PRESIDENT’S REPORT – Scott Bowers     

A long time ago an electric inspector told me something I never forgot.  He said bonding and grounding an electric system properly it is more important than actually doing the power wiring.  It confused me at the time, but now makes sense.  When grounded and bonded properly, the system will activate an over current/short circuit/ground fault protective device and clear the problem, no matter how poor the wiring was installed. In addition a properly installed grounding/bonding system will help direct lightning induced currents to earth ground and it is our industry’s hope, not through customer’s equipment or structures.  With this concept in mind, I want to expand on the portion concerned with lightning induced current as Spring & Summer thunderstorms are upon us.   

In the 2008 NEC a new concept was introduced called the “Intersystem Bonding Termination”.  This was introduced to make it even easier for telecommunications systems to be properly bonded to the electric system.  In previous NEC code cycles, there have been a few attempts to make the “bonding conductors” accessible to everyone, especially the telecommunication industry.  Each time expanded but, never quite getting the concept across to them it seems, until now.  With this new “Intersystem Bonding Termination” and the commercial equipment available to make this code a reality, it will solve a lot of issues and will eliminate the need for these companies to “bug” to other conductors.  Since the new materials available have terminals, only a screw driver is needed, which inherently is easier for technicians in the field. 

As the President of small electrical contracting company I STILL see a LOT of improper bonding of telecommunications wiring, especially the cable TV industry and correct these jobs frequently to be code compliant.  I hope with the introduction of this new code and commercially available products I spoke of above, it will make it easier for all electric systems to be bonded together and save a LOT of customer owned equipment from the effects of lightning induced current.

To everyone who reads this column, please try to inform the telecommunications companies you actively work with, about this new code and make them aware of the issue and how easy it will be for them to comply and most importantly, install safe systems.  If the telecommunications companies have questions or want to learn more about this concept, we at The League offer ”Grounding and Bonding” classes for just this reason.  Please see the back of the News and Notes for classes and dates. In conclusion I hope everyone has a great spring and again as I said last quarter, I hope the economy starts picking up for all of us soon.