CoyoteHTML

    Personal experience has shown me that all of us, including
regulated contractors, make potentially hazardous errors in
construction and design. Demographically, more coded houses in
Ferry county have gone under the torch, than those built by the
elected poor who take their time to think out a good plan.

     Last winter, a neighbor living in a well constructed coded house
was hit by lightning. He lost a computer, a laser printer and survived
a small fire. His house was properly grounded via USBC..

     All of the above does not make me feel very comfortable during
lightning storms. We have more than our share here. One night this
spring, during such a storm, the lightning was so bright during the
midnight hour it turned on my charge controller. And it didn't go off
for 10 minutes! This may or may not have any bearing on my house not
being grounded and may be a common phenomenon. You have to be here to
see my jumble of wires. Although it may not be as bad as I am making it
seem, there are some gaps in my workmanship and they are mostly due to
procrastination. 0 gauge wire is hard to work with! Rebar is tough to
pound 8 to 10 feet in the ground with rocks o' plenty. If it were not
for the rocks I would have had a hand dug well by now, way before
a ground rod. What comes first? Water or fire?

     Fire extinguishers and pulling fuses by hand are my answer to
non-grounding. They say if lightning is going to hit from the + to
the - in the upward force, a positive charge will occur and in
some as sensitive as myself, I will feel the hair on my arms stand
up. As soon as I say it hasn't happened....it will, so stay tuned
to future years and see what happens. At this time I have no plans
for grounding this infinitesimally small system. Now send me
letters to change my mind!

     I do have an 8 foot rebar in the ground for my generator. The
surge protector into which the computer and the printer are plugged
will not perform properly without the ground and our $1500 +
investment in electronics is very sensitive to electricity, even static
variety. Anyone who has blown a chip from improper body grounding can
tell you how sensitive silicon can be. Actually I have a feeling that
electricity is a lot more esoteric than we think and may not fall so
much into the math and science arena as it does the mystical. When I am
afraid of yellow jackets, they chase me and many times sting. I am