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The Integrated Systems Bonding Point, or ISBP, is one of the most avoided topics of discussion today.
- The first strike against the ISBP is basic ignorance. Many people have never heard of one.
- The second strike is that this ignorance extends on to those few who have heard of the ISBP concept.
Architects, engineers, inspectors, contractors, system service providers, and electricians may not have the necessary expertise, training, or awareness.
- The third (and likely the prevalent) strike against the ISBP is its inconvenience, mostly born of for-profit interests.
For example, contractors and electricians would be tempted to avoid spending extra materials, money, and time to plan and implement an ISBP despite codes and laws that warrant such action.
Such inaction promotes future profits by correcting grounding system failures as they are detected in the future rather than providing early and in-time due professional care to the safety of the facility's current occupants.
Morover, individual service providers to a facility do not like the ISBP.
- They rarely encounter one.
- An electrician or knowledgeable consumer does not sponsor them on an ISBP, so they create their own bonding connections.
- They like to finish work quickly when their service is demanded by a consumer.
- Non-electrical service providers do not like to get close to the electrical service power entrance (ESE) out of concerns for safety, liability and "dirty power."
Moreover, they may choose to ignore requirements of the National Electric Code (NEC) because they do not provide electrical service and because they think that they are not affected or tasked under the NEC.
The typical consumer will never realize the need for an ISBP until:
- long after occupying the facility.
- Divine enlightenment is received from a direct or nearby lightning strike.
- An electrical shock or "tingling" is felt while showering, washing dishes, or moving wet clothes from washer to dryer.
- Adults, children or animals complain or vocalize when walking barefoot whether indoors or out.
- A computer, printer, VCR, television set, or other high-value appliance mysteriously dies.
- Cable or satellite TV reception looks unusually fuzzy.
- Radio or broadcast television signals are received with noticeable and unacceptable interference.
By this time, the consumer may feel powerless to create an ISBP due to ignorance and the perceived expense involved, especially after confronting a devastating and expensive loss.
The US Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a "recommended practice guide" (Special Publication 960-6) to inform the general public and to address the consumer's need for an integrated systems bonding point, or ISBP.
Entitled Surges Happen! How to Protect the Appliances in Your Home, this publication explains it in plain language.
SP 960-6 is available for free and for sale from several sources to include Internet download.
The value of the ISBP can be summed up as the following:
- It protects people, facilities, and property from flashover, electrical shock, and fire.
- It extends the life of electrical systems and devices at the property.
- It can save money for a consumer.
- It can enhance the quality of life for the consumer.
This work is to inform and educate people on what the ISBP is, the theory behind it, how to implement it, and how it protects.
