What's Wrong with This Photo? May 2012

April 26, 2012

Thank you to all of our contributors. While most of you brought up really good points, we could not have said it better than Thomas Horne. Great job!

Whats Wrong with This Photo?

Comments

	Craig
	Classic "ground-loop" issue... ;)
	5/22/2012 3:45:22 PM

	Tony Q
	What ground? Close look at the photos indicates a painted tower leg going directly into the ground. The green "hose" is an unknown that is secured to the base of the tower with a knot and goes up the inside to something, it could be a coax that has a choke at the bottom of the leg to protect the equipment, or a ground cable for t abuss bar that was never connected properly. The cable that looks to be clamped to the ground rod does not have a visible connection to the tower so it is not counted as valid. The well is also unknown. There is another conductor wraped on the tower hardware and going upward, also unknown what it does. No proper support for cableing or conductors attached to the tower, no obvoius grounds and from the condition of the paint it may be a FAA paint requirement that may need a new coat of paint, the green wire looks old, and by not being painted the paint on the tower is very old and likely has lead, so an osha headache for the painters. Yes I am from CA, that was the bonus...
	5/22/2012 12:57:50 PM

	Matt
	Whatever it is that is using that green cord probably wont work very well when the rodents, rabbits and or weed eater get to it.. enclosing it in conduit should do the trick nicely..
	5/22/2012 11:35:28 AM

	Jim Lauffer
	The coiled ground conductor is a basic violation of grounding rules. The other major issue is the single grounding point. A protection system of this side must have at least three properly installed ground rods placed equal distant around and within six feet the tower base. Each rod needs to be electrically connected to the tower base at a single point and the rods need to be connected together in a ring around the tower. Large solid ground wire is required, at least 0 or 00 and there must not be any sharp bends. Then the issue of skin effect needs to be addressed. Large energy spikes contain high frequency wave forms. The solid wire will limit this current flow to the wire surface. To provide good current flow for the higher frequencies, braided grounding strap needs to be run along with the solid wire. A high quality 2” strap will provide this added protection. The use of exothermically welds to ground rods is best, but quality electrical clamps can be used along with the use of an anti-oxidant, such as Penetrox E, on all copper to copper electrical connections.
	5/22/2012 11:31:32 AM

	Gary LeBlanc
	the ground wire is wrapped around the leg of this structure this will impede flow if a strike would hit this structure.
	5/22/2012 9:12:38 AM

	Tracy Fritchman
	Green ground tied in loops around the leg of the structure. Also Sharp bend in ground.
	5/22/2012 9:10:15 AM

	Thomas Horne, Electrician
	The green jacketed grounding electrode conductor is wound around the tower leg and knotted for good measure. The impedance of this arrangement during a strike event would be high enough to render the conductor ineffective. It might even cause the insulation to be ignited and scattered across the ground cover thus igniting a ground cover fire.
	5/22/2012 9:09:41 AM

	Mark Haddad
	The green "inductors" will effectively lower the frequency that the ground wire can pass in addition to introducing a delay. The Ground Rod should have been placed as close to the tower as possible and the Ground Wire should take as direct path to it as is possible. There should also be a proper Ground Clamp on the Ground Rod.
	5/22/2012 8:58:29 AM

	Jay
	Safety First! That ground rod is a trip hazard. They should give it a thick coat of high visibility orange paint. Or maybe plant a bush there.
	5/22/2012 8:39:59 AM

	Stuart
	Buried conductors should not be insulated. Buried conductors should be cut to length and not wrapped around a tower leg. Buried conductors should enter the earth immediately after exiting the vertical structure. Ground rods should be hammered all the way into the ground to prevent trip hazards. Assuming the cutting board bolted to the cylinder at grade is a test well, that is a poor choice of materials. Conductors should be exothermically welded to ground rods. Hopefully the test well indicates a tower ground ring which should be connected to the ground rod as part of the same grounding system. Why are these conductors crossing each other to reach their respective termination points?
	5/22/2012 8:36:12 AM

	Landon Carpenter
	It doesn't meet r56 standards. The grounding cable takes a circuitous route and doesn't appear to be cad welded to the ground rod.
	5/22/2012 8:20:10 AM

Leave comment

Name:

E-mail:

Your URL:

Comments:

Enter security code:

Security code

Latest Posts

Maximizing Wireless Network Capacity

Bandwidth Battle – Part II Small Cells  

Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2011–2016

Whats Wrong with This Photo? January 2013

Troubleshooting on site – Surprises and then some

Post Archive

October 2012 (4)

January 2012 (4)

November 2011 (4)

September 2011 (4)

January 2011 (4)

Sign up for our eNewsletter

we respect your privacy