O/T lightening rods

Noticed today that the lightening rods on the house don't appear to be grounded. I have not been on the two story part of the roof (very steep), but it appears the three are hooked together. My best guess is that the roofers removed the main wire years ago before I was in the house.

What gauge line do I need to run to the ground? Braided, I assume? Can it run down the roof to the eave and then to the ground or should it go down the side of the house. The kitchen is a one story addition on the back of the house so I guess it has to run on the roof either way. How long should the grounding rod be driven into the ground?

Not sure how old your house is but on more than one occasion, I've seen older homes where the builder used the old cast iron vent pipes out of the roof (before PVC was used) as a connection point to the lower level of the structure. From there, I've seen the lower connection tied to the incoming water line or a ground rod driven into the ground. I've installed them anywhere from 4' to 6' below
level. Normally a 3/8" to 1/2" copper rod. The braided is nice if available but I use #8 stranded in residential. Just something to look into before all the expense of copper and work to run a new ground.

Just looked a little closer and can see where the wire was snipped after the north rod. Betcha it was those blankety blank roofers. Why it wasn't caught is a mystery to me.

Looks like I'll go find some #8 wire. Communists.

I remember about the time (1969)I was in High School in Nebr. Farmers were taking off the lightening rods. There was thinking that they were drawing lightening to them. Farmers would plant a tall lone tree in the yard. There is an issue today of putting on a steel roof and steel sideing and not connecting the two together.

I would take them off and sell them for scrap, some snake oil salesman sold them to the previous owner!

(quoted from post at 18:57:48 08/02/12) I would take them off and sell them for scrap, some snake oil salesman sold them to the previous owner!

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You don't want to scrap them, The Pickers will buy them!! :lol:

All our buildings have them at work,along with a 4/0 copper cable buried all around the buildings in bentonite/clay mix,1" ground rod every 25 ft or so cadwelded (not clamped) to it. Wires running down from lightning rods are 4/0 tinned and braided copper,one from each rod independently and again cadwelded at each end.(why would you spread a lighting strike out accross your roof?) FAA engineers are believers,and they go to great length to protect from lightning. Consider this, a airport and its support systems can litraly strectch for miles,a lighning strike any where on that system can in theory shut down a entire airport.The current thinking is this,when lightning charge builds up,,the field it charges up is like a cone,wider at the top,smaller at the bottom.Generally this charge builds up in a circle of about 20feet accross at he ground.Within that circle the tallest point is the one most likely to be hit,not the tallest structure in the area.If it were just a matter of being the tallest,you could protect from lightning simply by putting up a tower on your place anywhere taller than your existing structures. Most of the time lightning DOES NOT hit the tallest structure in the area,it simply hits the tallest structure in that small area where the charge is greatest. Lightning rods DO work,and properly installed they will protect your property. Power companies and things use lighning arrestors and things.But they are few.Trees do the greatest damage to overhead systems.This is one of the biggest problems with under ground power systems,if lightning hits a transformer,all the wire connecting it to the grid often has to be replaced,at a huge cost. Its not snake oil,its simply a protection device IF lighning ever does hit your home.It simply gives it a closer path to ground.it doesnt attract lightning,if we could attract lightning we would be well on our way to solving our power problems.It simply is a safety device.They are installed in case lightning hits ,not to make lightning hit.

I went out to the farm a while back & something didn't feel right. I got to looking around & found someone stole the lightning rods off my corn crib. Gerald