I listened to 2 friends in construction recount how to do this. I decided to try it the last time I needed to install a ground rod. I was absolutely amazed at how well the water method worked. No real effort required to sink that rod to the point where there was only 8” left above grade.
Thank you for the vidja! I have found that in Central Florida I can use a garden hose with/without a piece of PCV pipe to drill pretty much ANY hole I need. I got a hose adaptor with a slip-fit end for longer/stubborn pieces of whatever that I want to sink in the ground. I am convinced a 1/2inch - 3/4inch diameter PCV pipe can sink ANYTHING in the ground you want. Forty years ago I sunk 12' creosote telephone pole pilings for use as dock footings. They each took less than half an hour until I got into water over my head and had to use a john-boat. They still took less time than I would have imagined. Not much digging some water cannot make easier it seems. Cheers.
I saw the water method on a Short. Used it two weeks ago to slam two grounding rods in. Unbelievable how efficient it was. Took less than 7 minutes to install both. Had a rock in line with one, easily moved it a few inches over an bammo. Hammered, as you did, the last foot or so.
I've used the water method to drive 5/8" x 8 foot ground rods several times and it definitely works just as easily as shown (lots of sweat involved tho) and yes...a hammer for the last foot or so.
I need to drive 50ea, 6', 5/8" rods about 18" into the ground for a fence project. You saved me hundreds of dollars. I may get a post driver. Thanks very much.
Great video. I remember when I was a grunt back in the day. They give us a sledgehammer and the ground rod. When it's below zero out the water won't work. LOL 😂😂. I've pounded a lot of ground rods in. I remember my arms feel like they're going to fall off. LOL 😂
That was pretty good. I think you answered the question when you mentioned to be carful with the hammer drill while you are on the ladder. I think it is better to use the water method and end it with hammer drill. Great video. Thank you for sharing
I have seen the water method before and totally forgot about it; this video reminded me. That is such an effective and CHEAP technique. Now I'm waiting for Scott to show us Wago ground rod clamps. Ha ha ha
The ground around here (Texas Hill Country) doesn't have much dirt in it - so I'm not sure either one of those would work. We had a new propane tank put in, and after they scraped away 18 inches of soil, they were hammering away with the excavator for most of a day to make big enough hole.
Thats great in soft earth, but in my area I remember seeking a D8 caterpillar with a huge hydraulic ripper on the back stopped cold by solid rock. The dozer had to chip about 10 inch sections at a time, 3 ft wide x 5 ft deep x 40 ft long. It took several hours.
I see lots of videos that involve tunneling or trenching to run cable/conduit/irrigation/set poles/footings/etc that totally fail to mention that their "easy" method, whatever it happens to be, only works in certain areas and soil types. I'm surprised this video didn't mention these methods only work in soil that is not rocky or based in hard clay, Scott usually considers all possibilities and discusses them.
if the ground is so rocky that you need caterpillar and stuff then I think this is not a good grounding surface. Rocky ground is bad as far as I know. Should seek more soil spot further away and run the copper back to building I think.
I dug a small hole and with a garden hose I was able to drive an 8 foot rod into about 2 1/2 feet from surface level. Water is absolutely the way to go.
My dad was an electrician and told me he did this under a crawl space once where there was no room to hammer on it. One fellow poured the water and my dad twisted it by hand
Maybe both would be fastest. With the water technique, I'm thinking it gets harder down below moist soil. On the last segment, I'd pour in the rest of the bottle and go have lunch to allow time for it to penetrate.
I’m glad I watched your video, as I was just going to hammer the rods all the way home. Because soon I’ll be starting the electrics on my house I’m building. What is the gauge of that wire that went from one rod to the other, or can any gauge do? I assume then that an earth cable would then go straight to the distribution box. 👍👍👍
Yeah, that would probably work well. Depending on your soil type the water will pretty easily get the rod to 3-4 feet above the ground with little effort.
You should not be using an earth ground Your ground reference is different from the ac ground potential Grounding to your ac system balances the ground Grounding to earth and then using ac causes an unbalanced ground Many so called hams dont know what theyre doing For swl and listening it will help But for transmitting and esp using any power Good luck U ground using your ac ground to a copper buss and ground your radios from that a balanced ground
@@ragheadand420roll Maybe they're just talking about the antennas and not the radios. I grounded my antennas for lightning and surge suppression. I live on a mountain and have a repeater site. Coax run of 200' or so. Lots of lightning and static up here.
I listened to an old ham who said to not ground and then an electrical storm blew out expensive electronics and made toast of the DC circuit breaker I had installed. NOT a direct hit, just induced current! T-post driver!
I live near the Great Lakes where the ground is solid clay soil. When wet it has the gooey consistency of modeling clay. Hard as a rock when dry. I’d have to grind a point into the end of the rod like a harpoon and it’d still take over an hour to pound that sucker into the ground.
Called out in code. There is an example where you could only have 1 grounding rod but you need to meet the Resistance threshold. NEC code: The NEC requires a minimum of two grounding electrodes, unless one electrode has a resistance to earth less than 25 ohms.
I use a full size SDS MAX rotohammer and a bar clamp for a trigger lock. as tempting as it is to lean hard on the rotohammer, it really doesn't make much difference. set it on, set the speed so it doesn't bounce itself off, and do something different for a few minutes.
I just saw a video where someone used like three-quarter inch conduit a female Garden hose connector down into it connected his garden hose to it and had a continuous flow of water while doing it and it went super fast.
Around here I seem to have so many rocks and roots that I doubt the water method would work very well. If you think that rotary hammer does a good job, you should try a DeWalt 21lb. SDS-Max demolition hammer! With one of the Bosch ground rod bits the main issue you have is getting the hammer turned OFF before the rod disappears into the ground. :-)
@@kenbrown2808 It's not solid granite but it is very rocky. When you luck out and pick a clean spot, that's when the rod goes in fast. The demolition hammer will drive the rod through roots and other obstructions.
What do you do with exposed ground wire? I noticed mine were exposed on the surface is my lawn when I bought my house. Should I i cover them to with dirt or what to do we do with the exposed wire?
round one, very impressive. It was so impressive, i would like to see a rematch in dry clay soil, with some fraction of river base in there. would it just be a bit slower, or not work at all, compared to your clearly moist brown soil.
What method is available for earth with shale rocks. Here is S. York County, PA, we live on an eroded mountain and the soil is packed full of flat rocks in any position. They usually stop anything from being driven into the ground.
Things may be different where you are, but where i am all grounds go back to the main disconnect where there are ground rods. I wouldnt ground a sub panel separately. If you were putting lightning rods, sure, but not tied to the electrical system.
by code, a separate building needs a direct connection to grounding electrodes. they can be the same electrodes as the main service, but it needs a direct connection.
Did you make a coned point on the driving-to-depth tip? I have no idea what Code or Established Procedure is, but intuition tells me that would help. I noticed that the rotary hammer drill tip was coned with a flat tip. Does the grounding rod come that way, maybe on both ends, or did the rotary hammer drill do that? With the video at full screen, it looks like both ends are shaped with a flat-tipped cone. Maybe that's better than a pointed-tip cone to help it drive in straighter with either procedure? I agree that the water only method is amazing. Great video, Scott. Thanks I'll watch your How To Install A Garage Sub Panel next.
Turns out the water method isnt as effective as I had hoped here in the El Paso desert, 5 minutes turned into an hour haha but still better than spending the money on power tools.
Here if you Mushroom the Ground Rod even a little bit into the Engraving Label, the Inspectors won’t approve it. I swear they have stock in the Ground Rod Manufacturers.
Here in Ohio with Clay soil neither methods work well. I even have been using the hammer drill/driver and water and 3 hours and still have 3 - 4 foot left to go on two rods
Interesting, but what about the goal with this ground rod to make an electric connection to the ground ? How many ohm's do ether of these rod's have, both just after installing and after some time (like weeks/month/years). It is a safety thing that must work over a long time span, so what you may gain in time, and afford saving during installation, you may end up loosing in reliability over time ? There is most likely a code about the resistance to ground and how to measure it.
I'll try it but i don't think this will work in North Carolina with all the clay in the soil. When I was an apprentice, I had to take turns with another guy using a post driver and it took us like 10 minutes just to install one rod
In the case of CBS homes, builders often bury construction waste, unused mixed concrete, broken blocks, etc. around the house instead of spending their time and money to properly dispose of this debris!
No. The ground rod needs to be outside the building, and ideally immediately adjacent to where all the other utilities enter the building, so that they can all be bonded to the same ground potential.
Sometimes you can ground to the rebar in the slab, if there is enough rebar and slab, depending on soil conditions -check local code. I've never heard of driving rods through or below slab.
I use water to get it down a few feet to make sure I’m not going to hit any plumbing, then use an SDS Max with the driver attachment. Trying to drive rods with SDS Plus is almost pointless you’ll work yourself into an early grave.
I live on a mountain, where there is nothing but: granite, rock and clay; everywhere I dig. I don't know if I could drive an 8' gnd. rod into the soil.
damn with the water method i can only get about 2 ft in. i must be hitting rock but im not able to find a place i can get further within range of the cable drop
Easiest way is with water alone. No cost! Fill that hole with water and you won't need a hammer... I actually lost a ground rod that just disappeared well below ground using water.
Works well until you hit the rocks. Maybe your hammer drill is better than my Kobalt 20V (I got the store demo for $20 tho) and had to pound that sucker with a 2lb'r for about 20 minutes. I also didnt realize the point faces up.
You need a better intro explanation a sub panel on a separate building is supposed to have a ground rod. If it is a subpanel in the same structure as the main panel. Then you do not add a ground rod to the subpanel -- the ground counes from the wiring going back to the mail panel
It's okay if you don't bond the neutral to sub panel, also be well away from any other grounds, like utilities company, or you can get recirculating current.
Can't I just wrap the old wire from the first antenna to a bolt sticking outta the new wood balcony? That's how DirecTV had it, when I canceled after 16 year's I just unscrewed everything that went into the dish and added another cable for length and screwed it into the antenna would still be up but management hired some side worker's looks fine except the 4 in. Bolts on 8 corner's😂
Sir, with all due respect. We all don't live in that area. As the saying goes, " Why don't you go pound sand?" We have extremely rocky soil. In some areas, contractors have to blast to open trenches for utilities installations. I know you mean well, and you want to get more subscribers to your channel. I would love to just use a bottle of water. But, " Come On Man "
Using a miniature rotary hammer, like the one he uses, especially a battery one, is not the right tool. The weight of the tool bouncing on the rod is a critical factor. I use a corded 1-9/16" rotary hammer and I can get a rod down through clay in under 2 minutes all day. In sand, 30 seconds. I never break a sweat.
It seems that the water method wallers out the hole, such that much of the rod doesn't make great contacts with the surrounding earth (ground). I imagine the earth would fill in the void, but it will take years before it has as good contact as the demo-hammer driven ground-rod. I fully disavow the water method!
I listened to 2 friends in construction recount how to do this. I decided to try it the last time I needed to install a ground rod. I was absolutely amazed at how well the water method worked. No real effort required to sink that rod to the point where there was only 8” left above grade.
Thank you for the vidja!
I have found that in Central Florida I can use a garden hose with/without a piece of PCV pipe to drill pretty much ANY hole I need. I got a hose adaptor with a slip-fit end for longer/stubborn pieces of whatever that I want to sink in the ground. I am convinced a 1/2inch - 3/4inch diameter PCV pipe can sink ANYTHING in the ground you want. Forty years ago I sunk 12' creosote telephone pole pilings for use as dock footings. They each took less than half an hour until I got into water over my head and had to use a john-boat. They still took less time than I would have imagined.
Not much digging some water cannot make easier it seems.
Cheers.
I saw the water method on a Short. Used it two weeks ago to slam two grounding rods in. Unbelievable how efficient it was. Took less than 7 minutes to install both. Had a rock in line with one, easily moved it a few inches over an bammo. Hammered, as you did, the last foot or so.
I've used the water method to drive 5/8" x 8 foot ground rods several times and it definitely works just as easily as shown (lots of sweat involved tho) and yes...a hammer for the last foot or so.
I need to drive 50ea, 6', 5/8" rods about 18" into the ground for a fence project. You saved me hundreds of dollars. I may get a post driver. Thanks very much.
Great video. I remember when I was a grunt back in the day. They give us a sledgehammer and the ground rod. When it's below zero out the water won't work. LOL 😂😂. I've pounded a lot of ground rods in. I remember my arms feel like they're going to fall off. LOL 😂
I have used a t-post driver and that works well
That was pretty good. I think you answered the question when you mentioned to be carful with the hammer drill while you are on the ladder. I think it is better to use the water method and end it with hammer drill. Great video. Thank you for sharing
I just use a post driver, no sweat. The water method is highly dependent on your soil type and doesn't work well in lots of places.
I have seen the water method before and totally forgot about it; this video reminded me. That is such an effective and CHEAP technique. Now I'm waiting for Scott to show us Wago ground rod clamps. Ha ha ha
I like that you have the ground rods just below the finished grade…I can’t stand when they leave them sticking out like 6 inches.
Depending on the use, I dontnmind knowing where they are.
@@pwkeely as radio operator I prefer exposed. I'm always grounding and removing various electronics & masts.
In my area for power it's required to be under grade 6"
@@pr0xyg673 thanks 👍🏼🛠️
That's how an above ground connection is made. Burying the connection seems like asking for corrosion to occur.
Just tried this and it works GREAT!!
The ground around here (Texas Hill Country) doesn't have much dirt in it - so I'm not sure either one of those would work. We had a new propane tank put in, and after they scraped away 18 inches of soil, they were hammering away with the excavator for most of a day to make big enough hole.
Thats great in soft earth, but in my area I remember seeking a D8 caterpillar with a huge hydraulic ripper on the back stopped cold by solid rock. The dozer had to chip about 10 inch sections at a time, 3 ft wide x 5 ft deep x 40 ft long. It took several hours.
I see lots of videos that involve tunneling or trenching to run cable/conduit/irrigation/set poles/footings/etc that totally fail to mention that their "easy" method, whatever it happens to be, only works in certain areas and soil types. I'm surprised this video didn't mention these methods only work in soil that is not rocky or based in hard clay, Scott usually considers all possibilities and discusses them.
my back yard in Texas was solid limestone about 12 inches down
if the ground is so rocky that you need caterpillar and stuff then I think this is not a good grounding surface. Rocky ground is bad as far as I know. Should seek more soil spot further away and run the copper back to building I think.
@gelisob we were putting in water lines, so we had no choice but to chip the rock away until we were 6 feet down.
@Xanthumb_Gum So? Is there a specific question you're asking? Or are you stating that you haven't any interest in the subject.
"That [ground rod] would not something you want to fall on" truer words have never been spoken😆
Impressive. Thanks for the info and showing us how it's done.
I dug a small hole and with a garden hose I was able to drive an 8 foot rod into about 2 1/2 feet from surface level. Water is absolutely the way to go.
My dad was an electrician and told me he did this under a crawl space once where there was no room to hammer on it. One fellow poured the water and my dad twisted it by hand
Why did your dad put it under the house instead of outside near side of house
Water's amazing , sunk a well pipe 50' with just water
Impressive 👍
Maybe both would be fastest. With the water technique, I'm thinking it gets harder down below moist soil. On the last segment, I'd pour in the rest of the bottle and go have lunch to allow time for it to penetrate.
Lunch? Id go have some beers... Come back the next day... 😂
@@billbehrens7421 A better option of course! 🍻
I tried the water method a few years ago, and couldn’t believe how fast and easy it was.
For sure 👍
I’m glad I watched your video, as I was just going to hammer the rods all the way home. Because soon I’ll be starting the electrics on my house I’m building. What is the gauge of that wire that went from one rod to the other, or can any gauge do? I assume then that an earth cable would then go straight to the distribution box. 👍👍👍
Nice! I'm probably going to use a combination of these. I have a hammer drill, but it's not the biggest.
Yeah, that would probably work well. Depending on your soil type the water will pretty easily get the rod to 3-4 feet above the ground with little effort.
😂 As a radio hobbyist..... T-post driver works faster than both.
Great idea 💡
QSL
You should not be using an earth ground Your ground reference is different from the ac ground potential Grounding to your ac system balances the ground Grounding to earth and then using ac causes an unbalanced ground Many so called hams dont know what theyre doing For swl and listening it will help But for transmitting and esp using any power Good luck U ground using your ac ground to a copper buss and ground your radios from that a balanced ground
@@ragheadand420roll Maybe they're just talking about the antennas and not the radios. I grounded my antennas for lightning and surge suppression. I live on a mountain and have a repeater site. Coax run of 200' or so. Lots of lightning and static up here.
I listened to an old ham who said to not ground and then an electrical storm blew out expensive electronics and made toast of the DC circuit breaker I had installed. NOT a direct hit, just induced current!
T-post driver!
I had no idea water would make such a difference. Where I live there are LOTS of rocks. I will give it a try.
It is DEPENDS on the Location Soil.....if you Lucky enough around your house of soft ground soil 😅
Not sure how well the water method would work on my rock filled clay soil.
Same here....central coast of California...we don't dig holes we sculpt them
Yeah, probably need 2 bottles of water 😁
I live near the Great Lakes where the ground is solid clay soil. When wet it has the gooey consistency of modeling clay. Hard as a rock when dry. I’d have to grind a point into the end of the rod like a harpoon and it’d still take over an hour to pound that sucker into the ground.
Great Video. Thank you for sharing. May I ask, why's have 2 Grounding Rods ?
Same question
I thought he said something about it being required by code.
Called out in code. There is an example where you could only have 1 grounding rod but you need to meet the Resistance threshold. NEC code:
The NEC requires a minimum of two grounding electrodes, unless one electrode has a resistance to earth less than 25 ohms.
I use a full size SDS MAX rotohammer and a bar clamp for a trigger lock. as tempting as it is to lean hard on the rotohammer, it really doesn't make much difference. set it on, set the speed so it doesn't bounce itself off, and do something different for a few minutes.
Good, I have to do this tomorrow
I just saw a video where someone used like three-quarter inch conduit a female Garden hose connector down into it connected his garden hose to it and had a continuous flow of water while doing it and it went super fast.
Around here I seem to have so many rocks and roots that I doubt the water method would work very well. If you think that rotary hammer does a good job, you should try a DeWalt 21lb. SDS-Max demolition hammer! With one of the Bosch ground rod bits the main issue you have is getting the hammer turned OFF before the rod disappears into the ground. :-)
you don't have truly rocky soil if you have to worry about it going too fast.
@@kenbrown2808 It's not solid granite but it is very rocky. When you luck out and pick a clean spot, that's when the rod goes in fast. The demolition hammer will drive the rod through roots and other obstructions.
@@eosjoe565 I've hit bedrock before. then the inspector invariably shows up right when you've just cut the last foot off the rod.
@@kenbrown2808 heh heh... bummer. :-)
Now that you have ground rod installed, please make video for TV antenna install 🙏
Especially since it is now football season
Great video as usual. Thank you!
I'm sure it works great with well draining soil. I think you'd get much worse results with the water technique in clay.
Wow.......what a surprise. Nice
Second video I’ve seen where you put the flat end on the ground and hammer on the pointy end. Am I missing something?
What is you used water AND the driver bit? You'd be done in 30sec!!
🤯
Hey that was my thought too. Time to drive a third ground rod!
Then attach the wire to the ground rod before you start, you might sink it underground before you know it!😮
What do you do with exposed ground wire?
I noticed mine were exposed on the surface is my lawn when I bought my house.
Should I i cover them to with dirt or what to do we do with the exposed wire?
round one, very impressive. It was so impressive, i would like to see a rematch in dry clay soil, with some fraction of river base in there. would it just be a bit slower, or not work at all, compared to your clearly moist brown soil.
Get a T-post driver from Tractor Supply Co.
A question. Aren't you supposed to leave the acorn clamp connection exposed (not buried)? Maybe cad weld instead if you have to bury them?
I haven't seen a callout to leave the clamps exposed.
acorns are rated for direct burial. but it's smart to wait until after inspection to bury them.
What about attaching copper rod(s) to the house/building, how is that done properly?
What method is available for earth with shale rocks. Here is S. York County, PA, we live on an eroded mountain and the soil is packed full of flat rocks in any position. They usually stop anything from being driven into the ground.
It can be installed horizontally in the ground, but I believe it has to be 30" down, which would still be quite difficult. Plan on renting a backhoe.
@@Zeric1 basically, the average depth needs to be 48 inches. a better option might be to pour a sidewalk with a concrete encased electrode in it.
Things may be different where you are, but where i am all grounds go back to the main disconnect where there are ground rods. I wouldnt ground a sub panel separately.
If you were putting lightning rods, sure, but not tied to the electrical system.
by code, a separate building needs a direct connection to grounding electrodes. they can be the same electrodes as the main service, but it needs a direct connection.
Did you make a coned point on the driving-to-depth tip? I have no idea what Code or Established Procedure is, but intuition tells me that would help. I noticed that the rotary hammer drill tip was coned with a flat tip. Does the grounding rod come that way, maybe on both ends, or did the rotary hammer drill do that? With the video at full screen, it looks like both ends are shaped with a flat-tipped cone. Maybe that's better than a pointed-tip cone to help it drive in straighter with either procedure? I agree that the water only method is amazing. Great video, Scott. Thanks
I'll watch your How To Install A Garage Sub Panel next.
Ground rods come with one end that is somewhat pointed, the other end much less so.
@@Zeric1 Thanks, Zeric.
@@Zeric1 depends on the manufacturer. nearly all have a pointy end, the other end can vary from also pointy, to chamfered, to hollow and chamfered.
I would want to use either method in Southern Nevada. The ground is like concrete
Yeah, might take a bit longer 😬
Or any other place with caliche.
Before digging rod someone suggested to me call for digger to check utilities line. Is it correct? Should we call for them?
Yes, locating utilities prior to digging or sinking things like ground rods is a good idea.
2.5 minutes if you use water with the Mikita hammer drill. 💪
I can’t believe that actually work.
The power of water 👍
Turns out the water method isnt as effective as I had hoped here in the El Paso desert, 5 minutes turned into an hour haha but still better than spending the money on power tools.
Do you test your grounds?
Try that up in the Canadian Shield area. I was so happy to get 3 feet in before solid rock!
I thought the Canadian shield was one's wife ignoring their husband.
Will the hammer drill technique allow you to bust through rock?
Not usually.
How fast will it be if you combine both methods?
Here if you Mushroom the Ground Rod even a little bit into the Engraving Label, the Inspectors won’t approve it. I swear they have stock in the Ground Rod Manufacturers.
Nice!
That water trick probably works there in IL with that mushy loamy soil but down here in the south with the clay and rocks and not so easy I bet.
Right you are. 😢
Here in Ohio with Clay soil neither methods work well. I even have been using the hammer drill/driver and water and 3 hours and still have 3 - 4 foot left to go on two rods
Interesting, but what about the goal with this ground rod to make an electric connection to the ground ? How many ohm's do ether of these rod's have, both just after installing and after some time (like weeks/month/years). It is a safety thing that must work over a long time span, so what you may gain in time, and afford saving during installation, you may end up loosing in reliability over time ? There is most likely a code about the resistance to ground and how to measure it.
Catch 22 I don’t have Power to power the Ground Rod with the hammer drill.
I'll try it but i don't think this will work in North Carolina with all the clay in the soil. When I was an apprentice, I had to take turns with another guy using a post driver and it took us like 10 minutes just to install one rod
Yeah, soil type can make a massive difference.
In the case of CBS homes, builders often bury construction waste, unused mixed concrete, broken blocks, etc. around the house instead of spending their time and money to properly dispose of this debris!
FINALLY! A good use for Dasani water!
😂
Have never seen ground with so little rocks lol I need to move where you live
How about the fastest and easiest way to get old ones that are no longer hooked up out of the ground?
Leave them there, just cut below grade
Water hose and perhaps a length of PCV pipe. Just root around and you can eventually work it out. Hydro-drilling is "magical". :)
@@gillgetter3004 like with sawzall?
@@gillgetter3004 sheesh okay thanks
@@phlogistanjones2722 appreciate you
Thank you, my Millennials and I bought a ground rod and we still haven't installed it. Thank you for the video!!!
Can you drive the ground rods inside through the concrete floor?
No. The ground rod needs to be outside the building, and ideally immediately adjacent to where all the other utilities enter the building, so that they can all be bonded to the same ground potential.
Sometimes you can ground to the rebar in the slab, if there is enough rebar and slab, depending on soil conditions -check local code. I've never heard of driving rods through or below slab.
yes. it's usually awkward, but it can be done when it is more awkward to drive rods outdoors.
2 problems. What is your soil condition to bedrock. And what depth is bedrock.
How about water with the hammer drill? 2-3 minutes?
I use water to get it down a few feet to make sure I’m not going to hit any plumbing, then use an SDS Max with the driver attachment. Trying to drive rods with SDS Plus is almost pointless you’ll work yourself into an early grave.
My North Texas soil would laugh at either method. One needs a Caterpillar 994 to push through here. 😅
I live on a mountain, where there is nothing but: granite, rock and clay; everywhere I dig. I don't know if I could drive an 8' gnd. rod into the soil.
Once I got it to 4 feet, I used a 10 lb solid barbell and when it was the last 2 feet, I used a 25 lb one.😅
damn with the water method i can only get about 2 ft in. i must be hitting rock but im not able to find a place i can get further within range of the cable drop
Laughs in desert. I wish a bit of water would help that much. Might be a couple gallons over a few days for me
Easiest way is with water alone. No cost! Fill that hole with water and you won't need a hammer... I actually lost a ground rod that just disappeared well below ground using water.
Works well until you hit the rocks. Maybe your hammer drill is better than my Kobalt 20V (I got the store demo for $20 tho) and had to pound that sucker with a 2lb'r for about 20 minutes. I also didnt realize the point faces up.
Other than local code, why two ground rods?
So I tried sinking a ground rod up in a mountainous region...hit bedrock at about 4 feet. Couldn't penetrate that. Fail.
You missed a chance to demonstrate cad weld.
Use water and hammer drill.
Won’t the copper wire rot buried in the ground?
No
Now try that in shale, sandstone or granite.
8 foot rod 8 feet separation?
6 feet is a minimum. Optimal is twice the length of the ground rod, per NEC.
You need a better intro explanation a sub panel on a separate building is supposed to have a ground rod. If it is a subpanel in the same structure as the main panel. Then you do not add a ground rod to the subpanel -- the ground counes from the wiring going back to the mail panel
It's okay if you don't bond the neutral to sub panel, also be well away from any other grounds, like utilities company, or you can get recirculating current.
the best trick is to have sand instead of soil.
Can't I just wrap the old wire from the first antenna to a bolt sticking outta the new wood balcony? That's how DirecTV had it, when I canceled after 16 year's I just unscrewed everything that went into the dish and added another cable for length and screwed it into the antenna would still be up but management hired some side worker's looks fine except the 4 in. Bolts on 8 corner's😂
Unless you live in Maine where you are guaranteed to hit a rock or three.
Sir, with all due respect. We all don't live in that area. As the saying goes, " Why don't you go pound sand?" We have extremely rocky soil. In some areas, contractors have to blast to open trenches for utilities installations. I know you mean well, and you want to get more subscribers to your channel. I would love to just use a bottle of water. But, " Come On Man "
Why not combine the 2 methods? When you need to hammer, switch to the tool.
That would work!
But if you use the right size hammer there's no need for water.
Code here asks for under 4ohm. That's about 4-8 rods 😥
I'm absolutely shocked. Unfortunately, I don't think it will work for me because I live on a mountain with very rocky soil.
Yeah, the rocks might pose a bit of a problem.
Using a miniature rotary hammer, like the one he uses, especially a battery one, is not the right tool. The weight of the tool bouncing on the rod is a critical factor. I use a corded 1-9/16" rotary hammer and I can get a rod down through clay in under 2 minutes all day. In sand, 30 seconds. I never break a sweat.
Cool❤
It seems that the water method wallers out the hole, such that much of the rod doesn't make great contacts with the surrounding earth (ground). I imagine the earth would fill in the void, but it will take years before it has as good contact as the demo-hammer driven ground-rod.
I fully disavow the water method!
Water wouldnt work well in sandy soils, like Florida. Water would just collapse the sides of the hole and you have to start over.
Maybe if he used a real hammer drill!? 😂
Exactly. That miniature rotary hammer is a toy. With my 1-9/16" unit, I can drive a 10' rod through hard clay in under 2 minutes.
NOCAL clay would resist your water method big time.
I'll see your clay and raise you bedrock.
I have all clay not dirt. It wouldn't work as well.