Found the ground loop hum source, how to fix?

There is a copper wire (main earth ground) coming up from along side the foundation that the the uvers ground ties into via a copper block. This is the same junction point for the ground wire coming from the main electrical feed into the house as well.

The uverse box also has a coax output that feeds my existing cable outlets...this box is grounded so in theory I should be ok...
03-14-13: Kooshballa

Kooshballa,

Really? And where is the ground wire from uverse box ground block connected to the main electrical grounding system of your home?
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I am not sure exactly what happens with the time Warner box but the existing coax network in my house is used with the uverse box. The uverse box also has a coax output that feeds my existing cable outlets...this box is grounded so in theory I should be ok...just strange that someone would go through the trouble of removing the ground from the time Warner box.

i had a hum induced by an unshielded interconnect from preamp to amp. when i replaced that cable, with another, which was shielded, the hum disappeared.

The box that the uverse uses however is grounded. This box takes a phone line in and a coax out-
Kooshballa

Kooshballa,

When you follow the ground wire from the phone line ground block where/what does the other end of the wire connect to?

So just for clarification the old Time Warner coax cable line from the street is not used and no internal coax cabling within the house connects to or travels through the old Time Warner cable box. Correct?
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Kooshballa,

Just to be safe you should check out how the CATV provider coax cable grounding block is earth connected.

NEC Code requires the Grounding Block to be connected to the main grounding system of the house.

On the outside of your house locate where the CATV cable connects to the house. Follow the cable and look for where it enters the house. Close to the cable entry of the house there will be a small grounding block that the cable connects to. In some cases the block will be protected inside an accessible enclosure.

The grounding block is for lightning protection which provides a low impedance, resistive, path to earth.

The block should also be at the same ground potential as the grounding system of your home. In your case it may not.
The ground loop hum is caused from a difference of potential, voltage, between the shield of the coax cable and the safety equipment grounding conductor of the branch circuit/s, that feeds the associated connected audio equipment that uses the safety equipment ground.

The difference of potential could be caused from a loose or corroded connection in the CATV coax grounding block connection to the grounding system of the house. Or the difference of potential could be caused from a loose or corroded connection of the safety equipment ground.

What ever the problem, the ground isolator will stop the ground loop hum.

What the isolator does not do is correct a possible serious CATV cable grounding problem.

You should make sure the CATV provider coax cable block is properly connected to the main grounding system of your home for lightning protection.....

Things to look for,

Is the ground wire that connects to the grounding block to the house grounding system, loose, corroded, or the connection is broken.
Remedy... Clean connections and re tighten.

In older CATV cable installations it was common to see a separate ground rod driven in the earth and the grounding block was connected to the ground rod. Or worse yet a short ground stake was pushed into the earth and the grd block was connected to the stake. The ground rod was not connected to the main grounding system of the house.

This is a no no. For lightning protection this type of installation must be corrected.

You should take the time and look for the grounding block, then follow the path the connected ground wire takes, and where the wire connects to the main grounding system of the house.

If you take the time to check, post back your findings.
I will let you know if the grounding method is NEC code compliant.

There are a few ways NEC allows where the connection to the main grounding system of the house can be connected. One example, NEC allows the connection be made to the outside metallic conduit of the electrical service. IMO, not the best place to make the connection.
Jim

Not sure where the last, extremely thorough response went regarding the NEC grousing but I checked things out today and noticed something very interesting....

I have AT&T uverse service that brings the tv and Internet signal through the phone lines then distributes the tv signals through the existing coax network in my home from time Warner cable.

The time warner box that takes the coax from the street and into the house had the groin wire cut and removed...strange... The box that the uverse uses however is grounded. This box takes a phone line in and a coax out so I wonder if it is all the same or if I should reconnect the cable box ground just to be safe?

Yes, very common issue. Another one is light dimmers.

Had a somewhat similar problem which occurred out of the blue. Hum coming from the antenna cable feed into my tuner. Changed the short screw on cable to a push on. It worked, tuner performance stayed the same.

Sounds easy enough! Thx

Or use the Viewsonics VSIS-EU ground loop isolator. It works just as well as the Jensen at less than half the price. You can find it on Amazon.com.

Jensen VRD-1FF

VRD-1FF data sheet

Or equal

Install the isolator between the incoming CATV coax cable and the CATV receiver box. You will need a short RG6 coax cable jumper.
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As Swanny said, you can use some kind of filter, like the MIT ISO-Linq in this ad. ;)

Jensen VRD-1FF

check the threads here==there are Coax filters you can install between the cable and the box that will eliminate the ground loop.