×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Lightning Arresters

Lightning Arresters

Lightning Arresters

(OP)
We are getting wrote up for hooking up lightning arresters wrong. The engineer wants the bottom to go to the pole ground. All 3 straight to pole ground. The old way was to hook 3 together, than take each one to the system neutral. What are your thoughts. Thank you, Bob

RE: Lightning Arresters

What are you protecting? If protecting an underground cable, connect to the cable shield. If a transformer, connect to the transformer tank. Best protection occurs when the lead length on both sides is kept as short as possible. Rules 1 and 2 also apply.

RE: Lightning Arresters

(OP)
They are on utility poles, 5 sets per mile. Thank you, Bob

RE: Lightning Arresters

Then you are simply protecting the aerial insulation against flashover. Is this a multi-grounded system with a low neutral? If so, run the pole ground conductor up past the neutral to pick up the arrester ground leads, bonding the neutral where it passes. I see no point in separately jumpering the arresters together.

RE: Lightning Arresters

(OP)
Thank you, that answers my question. Bob

RE: Lightning Arresters

I would agree with Stevenal. That is the way my utility does it and I would suspect the majority of utilities do it.

RE: Lightning Arresters

As a distribution lineman for many years, we have always used, or installed a pole ground and bonded at the neutral, than installed a ground wire on the under side of the cross arm for the ground side of the arresters. this allowed for a short jumper wire from the line to the top of arresters. And also best to use compression type connectors, and split bolts
atom

RE: Lightning Arresters

(OP)
We use a bracket for both 3 phase and 1 phase. We are a Cooperative, so we make a circle ground or have 2 points were it is grounded. Thank you, Bob

RE: Lightning Arresters

Im not sure of your jurisdiction, but NFPA 780 requires the downconductors to go directly to a pole ground. And they should ideally be in a symmetrical configuration, for ex., on diagonally opposite corners of a building or transformer. And then as baaman said, circle ground or two points grounded or ground ring, or radial grounds are also allowed.

RE: Lightning Arresters

We're speaking of arresters, not lightning rods. Try IEEE C62.22 for an applicable US standard.

RE: Lightning Arresters

Split bolts have a habit of working themselves loose, so we will no longer use them here my utility for any grounding application.

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources