Earth spike

[Dave Plowman]

Could someone give chapter and verse on fitting an earth spike - or where to find the info?

[Colin Wilson]

a) try to make sure there`s no gas / water / electric where you plan to sink it...

[Grunff]

Only tip I can give you is to put the clamp on the spike *before* hammering it in. I didn't, and had to grind off the (now slightly squashed) head to fit the clamp.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Dave Plowman wrote on Tuesday (20/01/2004) :

An easy wasy to get a spike into the ground in hard soil, is to connect a garden hose to a length of rigid pipe. Turn the water on and the pipe will quickly make a hole for itself in the ground. Then just push the pike in the hole you have made before it collapses.

Spikes come in two varieties.... Copper plated steel and solid copper, the latter being much more expensive but lasting forever.

[Colin Wilson]

- we just used galv steel afaik

[Lurch]

Although that does get done it's not the way to do it. I think the term is 'rough'.

How's that going to work out then?

SJW A.C.S. Ltd.

[Dave Liquorice]

If it collapses. I'm not sure this is a good idea for an earth spike where you want the best possible connection to the ground. ISTR that the spike needs to be driven in not placed into a hole that you backfill. Half a ding-a-ling for the IEE On Site Guide being the source of that snippet.

I did a quick search, as I'm sure Dave has done as well, but found very little. Just that the wire termination to the rod needs to be protected from corrosion and that the bonding wire needs to be mechanically protected as well. Other than that I only have vague knowledge that proper testing is non-trivial and installation/testing requires a good understanding about the ground and the resistivity of the various soil types.

[Andy Wade]

is a fairly good place to start.