Grounding Coaxial Cable

[Lucid Moments]

So this is a little bit of an odd situation. I built my house too far from the road for Comcast to run cable to my house. I have gotten figures from them of between 350 feet and 437 feet. What I am doing to work around this is I have built an outbuilding roughly 200 feet from where cable has to enter my house and am going to get Comcast to run cable to that and then run network cable back to my house. I have talked this over with one of their installers and they assure me that as long as they can ground their cable they have no problem doing this.

So my question is what do I need to do so that they have no issues with grounding their cable? Obviously I am going to have to have power out at the building and am planning on burying 3 wire power out to the building. Do I need to have a separate panel (subpanel) installed in the outbuilding or is just a grounded outlet at the building sufficient?

 

[dogdog]

they sell grounding blocks for coax... or if it is for antenna or satellite dish they also have coax with ground wire on the side....

coax "should" be ground at the entrance to the building/house. Grounded that block or wire to a electrical ground is what all the cable installer or satellite installer does...

just go search for coax grounding block. You are suppose to tie it to a grounding point...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XDX5PNN/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Lucid Moments]

they sell grounding blocks for coax... or if it is for antenna or satellite dish they also have coax with ground wire on the side....

coax "should" be ground at the entrance to the building/house. Grounded that block or wire to a electrical ground is what all the cable installer or satellite installer does...

just go search for coax grounding block. You are suppose to tie it to a grounding point...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XDX5PNN/?tag=atomicindus08-20

But can I just have an outlet in the outbuilding or do I need to have a sub panel in the outbuilding and pound in a new grounding rod at the outbuilding?

 

[dogdog]

But can I just have an outlet in the outbuilding or do I need to have a sub panel in the outbuilding and pound in a new grounding rod at the outbuilding?

my cable installer attached the ground to the metal conduit for the main which happens to be about a foot away from it.... I just remember reading some where it needs to be grounded before entering the building/house... can't quote it back for you... Pretty sure some one well versed in the NEC can tell you what section you will find that reference...

 

[wyliesdiesels]

So this is a little bit of an odd situation. I built my house too far from the road for Comcast to run cable to my house. I have gotten figures from them of between 350 feet and 437 feet. What I am doing to work around this is I have built an outbuilding roughly 200 feet from where cable has to enter my house and am going to get Comcast to run cable to that and then run network cable back to my house.

Have you though of asking them if they will run larger coax such RG11 or bigger straight to your house so you dont have to do all this other stuff?

Also, if you do go with the shed route, I would run fiber instead of copper ethernet so you dont have potential between the buildings or use ethernet surge/lightening arrestors.

I have talked this over with one of their installers and they assure me that as long as they can ground their cable they have no problem doing this.

So my question is what do I need to do so that they have no issues with grounding their cable? Obviously I am going to have to have power out at the building and am planning on burying 3 wire power out to the building. Do I need to have a separate panel (subpanel) installed in the outbuilding or is just a grounded outlet at the building sufficient?

What they need is a grounding electrode. This is for lightening suppression. A grounded outlet will not suffice because the ground on an outlet is a different animal than a grounding electrode. The ground on an outlet is a low impedance fault current pathway. A grounding electrode is suppressing and shunting lightening.

When you say you will run power out there, will this be a 120v circuit or 120/240v circuit?

But can I just have an outlet in the outbuilding or do I need to have a sub panel in the outbuilding and pound in a new grounding rod at the outbuilding?

you need a grounding electrode.

 

[Lucid Moments]

Have you though of asking them if they will run larger coax such RG11 or bigger straight to your house so you dont have to do all this other stuff?

Also, if you do go with the shed route, I would run fiber instead of copper ethernet so you dont have potential between the buildings or use ethernet surge/lightening arrestors.



What they need is a grounding electrode. This is for lightening suppression. A grounded outlet will not suffice because the ground on an outlet is a different animal than a grounding electrode. The ground on an outlet is a low impedance fault current pathway. A grounding electrode is suppressing and shunting lightening.

When you say you will run power out there, will this be a 120v circuit or 120/240v circuit?



you need a grounding electrode.

I asked them about running different cable and was told no. Their installers only have one kind of cable on their trucks, and only that cable. Believe me I really wanted this to be simple, but Comcrap wasn't having any of that. Unfortunately they are the only provider for my location.

I did consider fiber optics but I had cat 6 wire run when building the house so cat 6 is already in place and exiting the house.

I only plan to run 120 to the outbuilding.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Well even 200’ is a bit long for rg6.

Theres a couple schools and paint store out here with a drop thats around 100’ and comcast put in rg11.

Have you tried calling comcast to see if you could put in a special request?

Or maybe buy the cable preterminated and have them put it in?

However at 350’ you will need several poles to hold it up.

 

[Lucid Moments]

The outbuilding is already built, just no electricity to it yet. That is the way it is going to go so at this point I am just trying to make it so that Comcrap doesn't have any further excuse for not running service.

 

[mike93lx]

You switch back to fiber when you get to the house

 

[dogdog]

why not just pound a stick of ground rod on the side of your outbuilding... the ground they are referring to is for lighten... $15 item and super easy to do unless you hit a rock


https://www.homedepot.com/p/ERICO-5-8-in-x-8-ft-Copper-Ground-Rod-615880UPC/202195738

 

[yatg]

Can we assume this is only for internet?
You won't be able to get TV or phone from Comcast if you convert to fiber or copper at the shed.

 

[Lucid Moments]

Can we assume this is only for internet?
You won't be able to get TV or phone from Comcast if you convert to fiber or copper at the shed.

Yes only or internet. I gave up TV a while back and haven't had a land line since the early 2000's

 

[TRWham]

The outbuilding is already built, just no electricity to it yet. That is the way it is going to go so at this point I am just trying to make it so that Comcrap doesn't have any further excuse for not running service.

I don't know what Comcast requires, but because this is an outbuilding, if you run power to it, you will need 2 8' ground rods at least 6 feet apart to satisfy NEC.

 

[Lucid Moments]

why not just pound a stick of ground rod on the side of your outbuilding... the ground they are referring to is for lighten... $15 item and super easy to do unless you hit a rock


https://www.homedepot.com/p/ERICO-5-8-in-x-8-ft-Copper-Ground-Rod-615880UPC/202195738

I very well may do that. But I have to have power out there too so I am just trying to figure out the best way to do it, and get Comcast where they can not possibly complain.

 

[BillK]

How far is the run from the street to the house ? I know a guy that had Comcast run cable a LOT further than 500 ft but he did have to pay for it.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

How far is the run from the street to the house ? I know a guy that had Comcast run cable a LOT further than 500 ft but he did have to pay for it.

He said 350 to 437‘ in the OP

 

[Lucid Moments]

How far is the run from the street to the house ? I know a guy that had Comcast run cable a LOT further than 500 ft but he did have to pay for it.

He said 350 to 437‘ in the OP

I had two different quotes from Comcrap to run the cable for me. Comcast residential said $5,700.00 and I thought that was a little high. Someone suggested that I try Comcast business so I did and they quoted me $36,000.00. My way is going to be a whole lot cheaper. Probably not better I will grant, but at this point I would pay more to a 3rd party just to keep from paying Comcrap any more than I have to.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

I did some research and even 200’ is way too long for RG6.

RG6 is what is typically used for shorter drops and you said the installers only carry one type cable so most likely its rg6.

Im surprised they would install rg6 at 200’. There will be a lot of line loss, noise and reflection. Possibly to the point of even preventing the modem from getting a useable signal.

The quotes you got were for either directional bore or overhead hardline extension on a pole. This would possibly include an amp as well.

How about running the RG11 yourself? Setup a pedestal near the road where they can drop their RG6, then ask if you can use an amplifier to boost the signal then extend it to your house with the rg11.