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Re: So as I understand it...

"So as I understand it the danger is - if lightning strikes my house, there could be an arc between the two grounds?"

Yes, besides the fault current/AC powered chassis failures that Steve addressed, arcing is a concern. This is especially true considering the increased likelihood of a human being acting as the conductive path. The lightning problem is realized by the increased possibility of having millions of volts difference between the chassis of your various electronics. Since we aren't living on a superconducting ball and the earth is probably closer to a semiconductor we have the issue of local ground bounce during lightning strikes. The impedance between the ground rods with no low impedance path tying them results in potentially very large voltage difference betweeen them when there is significant current flowing nearby as in a lightning strike. The voltage between them will show up on the chassis of equipment which ties chassis to earth and just happen to be plugged into the seperate circuits with the pseudo isolated ground rods.

"So the chances of lightning hitting us would be about the same as me winning the CA lottery twice."

So you are willing to take the risk but do you warn family members and visitors that there is the equivalent of a loaded gun pointed at their head as soon as they start touching your gear...even if it is a very slim chance of the trigger getting pulled? Do you plan to remove this if you move?

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