Earth Rod Issues

[Bennyboy70]

Hi.
Has anyone used Bentonite for a high resistance Earth rod? If so, does it work & where can i buy it as struggling to locate in builders merchants??

 

[Bennyboy70]

just wondering if tape or mat would be better here Eng?...try to get the increase in contact area this way....

Many thank to all for all your advice. I will post my method and results in due course.
Thank you

 

[ackbarthestar]

I have a metre length drill bit for penetrating through sandstone. If you hit anything more than a couple of feet. Forget it and find another spot as you are unlikely to get a low Ra through rock.
You'll need to get down to at least 1.5m to get anything below 100 Ohms and rock is definitely not the best place for that.
Why not get a mini digger and dig a trench and bury a copper plate or even a large RSJ ?

 

[GLENNSPARK]

I have a metre length drill bit for penetrating through sandstone. If you hit anything more than a couple of feet. Forget it and find another spot as you are unlikely to get a low Ra through rock.
You'll need to get down to at least 1.5m to get anything below 100 Ohms and rock is definitely not the best place for that.
Why not get a mini digger and dig a trench and bury a copper plate or even a large RSJ ?

eh?

to the O/P:
go for mat ,tape or mesh.....
get the surface area this way....
or go for distributers facility...

 

[ackbarthestar]

eh?

to the O/P:
go for mat ,tape or mesh.....
get the surface area this way....
or go for distributers facility...

Well, sticking a rod into rock is not going to give you any reasonably low Ra value.
As you say, a plate or tape will increase the csa of the electrode.

You have options here:
1/ Drive a rod or something like a RSJ deep into the ground by pile driving it in
2/ Use several smaller rods connected together
3/ Dig a shallowish trench and bury plates or meshed copper/steel
4/ Use a digger and back fill it with Marconite (expensive) and ram a rod in as far as you can go before it sets...