EMP Protection & Advanced Grounding Systems
Pinellas County Electric is pleased to announce a new service for homeowners who want to take electrical protection beyond traditional whole-home surge protection, incorporating electronics with Whole Home EMP Protection combined with an upgraded grounding electrode system, emphasizing the impact of enhanced electrical safety and security measures.
I’ve spent most of my life working around electrical systems, and one thing I’ve learned is that protection is only as good as the complete system behind it. That’s why I didn’t want Pinellas County Electric to simply start selling an EMP protection device, bolt it beside someone’s electrical panel, collect a check, and leave.
I wanted us to approach EMP protection as electricians.
Our system begins with an EMP Shield installed at the home’s electrical system, but we also evaluate the home’s grounding and bonding system. Where appropriate, we can upgrade the grounding electrode system using professional copper bonded, threaded ground rods that allow us to reach deeper into the earth than a conventional single rod installation.
The goal is simple: give potentially damaging transient electrical energy a properly designed path while adding another layer of protection between high-energy electrical events and the electronics throughout your home.
Key Takeaways
Pinellas County Electric's
Pinellas County Electric’s new Whole Home EMP Protection service combines a professionally installed EMP Shield with an evaluation of your home’s grounding and bonding system. Depending on the property and soil conditions, we can install an enhanced grounding electrode system using 3/4 inch x 10-foot gangable threaded copper bonded ground rods, coupled together where the installation design allows for additional depth. We can also performground resistance testing to determine the actual resistance of the grounding electrode system rather than simply assuming a particular value.
EMP Shield states
EMP Shield states that its products have been tested at Keystone Compliance against several military electromagnetic and transient standards, including MIL STD 461G RS105 and MIL STD 188 125 1. A publicly available Keystone test report documents compliance testing that included a 50 kV/m RS105 test and pulsed current injection testing.
Why We're Combining EMP Protection With Grounding
This is the part of our service that I think is especially important.
When we’re dealing with extremely fast transient energy, I don’t want to focus only on the device mounted next to the electrical panel, but also on the defense measures integrated into the entire electrical system. I want to look at the electrical system it’s connected to.
Where is that energy going?
That’s one of the first questions I ask.
EMP Shield describes its technology as responding to an overvoltage condition by rapidly shunting excess energy away from protected equipment. The manufacturer reports response beginning in less than one nanosecond and says its products are designed for very high current shunting capability.
That’s why grounding and bonding deserve to be part of the conversation.
A home’s grounding electrode system has important electrical safety functions independent of an EMP protection device. When we’re installing this type of protection, I want to know what we’re connecting it to.
Going Deeper With Our Grounding System for EMP Portection
One option we’re introducing with this service is an enhanced grounding electrode installation using 3/4 inch x 10-foot threaded copper bonded ground rods to make sure you have less than 25ohms.
Unlike an ordinary ground rod that ends at a fixed length, these rods can be joined with purpose-built threaded couplers where appropriate. This allows us to construct a deeper electrode instead of assuming that the soil conditions near the surface provide the grounding characteristics we’re looking for.
Here in Florida, soil conditions can vary tremendously from one property to another. That’s exactly why I don’t want to advertise that simply driving a particular rod automatically creates a certain resistance.
If we’re going to tell you what your grounding resistance is, I want to measure it.
NEC grounding requirements are also important here. Under NEC 250.53, a single rod electrode with a resistance to earth of 25 ohms or less does not require the supplemental electrode that otherwise applies under that provision. When multiple rod electrodes are used to satisfy that rule, the NEC specifies minimum spacing requirements.
Our enhanced grounding design can go beyond simply putting another standard rod into the ground. Depending on the property, existing grounding electrode system, utility conditions, soil, accessibility, and applicable code requirements, we’ll determine an appropriate approach.
A Measured Grounding System
There’s a big difference between saying: “We installed ground rods.”
and saying: “We tested the grounding electrode system.”
That’s where I want Pinellas County Electric to be different.
Where ground resistance testing is included, we’re not going to assume that a grounding system performs a certain way simply because we installed copper in the earth.
We measure it. For this enhanced service, our objective can be to achieve a measured resistance to earth of 25 ohms or less, where practical and achievable based on the property and soil conditions.
Some properties may perform significantly better. Others may require a different grounding approach.
The important part is that we’re dealing with an actual measurement rather than a guess.
What Exactly Is an EMP?
EMP stands for electromagnetic pulse.
One concern with an electromagnetic pulse is that rapidly changing electromagnetic fields can induce voltage and current into electrical conductors. Electrical wiring, along with sensitive electronics, can effectively become one of the paths through which that energy enters connected equipment.
That creates a very different electrical event from the everyday voltage fluctuations people typically think about when they hear the words “power surge.”
An EMP can have different causes, and the characteristics of the event matter. That’s also why we don’t market this as a magical box that makes a house invincible.
We’re adding layers of electrical protection and resilience.
How Has EMP Shield Been Tested for EMP Protection?
This is one reason we chose to offer EMP Shield rather than simply putting an unknown product next to someone’s electrical panel.
According to EMP Shield, its products have undergone testing at Keystone Compliance against military standards associated with electromagnetic pulse and electromagnetic environmental effects. EMP Shield lists testing including MIL STD 461G RS105, MIL STD 188 125 1, MIL STD 464C, CS115, CS116, and CS117.
More importantly, there’s an actual Keystone Compliance report available.
That report documents RS105 testing at a 50 kV/m test level, as well as pulsed current injection testing, with the tested equipment reported as compliant for the tests summarized in the report.
EMP Shield additionally states that it tested at 90 kV/m, 80 percent above the referenced 50 kV/m level, and reports that its technology begins shunting an overvoltage condition in less than one nanosecond. Those are manufacturer claims, so that’s how we present them rather than representing them as independent claims from Pinellas County Electric.
I think that distinction is important. We’re electricians. We’re going to tell you what the manufacturer claims, what the test documentation shows, and what we’re actually installing.
EMP Protection Is Not the Same as Ordinary Surge Protection
I don’t want customers thinking that installing an EMP Shield means we’re suddenly throwing away everything we’ve taught them about surge protection.
We still believe in layered protection.
Traditional surge protective devices have an important role in protecting electrical systems and equipment from transient overvoltage events. An EMP protection product is another layer intended to address extremely fast, high-energy electromagnetic events.
Grounding and bonding are another part of the electrical system. None of these should be viewed as an excuse to ignore the others. That’s why our approach is to look at the whole electrical system.
What Our Whole Home EMP Protection Service Can Include
- Our system starts with evaluating the existing electrical service, panel, grounding, and bonding.
- We then determine the correct EMP Shield configuration for the electrical system and professionally install the device according to the manufacturer's instructions, applicable electrical requirements, and defense standards.
- Where the existing grounding electrode system needs improvement, we can install our enhanced grounding system using 3/4 inch x 10-foot threaded copper bonded grounding electrodes, appropriately connected to the home's grounding electrode system.
- Where specified, we can perform resistance testing so we're not guessing about electrode performance.
- We can also evaluate existing whole-home surge protection and recommend a layered protection strategy when appropriate.
The result isn’t simply another box mounted beside your electrical panel; it’s about enhancing the security of your entire electrical protection system.
It’s a professionally evaluated electrical protection system.
This Is About More Than an EMP
One of the things I like about approaching the project this way is that we’re not installing something whose only consideration is an event that may never occur, but also evaluating the potential impact on overall electrical system resilience and security.
We’re also taking a serious look at the home’s grounding and bonding system.
That’s particularly relevant here in Florida, where electrical systems and electronics live in an environment with frequent thunderstorms, lightning activity, heat, humidity, salt air in coastal areas, and utility disturbances.
The grounding system is part of the foundation of your electrical installation.
If we’re going to talk about protecting a home from extraordinary electrical events, I believe that foundation deserves attention too.
Whole Home EMP Protection FAQs
Does an EMP Shield guarantee my home will survive a nuclear EMP?
No electrical contractor should promise that a single device makes an entire home immune to every possible electromagnetic event. EMP Shield publishes testing against military standards associated with HEMP and electromagnetic effects, but the performance of an entire property involves more than one component. Our approach is therefore based on layers of protection, professional installation, grounding, bonding, and proper electrical design, rather than making an absolute guarantee.
Has EMP Shield actually been tested?
Yes. EMP Shield publishes testing information from Keystone Compliance, and a Keystone test report documents testing that includes MIL STD 188 125 1, MIL STD 461G and MIL STD 464C, including an RS105 test at 50 kV/m. EMP Shield also reports additional testing and performance information on its website.
Why does Pinellas County Electric include an upgraded grounding system?
We don’t want to treat EMP protection as simply installing another device beside the panel. We evaluate the grounding and bonding system because it is part of the home’s overall electrical system. Where appropriate, we can install deeper threaded copper bonded grounding electrodes and test the resulting resistance to earth.
Will deeper ground rods guarantee less than 25 ohms?
No. Electrode resistance depends on soil conditions, moisture, electrode configuration and other factors. That’s why testing is more meaningful than simply assuming a resistance based on rod depth. Our enhanced system can target 25 ohms or less where practical, and resistance testing can verify the actual result.
Does EMP protection replace whole home surge protection?
We don’t recommend looking at it that way. We prefer a layered electrical protection strategy. EMP protection, conventional surge protection, grounding and bonding each address different aspects of electrical protection and should be evaluated as parts of the overall electrical system.
Service Areas
Pinellas County Electric provides Whole Home EMP Protection and advanced grounding services throughout
- Clearwater
- Clearwater Beach
- St. Petersburg
- Largo
- Pinellas Park
- Safety Harbor
- Dunedin
- Palm Harbor
- Tarpon Springs
- Seminole
- Belleair
- Belleair Beach
- Indian Rocks Beach
- Indian Shores
- Madeira Beach
- Redington Beach
- Redington Shores
- North Redington Beach
- Treasure Island
- Gulfport
- Oldsmar
- and surrounding communities throughout Pinellas County, Florida.
Protecting Today for a More Resilient Tomorrow
I’ve been in the electrical trade long enough to know that we can’t predict every event an electrical system may face.
But we can prepare.
That’s what this new service is really about.
At Pinellas County Electric, The Panel Pros™, we’re bringing together EMP protection, defense strategies, professional electrical installation, grounding, bonding, resistance testing, and our experience with Florida electrical systems to offer homeowners another level of electrical resilience.
We’re not selling fear, and we’re not promising that one little box makes your home indestructible.
We’re giving homeowners another option to prepare their electrical system for events that ordinary electrical protection may not have been designed around.
If you’re interested in our new Whole Home EMP Protection & Advanced Grounding System, give us a call, and we’ll evaluate your home’s existing electrical and grounding system and explain the options.
Pinellas County Electric, The Panel Pros™ Whole Home EMP Protection & Advanced Grounding Systems Clearwater & Pinellas County, Florida 727-269-1982
