Need Help - grounding rod install

[woodlandfarms]

If I go into the details, I will only get more upset.

I need to install a couple of grounding rods. Anyone have any technique they like for getting it into the dirt? We have clay, not much rock, maybe some tree roots. I have a tractor, a sledge hammer, and some water. I have seen the hydraulic drill methond (Hooking a hose to an electrical conduit) and that looked messy but interesting.

As well, I have a tractor. Maybe just some down force?

 

[ray66v]

Drove lots of them with a sledge hammer. It's not fun. But, it's not normally that bad.

I now use a big hammer drill, set to only hammer. I took an old bit, and cut off the chisel. Then, I slid a piece of heavy rubber hose on the end, with about 2" left at the end, to hold the ground rod. Pounds them in pretty fast.

 

[k0ua]

The hammer drill method is the best. But down here in Branson you drive them horizontal. There isn't more than 1 foot of dirt maximum anywhere. The rest is rock shelf.

 

[/pine]

One method is welding the head of a sledge hammer onto the end of a piece of pipe and making a slide hammer...FWIW...

 

[k0ua]

One method is welding the head of a sledge hammer onto the end of a piece of pipe and making a slide hammer...FWIW...

Yeah, I have seen that done, a steel fence post driver to get them down as far as it will go, then use a sledge hammer to finish up. But the hammers squash out the heads of the rods some.. Be sure to put your ground clamp on first as you won't be able to get it over the head without cutting the squashed portion off. But if you have the hammer drill that is the fastest, easiest way to do it.

 

[GLyford]

OK, this worked for me with 2 ground rods for an electric fence going into my sandy soil, but I don't know if it will work for "real" ground rods or with the soil where you are:

Take the bit out of an el-cheapo air hammer. Place end of ground rod where the bit usually goes. Apply air and trigger pressure. Worked slick.

 

[Coyote machine]

Dig a trench, drop it in, fill it up. Horizontal is as good as vertical, so long as it's deep.

 

[k0ua]

Here is some info on grounding techniques. We have used the coke powder in trench solution when encountering poor soil conditions in some areas of central Arkansas. Contrary to popular opinion ground is NOT ground the world around.

Achieving an Acceptable Ground in Poor Soil | content content from Electrical Construction & Maintenance (EC&M) Magazine

 

[woodlandfarms]

Well, now that i am calmer here is what is happening.

We are on a LUD (Local Utility) for water. High arsenic in the water has led the county to provide (at a substantial fee) a water district for 25 homes, ours being one of them. To get arsenic and Iron out of the water, a chlorine and some other things are added to the water.

Well, last year our water tank failed. OK. Bummer. It happens. Then later toward winter our pump fails. Did it freeze? Couldn't find the crack but looked like it had rusted a lot. Bummer. Last week I open our water pump house up and water is spraying everywhere. 6 year old galvanized pipe has failed. Plumber comes out, and he says "Look, all of your galvanized is failing". So we call the county, they come out. Eyup, something is amiss. 24 hours later they send up an electrician. He says maybe our galvanized is acting as a ground. He pulls his meter out, tells me how we are going to see voltage on the gavanized pipe and NOTHING. Pipe is wet, ground is contacted. yet nothing is conducting. Now he is stumped. I reitterate it is the water. So long story short, I have to install 2 grounding rods for both our panel and sub panel at the pump. They are paying for the pipes to be replaced. I asked another electrican, he says the way our house is set up it is code, but this would improve the risks associated with our setup.

 

[Daver1963]

Whatever method you use be sure to check it with a multimeter. Anything less than 10 ohms is considered ground.