Re: Ground rods

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Ground rods
From: "Robert W. Stephens" <rwstephens-at-ptbo.igs-dot-net>
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 11:43:13 -0500
>>From storey-at-stic-dot-netSun Sep 29 21:55:09 1996
>Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1996 01:12:10 -0700
>From: Storey Clamp <storey-at-stic-dot-net>
>To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
>Subject: Re: Ground rods

>Tesla List wrote:
>> 
>> > before and abandoned the effort when I realized I would have to
>> > dig a hole just to get started. There was no way to stand an 8
>> > foot rod up and still have room to swing a hammer on top.
> 
>
>When I was getting ready to install my ground rods, I couldn't seem to
>find any volunteers willing to hold the rod steady while I swung a big
>hammer,so I went to the local rental yard and rented a medium sized
>electric jack hammer. I removed the large chisel tip, and stuck in the
>ground rod, and it was easy going for about three feet when I hit solid
>rock. So I pulled it out, and leaned it over to about a 20 degree angle
>above the ground, and easily drove it to the surface. Then, thinking
>about the lawnmower, I dug a hole about a foot deep so I could drive the
>top end out of harm's way. Then, after looking at the hole for a few
>minutes I decided to drive all eight of the rods into the same hole in a
>star pattern which left all the tops close together, and it was easy to
>braze a loop of double zero gauge wire to connect all the tops. It may
>not be as good as eight wide spaced vertical ground rods, but it was a
>lot easier.

>Storey Clamp
>San Antonio, Texas

Storey,

Aha, someone else has discovered the ease in which an electric jack 
hammer/ hammer drill with rotation turned off, can be used to push a 
10-12 foot steel ground rod.  I'll never use a sledge hammer (for 
this purpose) again, although they are still invaluable as a fine 
tuning tool in some electronics and mechanical work.

That star configuration sounds like a terrific ground setup, although not to 
be too finnicky, but I'd like to point out that by your wiring 
description it sounds like your ground setup is actually wired 8 
phase Delta, with each phase referenced ground, of course! :-) With a little 
pit dug at the center you can always bolster your ground from time to 
time by letting the garden hose run into and fill this pit.

regards,

rwstephens