Installing earth rod

[Plonker 3]

Cutting a long story short, I may need to install a earth rod soon at a domestic property but have never installed one before, I am more than happy to carry it out, I know about the regs side of things, but I would like some pointers as to what to look out for how to do it and any surveys that may need to be carried (like finding underground services etc) before I commence with the job.

 

[Deleted member 9648]

Dont forget BS7070 (amendment E54).....'Thou shalt achieve TN values of Ra before proceeding'......and you thought BS stood for British Standard.

 

[parker56]

I thought BS stood for bacon sandwich

 

[Engineer54]

Dont forget BS7070 (amendment E54).....'Thou shalt achieve TN values of Ra before proceeding'......and you thought BS stood for British Standard.

Still trying to clever are you??

Here's some more BS for you, ...just bung a flimsy rod in the ground, and that's it, basically don't bother even trying to get a decent Ra, and don't bother with trying to obtain any form of stability. Just close eyes, put hands together and pray while your installation is totally relying on a RCD device!! Ring any bells in your shell like??

 

[trev]

For the extra money, time and effort involved I would much rather go with coupled rods than one little twig, I'd be a lot more confident in my Ra being stable. Yes, stable TN values are achievable pretty easily.

 

[BillyTheSparks]

To stop the mushroom effect you can buy driving nuts which go in to the coupler on the end of the rod, and you whack that instead of the rod. I now keep one in the van, good thing to have.

 

[Marvo]

There's a few different percussion heads available for earth rods and none of them seem to last last long, even the threaded ones. We buy them by the dozen and just price a couple into each job.

There are attachments for SDS Max jack-hammers which work well and they seem to last a lot longer but they're also quite pricey.

 

[Silly Sausage]

There's a few different percussion heads available for earth rods and none of them seem to last last long, even the threaded ones. We buy them by the dozen and just price a couple into each job.

There are attachments for SDS Max jack-hammers which work well and they seem to last a lot longer but they're also quite pricey.

Or anytime one is banging the end of a threaded bar, 2 nuts locked together at the end always suffices for me.

 

[High Tower]

I just put the coupler on then beat that.

 

[Engineer54]

There's a few different percussion heads available for earth rods and none of them seem to last last long, even the threaded ones. We buy them by the dozen and just price a couple into each job.

There are attachments for SDS Max jack-hammers which work well and they seem to last a lot longer but they're also quite pricey.

Or make your own, from a worn out, cut-off SDS drill and an old appropriately sized socket. Braze or ark weld together. I have such a tool, that i had made on site a good few years ago now. I haven't seen rods being club hammered in for donkey's years now, SDS is the only way to go, if being direct driven into ground.