How to guarantee to lower noise- ground loops in your system

... you do not even need a ground wire between your electrical meter and the first electrical panel in the house.

In a single phase [home] Ground [0v] is the transformer neutral and is wired from the meter to the panel Neutral. The line is tied to the transformer case and earthed. The Line goes above and below 0v.

NEC 250:
Equipment grounding must comply with the National Electric Code (NEC) Article 250. All non-current-carrying metal enclosures for electrical equipment or wiring must be grounded. Equipment grounding means a continuous copper conductor connected between the grounding electrode (rod/grid) connection, at the source transformer, and at each enclosure and equipment frame. This is the most critical concept in equipment grounding.

Line and Neutral are carried through to additional panels. Additional panels require the Earth Safety carried through. The Earth Safety is not Ground [0v] although it may be at 0v potential

To Cleeds,

You said above " because a fault on the ground wouldn’t trip the breaker back at the panel"  

What I said was ANYONE WHO DIDN'T KNOW ANY BETTER  would think that the breaker would never trip.  All we are talking about here is a piece of audio equipment that's chassis has become energized, and is sending current to an illegal exterior grounding rod.  Why is the equipment dangerous if it's sending the current to the illegal grounding rod, unless you are standing barefoot in water while playing your stereo, and then you become the ground?  Please don't go to your NEC code book for the answer.  It's the grounding rod that is the real danger, because lightning makes it a fire hazard.  

On Feb. 16th I wrote above that an electrician in my club had his drapes catch on fire from lightning hitting his illegal grounding rod, for his stereo system, and that is when I pulled my illegal grounding cable out of my house.  If that electricians house would have burned down an insurance adjuster would not have paid the claim.  Insurance companies will not pay off for any work done to a house without an building permit, and that goes for house additions too.  County governments keep accurate records of building permits all the way back to when the house was built, and the adjuster will check them before he comes to your house.

In older homes there are countless pieces of equipment that do not have chassis grounds.  As I'm writing this I'm also playing my stereo that has a phono section, a line preamp and dual mono power amps that all have switches to lift the chassis grounds.  Those mono amps always play with the ground lifting switches in the lift position, because they sound better that way, in my system that has extremely sensitive speakers.  Even if those chassis became energized they would have to stay that way as long as the sound remained better.

As I'm writing this I'm also playing my stereo that has a phono section, a line preamp and dual mono power amps that all have switches to lift the chassis grounds. Those mono amps always play with the ground lifting switches in the lift position, because they sound better that way, in my system that has extremely sensitive speakers.

As far as I am aware what those switches do in all of the audio components which provide them is to isolate their internal circuit ground from the chassis, while not affecting the connection of chassis to AC safety ground.  And consequently setting those switches to the lift position does not defeat the intended purpose of the AC safety ground, which is to cause the breaker to trip if an internal short develops between the AC line voltage and the chassis.

Regards,
-- Al
 

Other than my home audio, I do believe you can never have too many grounding rods for exterior equipment.  In the past I have driven an extra grounding rod for my exterior a/c condensing unit, because children played barefoot in that area.  You can never be too safe when it comes to protecting children.  There have been many fatalities from wet exterior energized equipment and tools, with or without rain in wet locations.

Few subjects here are more entertaining than electrical wiring. Someone should combine the most unwittingly humorous in a book or something.