Understanding Stray Voltage

[Industrial Toys]

Sorry, I am a bit confused. Basically, anything that has an earth ground at the barn will see a potential if contacting electrical ground. So, I figured, effectively shorting that to ground locally with a rod would help.

 

[HickoryFarms]

A neutral wire is the return path for stray voltage, which will go to ground if grounded properly. I’d check all of my ground and neutral connection on your side, making sure everything is clean and tight. A poor or open neutral on the utility’s side can cause this to occur as well. Often actually.

 

[CADplans]

Sorry, I am a bit confused. Basically, anything that has an earth ground at the barn will see a potential if contacting electrical ground. So, I figured, effectively shorting that to ground locally with a rod would help.

No, the ground rod should not be a functional part of the electric circuit,,,

 

[HickoryFarms]

So, I figured, effectively shorting that to ground locally with a rod would help.

It certainly should.

 

[CADplans]

Sorry, I am a bit confused. Basically, anything that has an earth ground at the barn will see a potential if contacting electrical ground. So, I figured, effectively shorting that to ground locally with a rod would help.

Back in the 1950's, my father used to bring home ground rods the phone company used,,
they were, if I remember correctly,,, made out of bronze.

A steel ground rod is almost useless in dispersing any amount of current,,
that is why you will see a voltage when using a ground rod for the ground.

Steel easily develops a resistive surface,, that is why you will see the 7 volts to the ground rod.
I assume the ground rod is steel. Even copper coated steel is a poor conductor,,,

 

[HickoryFarms]

Back in the 1950's, my father used to bring home ground rods the phone company used,,
they were, if I remember correctly,,, made out of bronze.

A steel ground rod is almost useless in dispersing any amount of current,,
that is why you will see a voltage when using a ground rod for the ground.

Steel easily develops a resistive surface,, that is why you will see the 7 volts to the ground rod.
I assume the ground rod is steel. Even copper coated steel is a poor conductor,,,

We use stainless steel ground rods for for “important” stuff, and copper coated steel ground rods for everything else at the utility I work for.

 

[Industrial Toys]

It's just galvanized. I plan on sticking a (test) copper ground rod outside the house and with a long wire see if I get voltage between the U ground of any given recepacle and the rod. I am guessing I do. They probably have the same issue at the house, just never realized it.

Ever try and help someone out?

 

[CADplans]

We use stainless steel ground rods for for “important” stuff, and copper coated steel ground rods for everything else at the utility I work for.

Hmmmmm,,,,,,,, stainless is an interesting material,, the amperage would become important when using stainless.

 

[GLyford]

While doing due diligence to trace the issue is definitely worth the time, the problem might not be in your local install.

A dairy my brother worked for had a stray voltage problem. Turns out the utility used the poles themselves as the center tap reference connection for the transformers and the resistance of the wood was enough to create about 5 to 7v voltage drop from the top of the pole to the dirt at the bottom. Especially if the phase loads on the transformer are not balanced (odd number of houses, whatever), the earth can still be carrying current back to and even through the poles.

Solution was to have the utility put a return ground wire on every pole near the farm. Five years later, the utility replaced all their poles on that street, and all those ground wires ended up on the truck. Farmer had to call them out to do it again.

One town I lived in for a while had a community owned electric company, and didn't use that system, they spent the money to run the extra return conductor instead...I was talking to the crew in the bucket truck as they replaced the connection outside my 2nd floor window. No idea which system is used at my current place since the lines are underground, but since the transformer is on a pad at least there is no pole resistance.

 

[RNeumann]

I don’t believe you are going to ground rod your way of this.......

You need to diagnose before you attempt to fix it.