Although todays code is specific about this and therefore would not be a questions this is an older home,…
would you ignore a situation where branch circuit wire was used gound the electrical system in the house? There is no evidence of a ground rod, or any other form of grounding,… just branch wire connected to the other side of the water meter.??
“Branch wire”?
What size wire? You should still add another electrode to suppliment the water pipe but if this is an old house and they never disturbed the 3/4-1" copper water or galvanized line in the yard it is a pretty good electrode. There is a good chance that it is plastic at the street if the utility ever worked on it.
If it is all metal then you have an excellent electrode.
What I think you’re saying is that someone connected the ground of a circuit in the house to the water line instead of the ground/neutral bar in the panel? If that’s the case, that’s not really a ground at all, and should not be ignored. That doesn’t meet any code or standard that ever existed in the history of electricity, and is a genuine hazard in the event of a ground fault. This potentially could (and probably will) energize all the pipework in the home during a ground fault without opening the overcurrent protection device (fuse or breaker).
My apologies I didn’t do a good job explaining.
They used old romex 14 gauge wire from the ground bus to the other side of the water meter to ground the system. The water pipe coming in from the street is copper. They simple twisted the black and white together, connected it to the bus in the panel, then connected it to the other side of the water meter. This wire is not connected to anything else. Just not sure if this is acceptable.
Thanks again.
CS
This is not acceptable for several reasons.
This is what I thought but I’m not sure exactly why it is unacceptable. Several reason?
First the smallest conductor allowed by Table 250.66 is a #8
Then we have an issue with the two conductors being connected in parallel. Section 310.4 requires that conductors connected in parallel to be at least 1/0
These are two major issues with this installation.
The code is the same in Ontario Chris. Minimum #8 ground and 1/0 for parallel conductors