Is an "Intersystem Bonding Termination" bar needed at a mobile home park,if so where do you install it? How about do you need a ground rod at the mobile home?

I suppose it depends if these are park model mobile homes or RVs.
Around here, if it is being permitted as a dwelling unit it is treated like a house. If you rtake the wheels off, it is permitted.
We drive a rod at the MH and these days I would want to see the IBT right there where the service feeder enters the unit. That is also where the ground rod typically goes.

If this is a cord and plug connected RV, we stop at the power post. If the park is providing phone and cable/satellite, the IBT would be there.

Thanks Greg. I think I can agree with you to a point. I'm wrestling with the code reference lacking related to driving a rod at the MH v. the pedestal. My feeling is that the definition of the IBT leaves us hanging when it comes to MHs. I also can find no code reference asking for a rod or any other electrode at the MH. In the real world they drive a rod at the MH and connect it to the grounding buss in the panel or to the frame of the home. My feeling is that the IBT should be at the demark for the system, phone, cable etc. This creates a problem if it is located at the pedestal because the cable or phone line must then extend to the MH from the pedestal. As far as taking the wheels off, around here, it's still a MH with or without wheels. Thanks for your comments as usual.

The current wind code is making it hard to set any kind of mobile home so we see a lot of "RVs".
They still need a permit of this is not cord and plug connected and if they take the wheels off.
It is considered a manufactured home and it has to be certified for the applicable wind code. (140-170 MPH in this county) That severely limits any new installations.
http://gfretwell.com/electrical/2012%20wind%20code%20map.jpg

This is defined in 550.33 and (A)(2) will get you to the ground rod.

I think you're right, and your question cannot be answered by parsing code language.

Nor should it; after all, the NEC is neither design manual nor instruction book. It says so itself. One is, after all, to already have mastered the trade. So, we have to ask 'what are we trying to accomplish?' in order to determine what we SHOULD do.

(That the code is a nightmare of conflicting theory and contradictory language, especially in regards to grounding, should be no surprise).

So, my first question is: what is the IGB for? Why, it's to provide the cable, satellite, telephone, alarm, and who knows what (Apple will invent this Fall) an easy place to connect to the grounding network.

Let's also ask, just to stir the pot, what the ground rod is for.

I'd say that both the IGB and the ground rod are there for lightning. Let's start at that point.

So - despite the absolute lack of any provision in the construction of mobile homes- the trailer really ought to have a ground rod, tied into the panel in the trailer. Just like any other 'detached structure.' I do agree that this is not what the NEC requires, which might explain the lack of any such provision on trailers.

Next point: the IGB. We need to ask: where will these things be attached? If the satellite dish is mounted on the same pole as the service to the trailer, then there needs an IGB there. If you're hanging things from the trailer, it goes there (and lands on the trailer panel). One might need an IGB at both locations.

Of course, trailers lack any provisions for running anything to the panel, so it appears the trailer gods have not considered this matter.

You're right; the code panels have dropped the ball here.

If the "trailer" is served by a hard wire (chapter 3) feeder 550.33 referencing 250.32(B) requires that ground rod.
Then you get into parsing the difference between a mobile home and a manufactured home. Most of the AHJs around here do not make that distinction. If you take the wheels off and tie it down, it is a manufactured home and treated, pretty much like, any other structure.

We are not really setting enough of them to create a precedent these days.

My take is a IBT at the 'trailer', as that is where the cable, telco, dish, & etc. guys install the various demarcs.

'Trailers' are hard wired, wheels off, anchored, skirted. Electrical service is independent for each, POCO meter, 100 amp disco at the pole, and 4 wire feeder (PVC/THWN) to the installed panel. Grd rod, IBT, bond to frame.

Trade practice & accepted IMHO

John and I am on the same page here. This is a dwelling unit if it is permanently installed.

I guess but it is still moot here. The last I heard it is virtually impossible to get a mobile home permit. They have to meet wind code after Charley. They will all be cord and cap connected RVs (rolling stock). Just about the time the trailer guys had a 130 MPH mobile home, they bumped our code up to 150.
We are also zoning mobile home parks away as fast as attrition makes them go away. It isn't even a cheap place to live anymore because the dirt is worth more to a buyer than what you think the rent should be.
When I moved here 30 years ago, I could buy a real CBS house on a third of an acre for what a double wide was in a high end park where you didn't even own the land.

Okay, now I know what goes on in the real world (considering FL as part of it) I'll look in Soares and find out what the IAEI thinks is required.

Greg makes a valid code reference to 250.32(B). I can remember when there were Parks that only required an electrode at the pedestal. I let you know what Soares says.

I can remember that there are lugs on the underside frame of of the homes I've been involved in.

This still doesn't address the location of the IBT. I maintain that the IBT should be at the Service Disconnect or in the case of the MH, at the disconnect for the MH. So any cable, phone, antenna should be at the home disconnect not at the home. What say you?

My decision on the IBT would be where the satellite dish is and where the telco/cable Dmark is.

Chicken and the egg.

Does the cable contractor and Telco contractor determine where the IBT is, or does the electrician determine where it is?

Is there a maximum distance between the IBT and the other systems?

Can I have multiple IBTs?

Just stirring the pot.

George:
I agree with Greg.

That said, consideration as to where the telco/cable/etc demarcs are has to be addressed. An IBT could/should be located at the MH bonded to the GE system, or at a pedestal IF that is the demarc points for the cable/telco/etc.

Is not the purpose and intent of the IBT to 'provide' a point of connection to the grounding system? IMHO, it should be at the demarc location.

Larry:

The IBT location is determined by the EC. It is in the vicinity of electrical meter, or service point.

In 'rehab' (service upgrade) the battle on occasion is 'who connects the telco/cable/etc grounds/bonds to the IBT'??

That was a battle in the begining, now most ECs will make the termination. It's basically "Good Luck" trying to get any of the LV guys to do it on rehab work.

Satellite may be the tough one. Those guys site the dish depending on where the bird is. Then they drive a 3' rod and connect it with 10ga wire.
When I pointed out that it was required to connect this to the IBT the installer (trunk slammer) cocked his head like a puppy and said "we don't do that".

(actually more like "no lo hacemos")

I suppose we could get all excited, and fill pages with learned discourse, but I have to ask: Are we accomplishing anything?
I mean, what happens if there's no connection between the low voltage stuff and the grounding electrode?

The worst I can see is that the LV stuff gets toasted when lightning strikes. Oh, well ... after a few such losses, the LV guys might actually learn the value of the connection.

Or, will they? With decades of experience behind us, if the ground connection accomplished anything you would think that they already knew it.

You can't push a rope. Maybe this IBT thing needs to go the way of the Volkstead act: away!

The short answer is they never learn because it is usually the customer's equipment that gets blown up. They pass the cost on to their insurance company and we all pay.

The thought is, if we provide a common grounding terminal the customer might put pressure on the provider to use it if we explain why it is there.

In my case, I let the installer do what he was going to do, then I fixed it.