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Driving Ground Rods (was:RE: grounding question)
Kelly,
Get a 5/8"x8' ground rod (copper plated steel) from your local home center
for about $12.00.
Borrow or buy a cheep pneumatic hammer with a pointed tip (Harbor Freight
for $9.95).
Dig a small hole about 6" deep and fill with water.
Place your ground rod in the middle of the hole/water.
Put the pneumatic hammer, with pointed tip, in the dimple on the end of the
ground rod (you may have to stand on a ladder or crate at first.
Hammer away while someone keeps water in the hole. (The water will lubricate
the rod cause liquefaction in some soils. Either way it will help transmit
the blows to the tip where they are needed.)
Once the rod starts moving try not to stop.
This method has worked in every soil condition I've experienced (except at a
mountain cabin which was setting on a solid granite boulder)...
Regards,
Brian B.
-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla List [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2000 11:29 AM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: grounding question
Original Poster: "Kelly Shutt" <tcatut-at-mail.utexas.edu>
ok... i live down in good old Austin, TX and we have a unique ground
problem... most of the ground around here is Texas rock... you go down about
a few feet or even inches as the case is where I'm trying to drive my rod,
and you hit what is basically gravel... anyone know any ways to work around
this... i suppose i could get a thin rod and put a point on it to push
between rocks but i don't know how well that would work... also, how do you
people go about driving 8 and 10 foot pipes into the ground... that can't be
an easy task... i would appreciate any help or solutions that any of you
might possess.
Thanks,
Kelly