turbojimmy
Supporting Member
- Joined
- May 26, 2001
I had DirecTV installed this past Friday and I love it. My cable company SUCKED. I had no idea what a clear picture my TVs were capable of delivering.
So after the installer left I noticed a ground hum from all the TVs and audio equipment. I went up on the roof - sure enough, the dish and cables are not grounded. It's DirecTV's obligation, per the terms of their 'free' installation, to ground the dish and cabling per NEC code. This means grounding the dish mast AND the cabling where it ENTERS the house (NOT inside the house) to the main electrical panel's grounding system.
I called them and they sent another guy out today. This guy says that his 'supervisor' told him that he can ground the switch (where the cables connect, which is inside my attic) to my furnace (5 feet away in the attic) and it will be fine. I pointed out that it's not code, must be grounded outside, blah blah blah. The installer didn't seem concerned, and was actually more concerned about how he was going to get paid because it was the guy that did it wrong on Friday who was going to get paid. He said that the dish would 'never' be struck by lightning, so who cares? The ground hum is gone, so I guess I'm fine. There are a multitude of objects around the dish that are much better lightning targets so do I care? Should I properly ground the thing? It wouldn't be that hard, but it's a matter of principle at this point.
Jim
So after the installer left I noticed a ground hum from all the TVs and audio equipment. I went up on the roof - sure enough, the dish and cables are not grounded. It's DirecTV's obligation, per the terms of their 'free' installation, to ground the dish and cabling per NEC code. This means grounding the dish mast AND the cabling where it ENTERS the house (NOT inside the house) to the main electrical panel's grounding system.
I called them and they sent another guy out today. This guy says that his 'supervisor' told him that he can ground the switch (where the cables connect, which is inside my attic) to my furnace (5 feet away in the attic) and it will be fine. I pointed out that it's not code, must be grounded outside, blah blah blah. The installer didn't seem concerned, and was actually more concerned about how he was going to get paid because it was the guy that did it wrong on Friday who was going to get paid. He said that the dish would 'never' be struck by lightning, so who cares? The ground hum is gone, so I guess I'm fine. There are a multitude of objects around the dish that are much better lightning targets so do I care? Should I properly ground the thing? It wouldn't be that hard, but it's a matter of principle at this point.
Jim