250.54 is not the correct reference. 250.54 applies only to electrodes that are not required to be installed, such as optional electrodes that you might find in a lighting pole, or for a piece of equipment. The NEC recognizes the fact these electrodes do little if anything at all, and therefore 250.54 states that there are no sizing, routing or temination provisions to be complied with.
The electrodes being discussed here, however, are in fact required to be installed, and therefore they muist be installed in a code compliant manner. Becasue 90.3 considers chapter 8 to be a stand alone code, Article 250 is not to be referred to at all, unless something in chapter 8 tells you to refer to Article 250.
The installation you seem to be concerned with is communications, and therefore Article 800 needs to be examined. We start with section 800.100(B)(1) of the 2005 edition which requires that communications system not only be earth grounded, but that it must be bonded to the power system grounding electrode system, in accordance with 800.100(B)(1), or the other components listed in that subsection, which will ultimatley ensure that the power system and phone system are both grounded to the same location. Such grounding conductor must be less than 20 feet in length. If this can't be done, you are required to drive a ground rod at least 5' deep, then tie the new ground rod to the pwoer grounding system, again, as discussed in 800.100(B)(1).
although the various service providers never comply with thee requirements, you can find the same requirements for other limited energy circuits, such as coaxial cables for CATV, satelite installations and for network powered broadband systems. This should help your equipment from geting wiped out.
If this doesn't make sense, let me know Paul or original author.
Perhaps you might even get lucky and have an expert reply to this thread!
[This message has been edited by Ryan_J (edited 07-04-2005).]
