Minutes of the September 19, 2007 Meeting

The September meeting of the Gulf Coast Division was called to order by the President Mark Deegan. There were 25 members and guests present.
The Treasurer’s report was approved as read.
The minutes were approved as written.
I gave a secretaries report. I gave a report on the 2008 code change seminar I have scheduled in February. It will be February 9, 2008 at the Best Western Hotel in Punta Gorda. Mark Ode will be doing the presentation. We will be using the IAEI Analysis of the Changes books. I have already ordered 100 of the books. Brian Holland gave an update on the upcoming Southern Section meeting in Florence, Alabama. He also talked about code panelist nominations for the Southern Section. Brian will submit the list for our division to the section secretary at the section meeting next month. He also told us that it looks like October 2009 will be the earliest possible date for adoption of the 2008 NEC. This is because of the tentative adoption dates for the Florida Building Code. Jim Kenna gave a report on scheduled speakers for upcoming meetings. Next month we will have Brian Dean from Florida One Call at our meeting and in November we will have someone from Briggs and Stratton giving a presentation on a new residential generator load control system. John Barber from Windemuller Technical Services was at our meeting today and was introduced. John’s company manufactures lightning protection systems and also the early streamer emissions systems and the multipoint system. John gave a very interesting presentation on grounding systems and methods. John talked about the need for ground tests on all newly installed systems. Not one inspector or contractor at today’s meeting actually performed ground tests on any installations. We all are just satisfied with two ground rods or the concrete encase electrode installation. The meters for ground testing have come way down in cost. The price of a test meter is down to about $400.00. He talked about the advantage of the copper clad ground rod over the galvanized rod. He showed a sample of a 10 foot galvanized rod that was removed after five years. It was down to about a five foot rod. We all discussed the use of galvanized rods being discontinued. The difference in cost between galvanized and copper clad rods is about 90 cents. We discussed the need for a code proposal requiring the use of copper clad ground rods. We talked about the two types of ground tests. The clamp on test is not reliable, because in most cases it is not done properly. The 3 point measurement is the most reliable method. We also talked about various grounding connections. We talked a little about lightning protection. We discussed the differences between surge arrestors, which are installed on the line side, and surge suppressors, which are installed on the load side. We discussed the reasoning for each of these installations, which is the voltage at which each operates. The arrestors open at about 5000 volts and the suppressors at around 300 volts.
Because of the length of the presentation, all new business and code questions were held until our next meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:00 P.M.
The next meeting will be October 17, 2007