Water Power Moding

**TheCableVine** · March 27th, 2009, 12:21 AM

In my area on the neighorhoods east of downtown the water rarely tones up. it is very old mostly put in in the teens 1895-1935. alot of cast iron and such but it power modes awsome. better than the most power or phone. I was told it was cause back in the day all the power was grounded to the water and in those old hoods it still is in most cases. although now days that practice is frowned on and is probably not up to code. but the water mains carry a certain amount of current allowing it to power mode. what do you all think? it makes sense to me but ive always wondered.

**beyond help** · March 27th, 2009, 12:29 AM

This was a common practice in many to the old areas around here. We've had a few guys try and powermode elec or phone, and mark the water many times. Plus when they replace the watermains, and do the new taps; I've seen a few guys get a nice little shock.

**Goldenboy** · March 27th, 2009, 09:44 AM

All my old areas the watermains power mode better than the electric conduits. I've also been told it's because of the stray current from the common bonds.

But I've also noticed the big 16-24 inch bypassing watermains also powermode. I'm not sure if the flow of water creates some sort of a static charge or not.

**RD_Wrangler** · March 27th, 2009, 10:02 AM

You're right Steve.

Cold Water Grounding was a common practice for electric services right up until the 1990's.

It's still in practice (though not condoned) by the satellite industry as well a some of the less reputable drop bury contractors.

The passive signal generated by your common everyday 18" home Sat. dish by negatively charged ions passing between the LNB and the face, which then bleeds down the ground and into the pipes, is more than enough to be detected by the 50/60 of your reciever. Combine this with the number of Sat.'s in any given neighborhood that are still CWG'd, with the number of CATV bonds that are bonded that way, and the remaining electric services as well, and you get quite a signal that can backfeed for quite a ways.

There is also the theory that water lines placed near concentric ground feeders (old neighborhoods) pick up on the electromagnetic field generated by these lines naturally. If the CG is particularly degraded and generates a variable field as opposed to the typical circular field, then the result would be even more dramatic. Isn't EMT fun!!

**AULupstate** · March 27th, 2009, 05:49 PM

Good topic!

I just came across something almost like this.

Sprinkler System Companies ground their whole system to feeder systems and the main and services light up while on 50/60.

**yahoo** · March 27th, 2009, 08:38 PM

haven't had this problem here in any rural or downtown areas!!!!

**beyond help** · March 28th, 2009, 12:03 AM

Originally Posted by yahoo

haven't had this problem here in any rural or downtown areas!!!!

It's just because you haven't found out about indoor plumbing yet. Just kidding

**yahoo** · March 28th, 2009, 07:50 PM

yeah i left myself open for that one!!! hahhahahhahahha you got me!!!

**beyond help** · March 28th, 2009, 09:14 PM

I also leave the door open on the outhouse.

**phoenix827** · March 29th, 2009, 09:13 AM

Originally Posted by beyond help

I also leave the door open on the outhouse.

And I bet the old lady across the street is very happy about that! lol

**Jcbro86** · December 3rd, 2010, 11:59 PM

Originally Posted by TheCableVine

In my area on the neighorhoods east of downtown the water rarely tones up. it is very old mostly put in in the teens 1895-1935. alot of cast iron and such but it power modes awsome. better than the most power or phone. I was told it was cause back in the day all the power was grounded to the water and in those old hoods it still is in most cases. although now days that practice is frowned on and is probably not up to code. but the water mains carry a certain amount of current allowing it to power mode. what do you all think? it makes sense to me but ive always wondered.

to me the strange thing is that you said the water doesn't tone correctly usually, but it still power modes. i know im a rookie but if it doesnt run very well with an induced signal by direct connecting, could it just be radiation of 50/60 from other utilities thru the ground and because the iron may not be coated very well its an easy target for each piece of the pipe regardless of any taps, or unions, or dressers or god knows what else they've done to it? lol

the only reason why i was thinking that it may be the case a case of passive radiaton (i think thats what its called) is because if its was just because it shares the common ground with the other utilities that would explain inducing the 50/60 up until the first dresser or something that would insulate the pipe which messes up our locators from going from the service to the main or whatever type of transition you run into that kills the signal.

i wish i knew alot more about this stuff, anyone have any recommendations on entry level electrial books that really explain all sorts of info about electricty really well?

**sprayandpray** · December 4th, 2010, 07:31 AM

Some of this could be explained by the fact that buried electrical lines 'leak' electricity into the ground and it's being induced onto anything that is conductive; water mains, gas mains, telephone(shielded). This happens in the rural areas as well. Our Electric guys told me they can detect leakage on nearly all of their older plant. This happens over time as the rubber/plastic shielding starts to age , becomes brittle, and then miniscule cracks form. Eventually this blows out and the current 'goes to ground' in a large enough volume to be detected by 'thumping it'.

**ProfessionalLocator** · December 4th, 2010, 10:47 AM

Originally Posted by sprayandpray

Some of this could be explained by the fact that buried electrical lines 'leak' electricity into the ground and it's being induced onto anything that is conductive; water mains, gas mains, telephone(shielded). This happens in the rural areas as well. Our Electric guys told me they can detect leakage on nearly all of their older plant. This happens over time as the rubber/plastic shielding starts to age , becomes brittle, and then miniscule cracks form. Eventually this blows out and the current 'goes to ground' in a large enough volume to be detected by 'thumping it'.

Plus the entire electrical system is grounded and pumps electricity into the ground. Not as much as goes through the wires but a significant amount. Any thing that is a bare conductor picks it up at some point and especially water pipes.

Older homes had steel and and relatively newer homes had copper water pipes so in addition to a driven ground rod the water pipes were tied into the ground as a backup for the driven ground and the electric service neutral. Now days the water service is plastic so it is useless to try and use these for grounding purposes.

As an aside there was one thing I noticed about electric hot water heaters that had copper pipes going into and out of them. The installers had gotten into the habit of tying the electric cable to one of the pipes into the heater. The load on the wire produces a magnetic filed and naturally induces a current on the water pipe. This caused an electrolysis problem where the wire was tied to the pipe and it was common to get pinholes in these pipes at the water heater.