Sinking grounding rod past gravel

RatLabGuy

RatLabGuy

You look like a monkey and smell like one too
Joined
May 18, 2005
Location
Churchville, MD
Ok you electricians
At work we have a need to sink a grounding rod near a building to use as an earth ground for something that needs to be independent of the building electrical system.
We gave it a go last week, used the cups-o-water trick and were able to sink it in beautifully for the first four feet in a matter of minutes wo any tools. Then we hit what seems like there is a bed of gravel, likely as drainage. No amount of water or shoving could get it past.

Giving another try tomorrow, this time bringing some nice BFHs.
Anyone dealt with this before? I'm wondering if we can get it past that next 6 in or so, if it will then get easier. But I'm suspicious from that point forward it will only be pounding and no more water push pull.

The good news is for our application we're dealing with really low current, and in the worst case I'll just cut it off at whatever depth we can get it to and call it a day...
 
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Screenshot_20220711-205504_Home Depot.jpg
 
You can do it with a sledgehammer, but sds is easiest. Might also be able to put an air impact over the end and let it eat, but I've never tried. Make sure you put the clamp on before you start beating on it.
 
When we built the house, electrician hit brownstone about 1' down. 70# makita rotary hammer with rod driver drove it home. 2 guys on step ladders, and it took a while.
 
Any chance there is something in the ground…..like a sewer pipe etc? :popcorn:
 
benmack1 said:
Any chance there is something in the ground…..like a sewer pipe etc? :popcorn:
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At least in theory no... we pulled all the prior records etc and we know where everything is.
There's a groundwater collection drain down teh hill from it where you can see some pipes coming in. which we believe are coming from the gravel bed we hot. The angle makes it unlikely we're on one of the pipes.
braxton357 said:
.View attachment 376568
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yep that looks like the ticket.

Dang its too bad its not worth 50 bucks to me and I don't wanna wait 2 weeks for the .gov to buy one.
 
If you wanna go in - the answer is in this thread.
Now

This doesn’t sound like a code required issue - but just in case… code doesn’t specify depth- just length of surface contact .

You can go 45 degrees or even dig a trench and lay it in and cover it.
 
Ron said:
You can go 45 degrees or even dig a trench and lay it in and cover it.
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We were just discussing this today.

Also, in this case code doesn't even apply, as it isn't being used for conventional electricity, it's for ESD mitigation, grounding a conductive floor.
 
Can also bury a plate in lieu of the rod.
 
ESD .... there will actually be a code dealing with this if you dig deep enough.
.gov is fairly thorough in keeping their fingers in everything even if they have no clue about it.
There are several ways to do this ... about half would be better than a rod.
The best would be a radial field ( fanned wires a couple of inches down - stretch out around the property) ..... but that's just more junk in the ground an would likely need an RF engineer to sign off on.
IMHO, try the BFHs .... then cut it off.
 
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