The last time I put in a ground rod at this house, it took me a full day with a pipe-style post-pounder, and another day to recover. The soil here is about an inch thich over serious hardpan.
I've decided that I need another ground rod, closer to the service entrance panel, to keep the GFCI breakers from tripping needlessly.
I'd be willing to buy a power tool to do this, if it doesn't cost more than $50 or so, and would do the job in 1/2-hour or less. Does such a beast exist?
These
I have had the same problem for years=20 until I saw someone drilling a hole=20 to place dynamite to bring down a rock cliff on TV.=20 My only problem is that after doing extensive research on Google=20 to find the 6=92 drill bit that I saw=20 I was unable to find who makes or sells them.=20 I would greatly appreciate anyone that can help me with this.
Ground rods will not keep a GFCI from tripping needlessy. Either it is defective or there is a good reason for it to trip.
They do make tools like an electric jack hammer that will do the job. It will cost much more than the $ 50. For a one time deal you may be able to get some electrician to install the rod for you for that price. It may also be possiable to rent one at a tool rental center.
Google sez go here:
You can rent a big hammer drill with a ground rod driver attachment or a small electric jackhammer which will do a good job driving a ground rod. ^_^
TDD
Whether you need another ?
Been over this before. If you don't hit any rock, all you need is some water. The rod will go down with simple up down movement. Keep adding water. I don't know if this works in sand or unusual soil types. Some use a water hose.
Greg
A large 1" or larger electric drill and an auger should be rentable from your local tool rental house. After you drill the hole, as you put the rod down, add a lot of salt to the dirt you back-fill with to increase the ground conductivity. Also use a hose to help moisten and pack the dirt so that you have good conductivity between the rod and ground.
Need a video ?
Thank you Smitty Two=20 but I need a masonry bit=20 that=92s at least six feet long=20 and those aren=92t it.
these days ground rods arent copper they are copper clad steel. rock salt can make your new rod disappear........
Have there been any studies done comparing the effectiveness of a ground rod installed with water vs. hammering one in?
i would assume a hammered one has beter contact with the soil, and is a better ground
I once drilled though 2' of concrete with a homemade drillbit and a
1/2" drill. The drill bit was 1/2" pipe with carbide bits brazed to the pipe's OD and a 1/2" rod to the other end. Slow, but worked. Use a piece of rebar for the shaft/bit and put a carbide chip on the end. I'd try water, first.nb
One time I was asked to drive some rebar, to reinforce some steps outdoors leading to a beach. I ground the endsof the rebar to a point, on a bench grinder. Seemed to help.
Does your ground rod have a point on the down end?
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I've decided that I need another ground rod, closer to the service entrance panel, to keep the GFCI breakers from tripping needlessly.
I'd be willing to buy a power tool to do this, if it doesn't cost more than $50 or so, and would do the job in 1/2-hour or less. Does such a beast exist?
Well, something is sure causing them to trip. There's nothing plugged into the circuit, and still they trip. New ones do the same. Some one in this group said that if the connection to earth is too far from the panel, that can happen.
If that's not the cause, then the only thing I can think of is induction along the run near other wires.
Who ever said that if the ground was too far from the GFCI would cause them to trip is wrong. The gound wire has nothing to do with the tripping. The GFCI monitors the current in the hot and neutral wires. If there is an unbalance , they will trip. The usual way is when the hot wire finds some other path back to the neutral on the other side of the GFCI or ground path.
If they trip with nothing plugged in, it is time to look at the wiring. It is also possiable for moisture to get into the outlets.
One other thing is that it could be wired wrong. Some one could have picked off the neutral or hot wire to run somewhere without the other wrie.
One of the companies we do work for has a national contract for installing electrical power connections for Red Box DVD kiosks and there was a lot of nuisance tripping with certain brands of GFI breakers. The company has settled on Square D breakers since there don't seem to be nuisance trips with them. Whatever you have connected to the GFI could be causing the nuisance trips even though the piece of gear is completely safe and a different brand of GFI may be less sensitive to whatever anomaly is causing it to trip. I just reread your post and you write there is nothing connected to the circuit and the GFI trips. Have you inspected the GFI that's tripping or is it more than one? It could be that the GFI has corrosion or it could be damaged by voltage spikes coming in on the power line. You didn't mention whether you've replaced any of the GFI outlets. ^_^
TDD
Good answer, but I was thinking of noise or similar that might fool the GFI sense circuit to trip falsely, coming in from the power source.
Greg
Two. Both GFCI breakers are at the service entrance panel, and both are on new circuits that I installed. The first was installed about 5 years ago, and didn't trip for 3 years. Then it tripped at random intervals from 10 seconds to 6 months. I bought the second GFCI breaker as a replacement for the first, but the results were the same. When I installed the second circuit, I put the first GFCI breaker on it, but a few days later it tripped (nothing plugged in), and continued to trip. I finally jerked them both out and replaced them with standard breakers (for now).
If you mean outlets with the GFCI circitry built into them, there are none of those. If you mean regular outlets on the GFCI circuits, they are all new--either Cooper Arrow-Hart or Leviton. I used all new 12 ga grounded cable when I installed the circuits.
Panel and breakers are GE. Panel is close to 30 years old now, but I'd think that it *should* be good for 30 more. Panel was the choice of the installer I hired then. Not sure it was a wise choice. I would try to clean the busses where the breakers connect, but I'm not sure if they are thinly plated copper, or worse. Doubtful they are pure silver!
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