Does dish have to be grounded?
- Thread starter coinmaster32
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Is grounding part of the installation?...............Yes
Will the system work without it?.....................Yes
Do electric codes require grounding?...............Yes
Have millions of small dish satellite reception systems been running for over a decade without issue while ungrounded?................Yes
Another series of questions might be:
Does anyone know of an installation job that has been canceled because it could not be grounded?
Does anyone know of an ungrounded installation that has ever caused injury or property damage because it was ungrounded?
Has any tech ever been back charged or otherwise not been paid for an ungrounded installation?
This will leave the difference between grounding and bonding for another time
: even though another generation wants to know
Joe
Will the system work without it?.....................Yes
Do electric codes require grounding?...............Yes
Have millions of small dish satellite reception systems been running for over a decade without issue while ungrounded?................Yes
Another series of questions might be:
Does anyone know of an installation job that has been canceled because it could not be grounded?
Does anyone know of an ungrounded installation that has ever caused injury or property damage because it was ungrounded?
Has any tech ever been back charged or otherwise not been paid for an ungrounded installation?
This will leave the difference between grounding and bonding for another time
: even though another generation wants to knowJoe
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As I understand it, the wind blowing across the dish generates a static charge, which must discharge somewhere, the only point then is the coax, which can fry the receiver. Grounding the dish allows any static buildup to go into the ground instead of the receiver.
coinmaster32 said:
I suggest keeping your service plan then, free shipped recievers all day long.....
I know this post will create another round of grounding proponents and opponents, but technically, if a static charge is built up around the dish it cannot discharge through the coax. The coax is shielded and the plastic yoke separates the LNB/coax fittings from the metal dish. Kind of hard to get that static to jump across the plastic. The messenger attached to the coax cable is attached to the dish mast/foot to allow the static to discharge safely. As the previous poster stated, millions of dishes are operating safely that have never had the dish or the system grounded. Look at any apartment that has a dish on the balcony. There's no approved way to ground it. Were it a safety, liability, or NEC issue, Dish Network would outlaw all apartment installations. CLEARLY THEY DON'T. Revenue trumps safety and liability. I had my dish installed at my home in South Florida (lightning capital of the world) with no ground from the dish or the ground block. It never gave me an issue for 5 years.
In my opinion, grounding serves no useful purpose other than making Dish feel more comfortable about legalities in the event someone's system gets fried (usually from surges from the electrical grid or telephone outlets). It gives them an out by saying, "our system was properly grounded, so you can't pursue us for any damages".
I hardly ever ground or run a ground on an install I do or come across - it just isn't possible or makes sense to do with no ground located or on the other side of the house. I do them if they are pretty close and I can see a ground point but otherwise I don't fool with it as it doesn't hurt anything that I've ever seen.
Agreed. There clearly is a disconnect when Dish Network mandates that the system and dish must be grounded, but they allow their systems to be installed at apartments. Must not be that much of an issue.
Why does it seem like we are getting consumer posts in the Installer zone?
As far a grounding yes it's required. You probably will never have an issue with the system because of it. I have seen far more systems have problems because they are grounded , than because they were not.
There are many theory's of why a system should be grounded.
Supposed to keep stray charges from wind not harm equipment. Can't really say I belive this, as I don't see grounded systems having more equipment problems.
Not allow a charge to build on the dish, that may attract a lighting strike. I have only ever seen three systems that were without a doubt hit by lighting. 2 of the three were properly grounded.
Lesson the effects of an actual lighting strike. I call total BS on this. As all three systems that were hit, were totally blown apart. Dish, cables, ground blocks, receivers, tv's and anything else that was connected to it.
As far a grounding yes it's required. You probably will never have an issue with the system because of it. I have seen far more systems have problems because they are grounded , than because they were not.
There are many theory's of why a system should be grounded.
Supposed to keep stray charges from wind not harm equipment. Can't really say I belive this, as I don't see grounded systems having more equipment problems.
Not allow a charge to build on the dish, that may attract a lighting strike. I have only ever seen three systems that were without a doubt hit by lighting. 2 of the three were properly grounded.
Lesson the effects of an actual lighting strike. I call total BS on this. As all three systems that were hit, were totally blown apart. Dish, cables, ground blocks, receivers, tv's and anything else that was connected to it.
coinmaster32 said:
Do you really think a messenger wire is going to protect the dish from a direct lightning strike? If you do, you can always call Dish and convince them to roll a truck back out to replace all the cabling. Besides, your Hopper is grounded if your electrical wiring was done correctly. Now go back to the Dish complaints forum. Run along now.
I saw a dish that was hit by lightning once and all it did was heat shrink the reflector inward to cause a 40% signal drop, didn't hurt nothing else - lightning is a weird thing!
Installer here. I have been watching TV with an ungrounded system for a decade now. NO problems.
That really doesn't even make sense, as Jarvant said the coax is isolated from the Dish, but even if it wasn't (Like DirecTV) the "static charge" (cough cough BS cough cough) would be drained at the ground block, and even if it wasn't grounded, it would be drained by the ground prong at the receivers power plug. I have seen countless systems running for over a decade, ungrounded w/o receivers frying. I have never bothered to ground one of my personal dishes. My house wasn't prewired, I certainly wasn't going to wrap cables around it to the house ground. If it had been convenient/prewired, I would have.
Technically, the dish grounding required by Dish & DTV doesn't meet NEC standards, IMHO, it is all a joke. The NEC was never rewritten for dishes, they are considered "antennas" (Like the huge old ones used in the past). All you are really doing is creating an unapproved lightning rod by grounding the Dish.
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That is the very argument that I got from an electrician one time. He would not allow me to ground the system.
Do not mean to be rude.. But this is the installer area. You are not even supposed to be in here.. ask away up above.. Lots of us will answer.. I like this area just for us..
There should be a 17 ga messenger with the cable traveling to the grounding block from the Dish. The 17ga goes into a screw down at the GND block
i installed what was then called SKy View( international programming before Dish got it) for a Dish retailer. He told me he did not allow his techs to ground his installs.
Of course my install at his house was ungrounded.
Retail appears to be the last bastion of installing for installers. Should I ever get back into this business, it would be retail only.
There is so much flexibility.
Back in my tech days, the local DNS office hired a new install manager. He came to our shop and issued an edict.."All systems will be grounded"...This included apartments. This knucklehead suggested we ground the system to electrical outlets or light fixture on the exterior of the building. I could not believe it. You should have heard the groans. I am telling you it was close to mutiny in there. Everyone was pissed. And of course when the questions started, the IM got real defensive. It was like "how dare you lowlife jerks question ME!!!!"...After he left our place, we had a sit down with our management. THey said "no effing way are any of you guys going into these electrical connections".
That guy did not last long.
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