After a recent lightning storm in my neighborhood many of my neighbors and my family lost garage door openers, televisions, and computers. Thankfully I only lost my garage door opener! I had acceptable point of use surge protection…I think.
I’ve since upgraded my point of use surge protectors to 6000 joule models, installed a Siemens Surge Protector Breaker in my main panel, and also put a Cutler-Hammer Surge Trap at the point of entry that should help protect my phone line, cable TV line, and add a little more surge suppression to the Siemens unit in the main panel.
Now I want to upgrade my outdoor grounding system. My house is only 2 years old so I assume it has the standard minimal code requirement of a couple of rods with #4 copper wire connecting them via acorn bolts. I’d like to create a ground loop circling half the house with rods about 10 feet from each other off the same #4 copper.
Here’s my question: I have access to 1 inch rebar and I can get as much as I want for free. May I use this for my grounding rods at lengths of 6 feet each? Or should I go out to Home Depot and spend $7.00 for the copper rods they have there? Is rebar suitable for this sort of grounding application?
First welcome, Ryan We try not to give advice to DIY, i can understand your concern, after your experience with, a near strike, there are codes, and standards for grounding electrode systems, more is not always better, but if you do extend it, get the proper material, and placement information.
