to verify that there are no breaks in the metal conductor in the form of non metallic pipe repair sections, water heaters, water meters or the like. Any breaks found need to be jumpered with #6 copper and UL listed bonding clamps.

The coax feeds back outside need to be grounded with an additional grounding block with a wire of at least #14 copper or better going back to the grounding blocks conductor going into the basement and bonded with at least a copper UL listed split bolt. The original installer could have used messengered coal with a ground wire to do this.

Maybe overkill, but this would bring your sustem up to current NEC standards.

For weather protection, I prefer to enclose the grounding blocks in weatherproof plastic boxes.

 

[mtnagel]

First, the grounding should never be to a natural gas line.

The coaxial cables should be grounded with grounding blocks, outside of the structure. An 8 ft long ground rod needs to be driven into the ground at a point near the pole and bonded to the system house ground with a #6 copper conductor.

If your house was built in 1937, ad the electrical system has not been upgraded, yoy need to add an 8 foot grounding rod at the electrical panel. This rod should also be bonded to the water pipe system.

The bonding conductor can pass into the nasement to connect to the water pipe,
if the basement wall is of brick or any other masonary material. You'd have to check down the water pipe line to verify that there are no breaks in the metal conductor in the form of non metallic pipe repair sections, water heaters, water meters or the like. Any breaks found need to be jumpered with #6 copper and UL listed bonding clamps.

The coax feeds back outside need to be grounded with an additional grounding block with a wire of at least #14 copper or better going back to the grounding blocks conductor going into the basement and bonded with at least a copper UL listed split bolt. The original installer could have used messengered coal with a ground wire to do this.

Maybe overkill, but this would bring your sustem up to current NEC standards.

For weather protection, I prefer to enclose the grounding blocks in weatherproof plastic boxes.

The electrical system was definitely upgraded before we moved in. I'm pretty sure we have a good ground because on my surge suppressors and UPS, they say the outlets I'm using are grounded. I assume to means I have a good ground, correct?

Why do you say the grounding blocks should be outside? Especially if the ground is inside.

 

[Mike500]

The electrical system was definitely upgraded before we moved in. I'm pretty sure we have a good ground because on my surge suppressors and UPS, they say the outlets I'm using are grounded. I assume to means I have a good ground, correct?

I depends on when your system was upgraded. Prior to the 1996 NEC said that a water pipe only system ground was sufficient. Since then, all versions of the NEC requires an 8 ft. UL listed ground rod to be bonded to the system.

Why do you say the grounding blocks should be outside? Especially if the ground is inside.

Article 820 of the NEC requires that the cables be grounded outside of the structure, before it enters inside. I.E., the grounding rod needs to be sunk at the dish.