On Sat, 14 Jul 2007 02:04:34 +0000, Owen Duffy wrote:

You will see articles on the net describing drilling a hole with a hose
and a peice of pipe. I have reservations about this, because it is no
longer a drive electrode. I have not seen this method used by commercial
applications and I suspect that if one was contracted to drive
electrodes, this would not be an acceptable method.

Good evening, Owen.

I am unsure what you mean by "it is no longer a drive electrode" and "I
suspect... this would not be an acceptable method".

Certainly the earth's grip on the ground rod will be much less tight this
way, but only for a little while... over time, won't the earth shift with
weather and rain and such, so that eventually (in days or weeks) it will
grip the ground rod sufficiently well?

Or am I missing your point? (No surprise there...) :-)