old murray panel/ground to siding

[bobbyjean]

my house has an old murray panel less main breaker...i guess it was considered a budget panel back in the day...home built in 1965...i have asked a few electricians about this over the years..one old guy said he remembers them...
ok-so i have worked with it over the years i have lived here...no problem...my issue was with the grounding of service...i don't know if you will believe this but it was grounded to the aluminum siding only......i changed that out rite away to ground rods-seems interesting to me that way back when this was ok vs. today's code's.
anyone ever seen this type of setup before?

 

[Stuff]

Two different issues. GEC needs to go to ground and it was always the water pipe. For safety other metal likely to be energized needs to be bonded. Most of the time aluminum siding is ignored but some inspectors have been known to require it.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Are you sure there wasnt another GEC bond going to water pipe somewhere?

Metal siding would not be a proper electrode in any shape or form seeing as how its not in the earth.

But as said above, any metal structure that should NOT be energized SHOULD be bonded to neutral(main service panel only) or ground to prevent the metal from becoming energized.

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

Are you sure there wasnt another GEC bond going to water pipe somewhere?

Metal siding would not be a proper electrode in any shape or form seeing as how its not in the earth.

But as said above, any metal structure that should NOT be energized SHOULD be bonded to neutral(main service panel only) or ground to prevent the metal from becoming energized.

That would be my guess also.

 

[bobbyjean]

well...i traced the ground wire from panel to a clamp at the bottom of siding...i would guess that a ground rod may have been installed , could not locate the wire/rod...only found clamp...wire size at clamp was large so i guess they junctioned at that point

 

[bobbyjean]

no gec on water pipe...have a well...pipe to it is plastic

 

[Stuff]

Check at the meter box. Sometimes GEC attached there.

 

[sberry]

Agree they didn't ground to it but grounded it as it should be.