Grounding your dish?

[coinmaster32]

Pardon if this has been discussed before, but years ago when they installed DIRECTV, they ALWAYS grounded the dish.

I recently had a new dish installed on the roof, and it was not grounded. I noticed almost all of new satellite dish installs, whether it be DIRECTV or Dish Network, are never grounded, at least in my area.

 

[Mr Tony]

my original 18" install was grounded...the new one (HD) isnt

 

[coinmaster32]

Ya I think it got expensive for them after the price of copper went up.

Also, it's really kind of a moot point, kind of like winning the lottery.

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

your dish is supposed to be grounded, and that tech would fail a qc, if you call 1800dtv and bitch theyll send someone to ground it, but most techs just dont care. If your house gets hit 12g copper isnt going to protect anything.

 

[coinmaster32]

Really I don't think its necessarily important to ground, because I have not seen any new installs with it.

 

[Jimbo]

Really I don't think its necessarily important to ground, because I have not seen any new installs with it.

But they ARE grounded at the Ground block, right ?

 

[coinmaster32]

But they ARE grounded at the Ground block, right ?

No. I know several people who have D* and E*, and there is no ground present. There is a ground block there, but no ground connected to it.

 

[Jimbo]

No. I know several people who have D* and E*, and there is no ground present. There is a ground block there, but no ground connected to it.

Nice ....

I ground the ground block, but not the dish by it's own.
If your coax is done correctly, I think it will ground the whole set up.

 

[coinmaster32]

Well, no more thunderstorms for the rest of the year, so I think I will leave it like it is, then worry about grounding it in the spring.

If the ground block is screwed into the mast, then the mast and dish are already grounded.

How long does the ground rod have to be?

 

[Mr Tony]

But they ARE grounded at the Ground block, right ?

neither of mine were grounded at a ground block. 1st tech had a ground wire in the dual cable and that he grounded to cold water pipe I guess
second tech never grounded it...of course it was -4 out when that was done

 

[coinmaster32]

Does D* have to provide a ground rod when they install a dish? I can't see spending $25 on a ground rod and another $10 for a small roll of 10 gauge if D* can do it for free.

 

[stardust3]

Oh lord, this is going to be a heated thread..............

 

[Liquidforce88]

All satellite installs are required by code to have the system grounded. Every system should have atleast a 17ga ground wire run from the dish to the ground block. A 10ga ground wire should go from the ground block to the house main electric ground, or a bonded cold water line in some area's is ok.

With that said, being grounded make no difference if it is hit by lighting. The ground really is not there for that. It is there to disapate static build up o the dish. There is some debate as to if this makes any difference in a dish getting hit by lighting or not. Personally every time I have heard of dishes getting hit it's 50 50 on if they were grounded. So in my experience it makes no difference.

 

[Liquidforce88]

Does D* have to provide a ground rod when they install a dish? I can't see spending $25 on a ground rod and another $10 for a small roll of 10 gauge if D* can do it for free.

No they will not provide a ground rod. You have to be a licenced electrician to install one, as it is altering the house ground system. The only way to properly install the ground rod for a satellite system, is that is has to be bonded to the main electric ground with #6 braided copper wire. You can't just put in a rod.

 

[Jimbo]

No they will not provide a ground rod. You have to be a licenced electrician to install one, as it is altering the house ground system. The only way to properly install the ground rod for a satellite system, is that is has to be bonded to the main electric ground with #6 braided copper wire. You can't just put in a rod.

Interesting that the Sat company would have codes that are more than the Telco's ....

We use Solid 10 ga copper to ground with, normally going to the Edison ground whenever possible.

 

[Liquidforce88]

Interesting that the Sat company would have codes that are more than the Telco's ....

We use Solid 10 ga copper to ground with, normally going to the Edison ground whenever possible.

Jimbo a 10ga solid copper wire is all that is needed from the ground block to the main ground for a satellite system. I was just saying you can't just pound in a ground rod for the satellite system without bonding that ground rod back to the main ground with a #6 braided wire.

 

[coinmaster32]

You just can't put in a rod? The ground rod for the electrical system is over 200 foot away from the dish. 200 foot of copper would be pricy as hell.

Couldn't I just drive a rod in the ground near the dish, and ground it to that?

EDIT:

"The NEC likes grounding wires to be limited to 20'. For longer runs, a separate equipment grounding rod can be driven. Now here is the important part. Under no circumstances may multiple grounding rods be allowed to be electrically separate. They must be bonded with 6ga copper wire or better."

Screw it, I'm not doing all that work, and spend a shitton of money on 6 gauge copper wire to back bond it.

 

[Liquidforce88]

Couldn't I just drive a rod in the ground near the dish, and ground it to that?

No because you could have a situation where that would be a better ground than the main ground. As such you would have no circuit breaker protection. It can be a dangerous setup, better to leave it ungrounded.

 

[Liquidforce88]

Sounds like you need to call Multiband and have the system installed properly. What area are you in?

 

[coinmaster32]

Sounds like you need to call Multiband and have the system installed properly. What area are you in?

Illinois.

I can't have the dish relocated. They used some kind of sticky sheet of tar to waterproof the dish on the roof. I don't want to have the dish removed, because that would leave holes in the roof, and that sticky tar is a bitch to remove.