Renovated 1910 house (Renovation date unknown). Question 1: The main breaker panel is located in the kitchen about 4 feet from the kitchen sink (actually installed behind a kitchen cabinet door). Is a kitchen installation allowed…if not any date reference as to when it became against NEC.
Question 2: House has a lightning rod system on the roof. The grounding cable attached to the copper water piping in the crawl space; however house has a well and plastic pipe goes underground so the copper pipes are actually not connected to “earth”. Doesn’t seem correct to me but I don’t often see lighting rod systems.
Thank you in advance
Mark
Lightning system should have it’s own ground rod for each lightning rod. Typically, (in rural MN), the cable originally ran outside the structure… along the roof and down the wall to the ground rod. Over time, people get tired of seeing the cable and have it moved to the interior when the roof gets replaced. Idiots will then reconnect it to the plumbing system. Then, over time, it gets eliminated altogether.
They also collect water and ice and when connected to the side of the home with out a drip loop, well you know what happens then JJ. 
I’m not following your description. Why is a drip loop needed?
Guess you have never seen water and ice travel down and buildup along the wall. I have seen it do some real damage.
That happens whether a drip loop is present or not.
Still don’t get your point. I have never, ever seen a drip loop for the ground conductors of a lightning arrest system.
I have but don’t think of a service entrance drip. Its just enough bend to help. I find damage is normal on those not taking due diligence and the gc coming off the valleys which its not sopposed to do.
Question #1, if the required clearances are met then a panelboard can be in a kitchen. According to the NEC it’s proximity to the sink is irrelevant.
Question #2: a lightning protection system must be bonded to the building grounding electrode system (GES). Is it possible that at one time the water pipe was metallic and part of the GES?
Robert, Thank you for the response. I guess it is possible that the original pipe to the well was metal as it is an old house but I can not confirm that.
I bet you have seen one.
On an older homes the soffits were at an angle doubling back up. If they followed that plane and they often did with some clearance around the eave/fascia they then in fact created a drip line/loop.
Most of the problems I have seen stemmed from GC’s in valleys and from angling down toward the wall.
Yep, you be correct. I prolly have. Now-a-days, the systems I see (except for newer metal buildings) are usually so f’ed up from people messing with them, I just didn’t make the connection to a drip loop. Thanks for making me think!
I lived at 8,000 ft. elev. in CO for 12 years and it was common to have lightning strike near the house, but I’ve never seen a lightning arrest system on a home in CO except for when a PV array was installed. Wonder why they’re not installed there…
At 8000 ft they are all burned down from forest fires over the years.
Kenton - I have seen a dozen or more lighting systems here in Evergreen, Conifer and Bailey. And there were no PV arrays on the house.
There you go, Greg. Evergreen is more genteel. In Ward they put the spikes on the roof to attract lightning, but they don’t ground them. They just like to sit outside during storms and watch lighting strike the house. Wooow man.