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Re: Grounding Rod Troubles
Hi Adam
You might cut the 8' rod in half and drive the two halves (you should be
able to
drive 4' easily if you can get 3' with an 8' rod) 5 or 6 feet apart.
Because of the rocks around here (central Texas) electricians have been cutting
8' rods in half for years. Their reasoning is that no inspector is going to
pull
the rod out to see how long it is. Now all you can get from the local
electrical
supply house are 6' rods, if you want an 8' rod you have to special order
it and
wait a week. Having driven a few 6'ers recently, I was amazed to find how easy
they are to drive. Actually two or more ground rods in parallel (with enough
distance in between, a good rule of thumb would be the length of the rods
apart)
will give a better ground than a single rod. The trick of course is to get the
rods into conductive soil. That means wet. If all else fails you can water the
ground rods before running your T.C.
-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Date: Tuesday, April 27, 1999 5:11 AM
Subject: Grounding Rod Troubles
>Original Poster: Adam <psycho-at-tradewind-dot-net>
>
>Today I tried to drive a 5/8" by 8' bonded copper ground rod into the
>ground. I tried digging, soaking, soaking, digging, cursing, digging,
>cursing, swearing, and soaking, and it simply would not go in far enough
>(only three feet). My soil is way too rocky for this.
>
>the guy at home depot, however, told me that an electrical ground
>doesn't have to go straight down, it can be bent, angled, and twisted in
>all three dimensions: all that matters is that the rod is 8 ft. long.
>
>Is this true? Can I just shape the rod into something like this:
>
>|
>|------Ground level
>| |------| |
>|-----| |----|
>
>Or does anyone know a better way to do it (there must be one)?
>
>I'm in Northern New Jersey, and I know there are a couple other coilers
>around here, so what do you guys do?
>
>Thanks a lot,
>Adam
Later,
deano