|
Posted by Choreboy on July 15, 2005, 3:38 am
"CL (dnoyeB) Gilbert" wrote:
>
> Well I spoke too soon. Yesterday I was on my computer when I saw a
> flash under my desk and heard a pop. Then I heard the rumble of
> thunder. It was immediately clear they were related. My wife
> downstairs saw something similar behind the TV.
>
> My computer froze (or so it appeared) and I turned it off and on again.
> it still worked but no internet. To make the story short, My router
> and cable modem in the basement had many of their network plugs fried.
>
> The cable modem had its only network plug fried, and my router had its
> WAN port fried, and 2 of 4 LAN ports were fried.
>
> The equipment is plugged into an outlet 1 foot away from my electrical
> service panel. No Surge protector. But an alarm next to it and a co2
> detector next to that were not damaged. After a bit of investigation I
> have come to believe the surge came in on the cable TV line. Went into
> my cable model, and out through the network cable and into my router.
> And out of the router into the computer I was on, and another one
> downstairs. (Neither computer was damaged)
>
> I went outside, lo and behold there is my cable grounding block sans a
> ground wire. IDIOTS!
>
> Do I need to call an electrician to ground this thing? Should I call
> the cable company and give them an ear full and the bill for my
> equipment? Is this a code violation?
>
> --
> Respectfully,
>
> CL Gilbert
I've been told telcos ignore the electrical code and avoid inspections
by not getting work permits.
Today a neighbor told me that when he pointed out a code violation in
the electrical service to his house, a power-company representive
replied that the power company ignores electrical codes.
NEC 820.33 says your cable must be grounded as close as possible to its
entrance. NEC 820.40 says the grounding conductor should be insulated
14 AWG copper no longer than 20 feet. If it's more than 20 feet to your
main building grounding electrode, you drive an electrode for your cable
ground, then connect that electrode to your main grounding electrode
with 6 AWG copper.
I've read that it could cause problems for a cable company if their
cable were connected to a household ground. What's required is an
isolator (two baluns, for example) so that grounding your end doesn't
ground the whole cable system to your electrode. I suppose an isolator
costs a dollar or so, and the installer ignored the whole thing. Shocking!
At one time in Europe it was customary to display the detached heads of
certain malefactors on poles. Problems with lightning damage from
ungrounded CATV were not common in those days. Coincidence?
| 
Yahoo! 
Google 
Windows Live 
del.icio.us 
digg 
Netscape 
XML Sitemap