Ground rod

In weatherhead pic that #4 wire is attatched over top area to neutral..before it enters weatherhead .
You see it over top .

Let me understand what you are saying.

Are you saying that you have run a wire (what ever gauge - and what ever you want to call the use of this wire) from the meter can up to the neutral connection at the weather head where the POCO utility line connects to?

I didnt run it .
It was already there for years ,before i owned it,an went to bk of meter box.
I assumed it was where it should be.

Poco wont turn power on/reconnect lines back [i had a tree cut] till properly grounded,including rod an that unattached #4 wire is attatched where it belongs .
I Did a ohms test on end of both wires an #4 does go to the neutral wire at the weatherhead .There was a very old copper splitbolt on that old #4 copper , by itself though .the length of wire is to meter box.
Why its there ,i cant say,older homes 30 yrs ago might have attatched another ground there to base an clamped to that pipe ..i dont know.

I have over 35 years in the trade . But there are so many variations in utility company requirements and so many different Standard Operating Procedures enforced by the Authority Having Jurisdiction , across the country .

So I would not try to tell you how to do this .

Although I could tell you how it can be done , according to National Electrical Code . But that is not necessarily how you will end up having to do it .

No disrespect intended , but a person with your lack of experience , it makes me nervous for you to mess with the service .

Best of luck ,
Wyr
God bless

trigg said:

In pic the #4 bare runs up to weatherhead an is tied into the Neutral as its comes in before entering thru weatherhead.
The other end ends at meter base--it was just hanging when poco was there!It was pushed in behind meter non attatched.

Cant leave it hanging of coarse.
It will be terminated in meter box .
Left side.

They also said to add ground rod for meter to be grounded.
That's where the copper is from bottom of meter ,from Ground rod to neutral bar .

Click to expand...

The conductor which you have attached to the Grounded Current Carrying Conductor at the service head serves no purpose. I strongly suggest you remove it. Historically the Grounding Electrode Conductor was run up to the Grounded Service Entry Conductor and connected to it immediately adjacent to the splice between it and the power utility's service drop in areas were the initial overhead power distribution wiring was funded through the US Rural Electrification Administration (REA). This was done in an attempt to keep lightning discharges outside of the building. For profit utilities developed the practice of requiring the Grounding Electrode Conductor to be connected to the neutral at the meter enclosure to guard against the high voltage of a fault which causes distribution voltage to appear on the medium voltage wiring between the utility transformer and the building served. In both cases these measures are only marginally effective but large organizations are very slow to change practice so both techniques are still used by some Electric Coops and some privately owned utilities. Unless someone has ordered you to install the additional conductor to the service head then you should remove it for 2 reasons. First it could conduct lightning discharge into the interior of the overhang through which you have run it. Second it will always carry some neutral current past your meter which could cause the utility to accuse you of power theft and have other consequences to complex to explain in a posting. Do not leave the conductor in the picture in place it can only lead to trouble!

If your power utility were an Electric Coop they might require that conductor to run from the service head to the Grounding Electrode System. No one who is competent would require or in most cases allow that conductor to be run in parallel to the Neutral so as to pass some current around the meter.

I believe those wires after weatherhead going to pole are their end ..are they not? Thats where its attatched .
I read guidelines an on it it does say under owners responsibilities-.."point of attatchment " owners responsibility .
The #4 is attatched at Neutral wire before it goes into weatherhead.

So it likely went to a ground originally ?
Should i have terminated it to the new ground rod ?
They left a note on it..this wire must have went to a ground..
It will be inspected tommorow .
Possibly turned on .
I will go over it with them.
IF i can remove it i will ..!

Any info is appreciated

Its back on!
He said its double grounded at service panel.
An yes that is THEIR EQUIPMENT -neutral tied in to #4 at weatheread.
He said that was how they used to do it w connecting at neutral feed.

I guess it passed inspection though many online say different