Satellite dish grounding

**Roland Miller** · 01-19-2009, 05:44 PM

Is a satellite dish required to be grounded?? What size ground would I use?

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**Rick Hurst** · 01-19-2009, 05:49 PM

Yes it should and with a 10AWG.

rick

**Roland Miller** · 01-19-2009, 05:55 PM

Rick--Is this something you look for during you inspections? Around here this is a very common omission during installation..

**Raymond Wand** · 01-19-2009, 06:03 PM

I never comment on satellite installations during inspection. However my own satellite and others I see are not grounded.

Cheers,

**Billy Stephens** · 01-19-2009, 06:11 PM

Originally Posted by Raymond Wand

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However my own satellite and others I see are not grounded.

Cheers,

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See required Grounding on Installation Instructions page 2.
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**Rick Hurst** · 01-19-2009, 06:18 PM

Originally Posted by Roland Miller

Rick--Is this something you look for during you inspections? Around here this is a very common omission during installation..

Yes I do, but many HI's do not.

rick

**Jerry Peck** · 01-19-2009, 07:45 PM

Rick,

Where do you look for it to be grounded to?

**Rick Hurst** · 01-19-2009, 09:28 PM

You should see it ground at either the grounding electrode, the metal service mast, or the service equipment enclosure. Some used to ground it to a cold water pipe but not many doing it any more.

rick

**Michael Thomas** · 01-19-2009, 09:32 PM

http://www.mikeholt.com/mojonewsarchive/GB-HTML/HTML/GroundingSatelliteDishandLead-InCables~20020303.htm

**Rick Hurst** · 01-19-2009, 09:39 PM

I find many that the wire to the grounding rod / electrode are loose or not secured at all.

rick

**Matt Fellman** · 01-19-2009, 09:54 PM

The cable, sat TV and phone companies around here run green ground wires to the nearest hose bib on older houses (usually, running the wire across as much of the front surface of the house as possible). Newer houses have a grounding point to bond to, usually outside, near the utility entrance on the side of the garage or near the electric meter.

I don't specifically look for grounding of cable/phone but when I run across the clamps I'll tug on them to be sure they're tight and make sure the pipe is eventually bonded through the service.

**Jerry Peck** · 01-20-2009, 12:41 PM

Rick,

The reason I asked 'where to' is because if you looked for that #10 AWG to go to a ground rod remote from the service area, which would be acceptable, you would then want to look for a properly sized bonding wire from that remote ground rod to the service grounding electrode system, not just using a #10 AWG for that.

Looking for it to go to the grounding electrode system is good, solves the bonding problem and reduces the electrical resistance and impedance from the antenna to the grounding electrode system ... unless, as Matt said "(usually, running the wire across as much of the front surface of the house as possible)", in which case that wire would be run incorrectly and a remote grounding electrode (ground rod) should be installed, which would get back to the reason for my question ...

Running the "grounding conductor" around the house to the "rounding electrode" is improper as the 2008 NEC says: (underlining is mine)
- ARTICLE 810 Radio and Television Equipment
- - II. Receiving Equipment — Antenna Systems
- - - 810.21 Grounding Conductors — Receiving Stations
- - - - (E) Run in Straight Line. The grounding conductor for an antenna mast or antenna discharge unit shall be run in as straight a line as practicable from the mast or discharge unit to the grounding electrode.

That means that if the antenna is locate 'someplace other than' near the electrical service or where it can be properly grounded with as short a conductor as possible, then a remote grounding electrode should be provided, which, of course, would then need to be bonded back to the grounding electrode system, with a much larger size conductor.