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Ground rod specifics

Bluedog225

Bluedog225

Texas
Joined
Nov 18, 2019
Messages
3,299
I plan to drive 2 eight foot rods not less than 6 feet apart and connected with an appropriately sized conductor per the NEC.

All good.

Can the rods be located 25’ from the main panel? This would provide greater physical protection as they’re sticking out of the ground a bit.

Can the conductor between the rods and from the rods to the main panel be buried bare copper?

6’ separation is the minimum. What’s the maximum? Eg: 10’? 25’?

Thanks
 
Bluedog225 said:
Can the rods be located 25’ from the main panel? This would provide greater physical protection as they’re sticking out of the ground a bit.
Click to expand...
I am not aware of a rule about the distance.... but that does not mean there is not one. Hopefully someone can chime in if there is a limit.


Bluedog225 said:
I plan to drive 2 eight foot rods not less than 6 feet apart
Click to expand...
Bluedog225 said:
6’ separation is the minimum. What’s the maximum? Eg: 10’? 25’?
Click to expand...
The rule of thumb is that the rods should be at least as far apart as that are long. In this case they should be 8' apart from each other.
I am not aware of a maximum.

Bluedog225 said:
Can the conductor between the rods and from the rods to the main panel be buried bare copper?
Click to expand...
Yes
 
There is no maximum distance, only the minimum of 6' separation.
But it's best to stay within 10' of each other, to avoid gradient pulse issues.
Generally they are placed near the point of connection (main panel), for cost reasons. But further away is not a problem.
Burying the GEC is fine also.
The GE (grounding electrode) can be completely buried. You don't have to leave them above ground. If you are getting inspection, leave exposed holes until after. So that the inspector can see it.
 
timselectric said:
There is no maximum distance, only the minimum of 6' separation.
But it's best to stay within 10' of each other, to avoid gradient pulse issues.
Generally they are placed near the point of connection (main panel), for cost reasons. But further away is not a problem.
Burying the GEC is fine also.
The GE (grounding electrode) can be completely buried. You don't have to leave them above ground. If you are getting inspection, leave exposed holes until after. So that the inspector can see it.
Click to expand...

Great. It’s a little odd with the main panel being in the conex.

I didn’t know the grounding electrode could be completely buried. Though I may leave one exposed in to help future folks find it.

Will do as suggested.

Thanks!
 
Bluedog225 said:
Great. It’s a little odd with the main panel being in the conex.

I didn’t know the grounding electrode could be completely buried. Though I may leave one exposed in to help future folks find it.

Will do as suggested.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
We will dig for it in the future.
Bury the thing.
Pound the entire rod entirely into the ground.
 
Supervstech said:
We will dig for it in the future.
Bury the thing.
Pound the entire rod entirely into the ground.
Click to expand...
I was also thinking I might need to ground a fully independent 12 volt back up system to the same rod(s). Or ground a genny.

Good idea. No?
 
Bluedog225 said:
I was also thinking I might need to ground a fully independent 12 volt back up system to the same rod(s). Or ground a genny.

Good idea. No?
Click to expand...
For this you use an intersystem bonding block tied to the egc.
 

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timselectric said:
There is no maximum distance, only the minimum of 6' separation.
But it's best to stay within 10' of each other, to avoid gradient pulse issues.
Generally they are placed near the point of connection (main panel), for cost reasons. But further away is not a problem.
Burying the GEC is fine also.
The GE (grounding electrode) can be completely buried. You don't have to leave them above ground. If you are getting inspection, leave exposed holes until after. So that the inspector can see it.
Click to expand...
Have you ever had an inspector measure resistance to ground?
 
In very hard soil like this adobe crap here. Wet the ground && dig down ~2 ft with a post hole digger first. Fill hole with water, and start driving the rod. Fill hole with water repeatedly as you hammer the rod. Take a break to let the water soak on down if the rod stops moving. leave an inch or two so the inspector can see the stamp. Hook everything up to the ground, fill the hole wet the soil make it fit in the hole. Won't help if you hit stone. Also keeps you from having to stand on a ladder to get the first couple of feet down.

I've driven a rod or two in various places where if you hit it too hard you might lose it. (Exaggerating but not by much).

When driving a rod near a foundation/slab , there is often concrete spillover that will rear it's ugly head where moving a hole over 6 inches resolves an issue getting the rod down. If you do it for a living a big hammer drill is tough to beat, miss the big Hilti.
 
I just beat it into submission with a post hole digger and bfh.

It never would have occurred to me to cut it short. Wow.
 
Last edited:
Bluedog225 said:
I just beat it into submission with a post hole differ and bfh.

It never would have occurred to me to cut it short. Wow.
Click to expand...
When in doubt, hit it harder with the BFH! I cut one once near a slab below the ground. I ran another in a foot away. Dunno what I hit but hit it hard enough to bend the effing thing, and it wasn't going to come back up, sawzall, && start over.
 
Supervstech said:
Yes, i have.
In my area they do it to see if you have cut off the ground rod.
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In this area of NC they will use a Ouija Board and ask the spirits if your being honest.
 

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ksmithaz1 said:
I've driven a rod or two in various places where if you hit it too hard you might lose it. (Exaggerating but not by much).
Click to expand...
This actually happened to me once.
Back when we drove 3/4" rigid for the electrode.
After 2' in , the next hit went the other 8'. The coupling stopped at the grass.
Turned out there was an abandoned coal oil tank.
I just screwed another length and drove through the bottom too.
It was best earth connection of my career. lol
 
Can the conductor between the rods, and the conductor to the main panel be stranded? Or do they need to be solid?
 
Bluedog225 said:
Can the conductor between the rods, and the conductor to the main panel be stranded? Or do they need to be solid?
Click to expand...
Yes
I only use stranded insulated for the GEC.
Keep in mind this is one unbroken conductor. (Not two)
It should run between the electrodes and continue to the termination point, unbroken.
 
  • Installing grounding electrodes (in particular, rods) 6 feet apart because that is the minimum separation required by code.
    • Each ground rod has its own zone of influence as shown in Figure 2. The optimal spacing between rods should be twice the length of the ground rod. When the zones overlap, the net resistance of each rod increase, thus making the ground system less effective.
 
seneysolar said:
Have you ever had an inspector measure resistance to ground?
Click to expand...
The regs this post is quoting kinda laughable to me as an retired British electrician we simply had to drive as many rods as was necessary to get a good ohms reading
timselectric said:
Not when you place two.
It's the exception to the resistance requirement.
Click to expand...
So the exception is dangerous I've had to fit 5 rods on my home here to get an acceptable reading of 5ohms and I likely need more as this was not mesured during a dry spell
Supervstech said:
I use an SDS MAX hammer drill and a ground rod driver bit...

How deep ya wanna go?
Click to expand...
Wish they had these when I was an apprentice saw one on YouTube a few years ago ended up making my own but for my little SDS plus
 
ThaiTaffy said:
The regs this post is quoting kinda laughable to me as an retired British electrician we simply had to drive as many rods as was necessary to get a good ohms reading

So the exception is dangerous I've had to fit 5 rods on my home here to get an acceptable reading of 5ohms and I likely need more as this was not mesured during a dry spell

Wish they had these when I was an apprentice saw one on YouTube a few years ago ended up making my own but for my little SDS plus
Click to expand...
It is more for lightning and radio frequencies. Think of a large energy entering the ground rod at the ground level and traveling in all directions at the speed of light creating a half sphere. Having two rods the two fields will overlap and be out of phase with each other due to the wire length feeding the ground rod.
1717949031735.png
 
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