Re: Ground rod question

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Esondrmn-at-aol-dot-com>

In a message dated 10/27/02 11:06:26 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
tesla-at-pupman-dot-com writes:


>I'm having some new construction done on my house adjacent to my garage
>involving a new foundation, and this presents an opportunity to construct a
>better RF ground system than the single 8 foot ground rod I presently use.
>The footings are about 5 feet deep, so I was planning on having an "L"
>shape of 1/2" copper pipe, 5 feet vertical, down to a horizontal 10 foot
>segment laying beside the footing.  I also soldered on a 1 foot by 2 foot
>sheet of copper roof flashing to the base of the vertical segment.
>
>My question is, would it be better if the horizontal segment were cast
>within the concrete footing, 5 feet below the surface grade, or would it be
>better to just lay it in the dirt beside the footing before backfilling?
>If the latter, would there be a benefit to applying a healthy dose of rock
>salt about the pipes prior to backfilling?
>
>Thanks in advance,
>Gary Lau


Gary,

I would think in the dirt instead of in the concrete.  I built a ground rod 
system several years ago with copper rods and galvanized steel roof 
flashing - and lots of rock salt.  I dug it up after maybe three years and 
the salt had eaten almost everything.  I did not use any salt when I 
re-built it all with new copper rods and copper flashing.

Ed Sonderman