Lightning - Surge Protection

@bethjim

Power surges can enter the home through any electrical conductor or even by way of direct lightning strike.  While devices do exist to minimize damaged caused when this happens there is no way to prevent it from happening entirely.  They do make surge protectors for coax cabling however many customer find that they cause interference with the signals used to provide Internet service.

ChrisL said:
@bethjim

Power surges can enter the home through any electrical conductor or even by way of direct lightning strike.  While devices do exist to minimize damaged caused when this happens there is no way to prevent it from happening entirely.  They do make surge protectors for coax cabling however many customer find that they cause interference with the signals used to provide Internet service.

Chris,

Is there some way you could check with an experienced installer (if you are not one) on this.  I ran across this in my research:

"It only needs to be grounded once at the entry point of the building. This should be done by the cable company when they installed the drop to a grounding block on the exterior of the building."

There is nothing like this on the Cox side of the drop (improper installation by Cox?):

Apparently my grounding of the external splitter attached to Cox's drop on the side of my house did not do the trick.  Again, is there more to done to protect my cable modem?  Is something incorrect on Cox's side of the installation of the drop?

A new cable modem arrives tomorrow and I really don't want to keep replacing them.

Jim

TiffanyR said:
Hello Jim, 

We can have a tech out to look into the grounding cable to make sure that it is properly grounded. Please email us at cox.help@cox.com with your service address and a link to this thread. 

I have sent the email as requested.

Jim

The tech came out yesterday and replaced the splitter.

I asked if he had and idea why the grounding setup (explained above) did not protect my now fried cable modem.  He said it would be due to the "old & outdated" splitter on the outside of the house connected to the cable drop from the street.

I'm a bit confused here:

Who is responsible for that splitter - Cox?  Me?

Who needs to keep it up to date - Cox? Me?

Please advise...

Jim

Note that grounding won't protect you from a power surge.  While it provide an ideal path for such a surge to take it doesn't prevent it from traveling other routes and potentially causing damage.  It's not possible to completely prevent such power surges from taking place unfortunately.

ChrisL said:
Note that grounding won't protect you from a power surge.  While it provide an ideal path for such a surge to take it doesn't prevent it from traveling other routes and potentially causing damage.  It's not possible to completely prevent such power surges from taking place unfortunately.

Previous post questions not addressed:

Who is responsible for that splitter - Cox?  Me?

Who needs to keep it up to date - Cox? Me?

Please advise...

Jim

@bethjim

All wiring and connectors such as splitters, barrel connectors, and other similar parts become property of the customer and are the customer's responsibility to maintain.  We offer our Cox Service Protection Plan for a small monthly fee which covers any troubleshooting of wiring at the customer's residence.  The customer does have to notify us of problem however.

Interesting take. I'll let Cox's own Service Protection Plan Terms and Conditions speak for where they believe the Demarcation Point is for Cox's responsibility to maintain wiring and related hardware.

"The Demarcation Point, for purpose of this Plan, is defined as the wall-mounted NIU/NID Unit on the outside of the Customer’s premises." And, "(t)he Plan covers wiring located on the Customer’s side of the Demarcation Point,,,"

So then, if you don't have the Service Protection Plan, you, the customer, are responsible for wiring and related hardware on your side of the Demarcation Point and presumably, unless the Demarcation Point is in some sort of No-Mans Land, Cox has responsibility for maintaining wiring and related hardware from the point of origin all the way up to and including the Demarcation Point.

Typically, at least in my experience, the Demarcation Point would be the NIU of the NIU/NID referenced in the ToS. The NIU, or Network Interface Unit, is basically anything used to passively connect Cox's network infrastructure to the customer's network infrastructure.

Usually, the NIU would be the ground block mounted outside the home connecting the cable drop from the pole to the cable that enters your house. In the OP's case, the NIU would be the grounded splitter mounted outside that the drop connects to.

In conclusion, by Cox's own definitions, the Demarcation Point for the OP is the splitter mounted outside his home and is therefore Cox's responsibility to maintain. Or, one would hope, replace with an NEC approved gound block.

 

 

Jerry said:

Interesting take. I'll let Cox's own Service Protection Plan Terms and Conditions speak for where they believe the Demarcation Point is for Cox's responsibility to maintain wiring and related hardware.

"The Demarcation Point, for purpose of this Plan, is defined as the wall-mounted NIU/NID Unit on the outside of the Customer’s premises." And, "(t)he Plan covers wiring located on the Customer’s side of the Demarcation Point,,,"

So then, if you don't have the Service Protection Plan, you, the customer, are responsible for wiring and related hardware on your side of the Demarcation Point and presumably, unless the Demarcation Point is in some sort of No-Mans Land, Cox has responsibility for maintaining wiring and related hardware from the point of origin all the way up to and including the Demarcation Point.

Typically, at least in my experience, the Demarcation Point would be the NIU of the NIU/NID referenced in the ToS. The NIU, or Network Interface Unit, is basically anything used to passively connect Cox's network infrastructure to the customer's network infrastructure.

Usually, the NIU would be the ground block mounted outside the home connecting the cable drop from the pole to the cable that enters your house. In the OP's case, the NIU would be the grounded splitter mounted outside that the drop connects to.

In conclusion, by Cox's own definitions, the Demarcation Point for the OP is the splitter mounted outside his home and is therefore Cox's responsibility to maintain. Or, one would hope, replace with an NEC approved gound block.

 

 

Anybody at Cox want agree or disagree with Jerry?

Is the Demarcation Point the splitter or not?

Should Cox have replaced the old splitter long ago?

Would Cox like to pay for my NEW cable modem?

Jim

As mentioned above, drop lines are indeed covered by us.  Note however that  your home owner's/renter's insurance policy would be the party responsible for handling any electrical surge damage claims just as they would if a power surge came in via the electrical lines.  Those are considered to be "acts of God" and not preventable.

Jerry said:

Is the Demarcation Point the splitter or not?

In this instance, yes. By definition, whatever is used to connect the drop to the internal wiring is the Demarcation Point. That is not to say it is or was Cox's intended or preferred Demarcation Point. A previous resident could have moved the drop to a different location without also moving the originally installed connecting device, such as a ground block or utility box.

Should Cox have replaced the old splitter long ago?

They would've had no way of knowing to without your inquiry. Which you did make and they did replace the splitter. The tech should've installed a proper ground block, though. And his answer to your question of why the grounding set up didn't protect your modem from a lightning strike being due to an "old & outdated" splitter is laughable.

Would Cox like to pay for my NEW cable modem?

Nothing in my reply, which was just an examination of the term Demarcation Point*, should've been construed in any fashion to suggest any liability on Cox's part for your fried modem. A ground block or a grounded splitter is NOT a lightning rod. The cable grounding is merely to remove excess (and very low) voltage from internal sources along the exterior shielding of the cable, which, if ungrounded, can cause signal interference (noise).

*You don't mention whether or not you were charged for the service call. If not, then Cox fulfilled its obligation. If you were, then that's where the definition comes in to play.

Thanks Jerry!