Types of Grounding Electrodes | Plate, Rod & More

Often, these rods will hit a rock and actually turn back around on themselves and pop back up a few feet away from the installation point.

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Because driven rods range in length from 8 to 10 feet, a ladder is often required to reach the top of the rod, which can become a safety issue. Many falls have resulted from personnel trying to literally &#;whack&#; these rods into the earth, while hanging from a ladder, many feet in the air.

The National Electric Code (NEC) requires that driven rods be a minimum of 8 feet in length and that 8 feet of length must be in direct contact with the soil. Typically, a shovel is used to dig down into the ground 18 inches before a driven rod is installed. The most common rods used by commercial and industrial contractors are 10 ft in length. Many industrial specifications require this length as a minimum.

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A common misconception is that the copper coating on a standard driven rod has been applied for electrical reasons. While copper is certainly a conductive material, its real purpose on the rod is to provide corrosion protection for the steel underneath. Many corrosion problems can occur because copper is not always the best choice in corrosion protection. It should be noted that galvanized driven rods have been developed to address the corrosion concerns that copper presents, and in many cases are a better choice for prolonging the life of the grounding rod and grounding systems. Generally speaking, galvanized rods are a better choice in all but high salt environments.

An additional drawback of the copper-clad driven rod is that copper and steel are two dissimilar metals. When an electrical current is imposed, electrolysis will occur. Additionally, the act of driving the rod into the soil can damage the copper cladding, allowing corrosive elements in the soil to attack the bared steel and further decrease the life expectancy of the rod. Environment, aging, temperature and moisture also easily affect driven rods, giving them a typical life expectancy of five to 15 years in good soil conditions. Driven rods also have a very small surface area, which is not always conducive to good contact with the soil. This is especially true in rocky soils, in which the rod will only make contact on the edges of the surrounding rock.

A good example of this is to imagine a driven rod surrounded by large marbles. Actual contact between the marbles and the driven rod will be very small. Because of this small surface contact with the surrounding soil, the rod will increase in resistance-to-ground, lowering the conductance, and limiting its ability to handle high-current faults.

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