Posted by David Sherman on Friday, September 14, 2007 at 13:58:33 :
In Reply to: Re: The chemistry of heated rust? posted by Jerry in Idaho on Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 16:40:55 :
I'd never heard of that one. They just can't leave well enough alone with the building codes. Another new requirement is that all houses be plumbed with connections for a water softener, even if the area has great water and nobody uses water softeners. I wonder which industry lobbied to get that requirement included.
I can't imagine why they think a piece of the rebar should be grounded. I agree that I wouldn't like having to have rebar deliberately sticking out of the concrete, because as it rusts, it will crack the concrete, but I suppose if it's inside the wall where it's dry, it would be okay. Concrete buried in the ground is somewhat conductive because it's damp, but I don't think that counts for a grounding system for the building anyway. Maybe they just think it wouldn't cost much more and it might help a little bit. On the other hand, I've never heard of any stories of anybody being injured because the conventional grounding system in a house (rod driven into the ground next to the panel) wasn't good enough. I'm sure that if electricity was invented today, they'd never allow people to have it in their homes.