On Sat, 14 Jul 2007 02:21:58 +0000, Ralph Mowery wrote:

If it is regular ground and not rocks it is easy to put ground rods in with
just your hands and a gallon or two of water, maybe less.

Dig out a hole about 4 or 5 inches in diameter and about that deep. Fill
it with water. Put the ground rod in the center of that hole and push it
down. Then pull it back slightly. Doing this several times you should be
able to get to get it down several inches with each cycle. Keep doing this
without stopping. If you get to about 3 or 4 feet put the rod all the way
out and fill the hole with water . Put the rod back in the same hole and
keep pushing and pulling it a few inches at a time. You may want to wear
gloves. I usually put a pair of Vice Grip pliers on the rod to act as a
handle to get a beter grip.

Using this method I sunk two ground rods in the ground in about 15 minuits
or less for each.

I was shown this method about ten years ago (had one of those, "D'oh! Why
didn't *I* think of that!" slapping forehead moments) and have put in
several rods with the technique. The last foot or so may require using a
sledge hammer, but that is a lot less swinging and the end of the rod is
more stable so your hit to knuckle ratio increases dramatically!

Rocks? Well, you're pretty much screwed unless it's thin layer of shale
and you're using a commercial driver. Even then, I've heard of stories of
the rod making a U-turn and coming back up out of the ground!

A number of years ago a couple of us were grounding a site in the Kansas
Flint Hills. As luck would have it, the limestone layer was almost
exactly four feet below the surface and our Hilti driver just bounced on
the end of the rod when the layer was reached. So, we wound up cutting the
rods off, going out another eight feet on the runs and driving the other
half in and bonding the whole works together. The site has been reliable
as far as I know.

For a lighting ground there is no such thing as too good of a ground.
Sometimes, though, there is only so much you can do and that will have to
suffice.

73, de Nate

--

"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds,
the pessimist fears this is true."