Towertalk
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [TowerTalk] Re: Floating Ground Steel Building?

To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Re: Floating Ground Steel Building?
From: "Tom Rauch" <w8ji@contesting.com>
Reply-to: Tom Rauch <w8ji@contesting.com>
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2004 19:31:18 -0400
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
If you think concrete is a good conductor, measure it with
an ohmmeter. Concrete is a crummy conductor, not a good one.
It actually is someplace between being a very poor insulator
and a very poor conductor.

Now if you fill it with rebar (especially if you chemically
treat it) you can tie it in as a UFER ground, but that
should NEVER be a primary ground. It should not be the
ground for service entrances, especially not with people
living on the concrete.

As a matter of fact, I think it would be dumb to use a
concrete floor as a lightning ground. You run the risk of
any voltage drop, and there could be thousands of volts per
foot even if the floor was a few ohms per foot (which it
definitely isn't), being applied to anything contacting or
near the floor.

I'd make sure the shell of the building is well grounded
perhaps every dozen feet to an outside ground, and that a
heavy gauge buried ground buss wire circles the building, if
you plan on having any towers near the building. The last
thing you want is a hit flowing across the skin of that
concrete floor!


73 Tom


_______________________________________________

See: http://www.mscomputer.com  for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather 
Stations", and lot's more.  Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions 
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.

_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>