Installing new service panel. Existing grounding system is inadequate (ground to water pipe no where near meter and no rods), so removing and installing new. Burying two 8' 3/4" galvanized steel rods outside, spaced at least 6' apart. Running a 4AWG bare copper grounding wire. (Service wire is 2/0 AWG copper.) Question 1 - House is a split level, with water meter in basement on a wall that borders the half underground level. With code saying the ground wire must be "continuous", am I correct in thinking the ground wire runs from the panel outside to the first rod, to the second rod, and doubling back inside near the panel (but not connected to it a second time) and to the water meter? (Rather than two separate ground wire runs from panel, one to water meter, and the other outside to the rods?) Question 2 - I see I'm supposed to install a jumper ground wire around the water meter. Is the continuous ground wire installed on the "city" side of the water meter, or the "house" side of the water meter? I'd assume it's best to be on the "city" side. This jumper ground wire is part of what confuses me a little bit, wondering if "continuous" counts if multiple wires are ground clamped together. Otherwise, I'd think you wouldn't want to use a jumper ground wire, and bond the single ground wire to the water pipes twice, once on each side of the meter. EDIT: Panel to electrical meter is about 5'. Panel to water meter is about 30'. EDIT 2: Or does the ground wire need to run first to meter, since that's the primary, and doubling back the 30' to go outside to the rods, since those are secondarily required?

I have a receptacle that is controlled by an on/off switch. When the switch is on I have a reading of 110v coming into the receptacle and a reading of 110v out of the receptacle. If I turn the switch off then I read 0v to the receptacle as I would expect. The problem I have is with the switch in the on position when I plug something into the receptacle the reading goes from 110v to 0v, so the receptacle is seemingly powered but loses power when I try to use it. I'm using a mastercraft multimeter to test this and I've tried it on other receptacles to make sure it's working. There is no GFI on this circuit but there are 10 other receptacles plus some ceiling lights that all work, however the receptacle I'm having problems with is the only thing connected to the on/off switch. I'm also not sure how everything is specifically wired as everything is behind drywall and the outlet has worked for 20 years and has only become a problem within the last week. Any help would be greatly appreciated!