Discuss no earth in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

Welcome to ElectriciansForums.net - The American Electrical Advice Forum
Head straight to the main forums to chat by click here:   American Electrical Advice Forum

It is in the same place as the old rod, and as my house was built in 1826 there is no rubble - it is thick clay soil which is giving me a reading of 44 ohms which should get better over time. If the new rod had given me a rubbish reading or encountered rubble (not likely as the original one didn't) then I would have tried further away, but it didn't so it would be totally pointless to go half way down the garden for no reason. When (eventually) I repave the path it will be treated to a proper concrete pit.

What are you saying here, that house builders were cleaner in those days?? lol!! In thick top clay with a two coupled together 5/8'' rods, i'd be hoping and looking for an Ra of around 15 ohm as an initial value...
I'd hardly call a metre or so, half way down the garden, unless you only have a small yard out back!! lol!!
 
You'll be lucky if you get 2 to 4 years from that load of crap!! They should ban those bloody things, they stand absolutely no chance of lasting the lifetime of the TT installation!! Which is minimum of 30 years, but in reality much longer... Do yourself a favour and throw that thing away and get a proven propriety flush to ground, concrete or heavy duty plastic earth pit!!

So you drove your rod in the worst area possible on a domestic, straight into all that old builders rubble, ...that was clever!! lol!! If you had gone a metre or so, away from the house walls, you would have probably got a better Ra value too...
LOL, I could hear E54's buttocks clench when I read 30cm from wall and plastic box. Your moments were numbered :)
 
Clean builders or not, the point is that the old rod was not in rubble, so the new one in the same place won't be, and if it was I would have felt it scraping on the way down!

Anyway, you can argue all you want, its staying where it is, as is the purpose-made green box, and the 0.75mm green and yellow wire out of some flex that connects it to the consumer unit, and not a separate pointless earthing terminal!!

"lol!!"
 
What are you saying here, that house builders were cleaner in those days?? lol!! In thick top clay with a two coupled together 5/8'' rods, i'd be hoping and looking for an Ra of around 15 ohm as an initial value...
I'd hardly call a metre or so, half way down the garden, unless you only have a small yard out back!! lol!!
i think what he is refering to eng is that houses built in the early part of the 19th century tended to have very shallow foundations....if at all.....
many georgian buildings were simply built on bedrock...or soakaways....
still doesn`t mean though that any rods shouldn`t be given the same consideration in regards to siting as any other installation...
 
Having been under the floor and seen the foundations when having an extension built, mine seem to be about 2 feet deep. House hasn't caved in in nearly 200 years, so can't be that bad! On a new rod then I would consider the ground conditions.
 
Having been under the floor and seen the foundations when having an extension built, mine seem to be about 2 feet deep. House hasn't caved in in nearly 200 years, so can't be that bad! On a new rod then I would consider the ground conditions.
well....careful consideration needs to be paid to where to site rods....
say, a meter away from the building and in a shady area if possible...
dig a pit first to verify that any rods knocked into the ground wont hit any services (cable, pipes etc)...go for 2X 5/8" rods connected together....then get an Ra....
depth is key with TT....
 
2x5/8 got me down from 125 to 44. To be honest I was surprised it made such a big difference. I knew I was out of the way of services as (a) there was a rod there already, and anyway I know where all the services go.

Now I've peeled back some of the plastic off my incoming cable and wrapped a wire round the armouring my Ze is even better! :D
 
2x5/8 got me down from 125 to 44. To be honest I was surprised it made such a big difference. I knew I was out of the way of services as (a) there was a rod there already, and anyway I know where all the services go.

Now I've peeled back some of the plastic off my incoming cable and wrapped a wire round the armouring my Ze is even better! :D
get a third rod connected onto the others and carry on banging it in....whatch that Ra come down....plus it will maintain this stability as well...
happy days strops.
glenn.:D
 
Two's enough for me. Unless I end up making an sds rod driver, then I'll have to test it out!
 
Two's enough for me. Unless I end up making an sds rod driver, then I'll have to test it out!
well then do so....
a little weekend project for you....
the depth of those rods are whats going to dictate how much the Ra rises n falls under different weather conditions.....
dont forget that as you get more than about a foot or so below the ground the soil conditions are likely to remain moist throughout the year....as long as their not on a slope of course...or a soft sand/shingle...
thats the idea with going deep with rods....to get below all the dry stuff on the surface.....
 
Bog-all hope of the ground drying out these days!
you dont take the risk though strops.....
a properly sited, well installed TT system would not be unduely affected either way....
we always take the worst case scenareo strops when dealing with electrical installations.....
 
I know we should aim for the lowest possible Ra, but how far would you go before being satisfied with a reasonable result? 4 rods, 8? Dig up the entire garden and bury tape and mesh? My 44 is considerably better than the BGB's max of <200. Is there a 'law of diminishing returns' where you could drive stakes to the centre of the earth and still not get much better? Depends on the ground, I suppose - if you hit a spring you might get better.

Bearing in mind with my service bonding connected I am getting 0.45 I'm satisfied I have a good EFL path.
 
you dont take the risk though strops.....
a properly sited, well installed TT system would not be unduely affected either way....
we always take the worst case scenareo strops when dealing with electrical installations.....


Don't waste any more breath on the matter, he obviously knows far more than us!! ..lol!!
 
You are permitted to have a Ze for a TT supply up to 200 ohms - Above 200 ohms it may become unstable..
but you wouldn`t though....would you...lol
Oh yes he would, cause the BGB told him so!! lol!!
So considering my Ra was 125 in the first place I should have left it then, but I didn't!
Anyway I'm not bothering to waste any any more time discussing the subject (I see no-one could be bothered to answer my questions), as it is descending into taking the ---- and ignoring genuine discussion, as usual.
 
Bearing in mind with my service bonding connected I am getting 0.45 I'm satisfied I have a good EFL path.

Have i missed something along the way??? Why are you installing a TT system if you have a Ze at the service cut-out of 0.45??

And no-ones taking the ----, you asked for advise got it, and then you start pulling it apart to suit yourself!!
 
Yes you have missed something. It is an existing TT system of which I was upgrading the rod as it was giving 125 ohms, which technically satisfies the BGB, but it reality is a bit rubbish. The 0.45 is the resistance of my bonded pipework (underground gas and water pipes) when tested without the earth stake (new or old) connected, not the service head. As I know we shouldn't rely on bonding for our earth path I set about replacing the rod, which got it down to 44.

I was joking about peeling back the plastic off my incoming cable and wrapping the earth wire around the armour.
 

Reply to no earth in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Electrician Courses Green Electrical Goods PCB Way Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Pushfit Wire Connectors Electric Underfloor Heating Electrician Courses
These Official Forum Sponsors May Provide Discounts to Regular Forum Members - If you would like to sponsor us then CLICK HERE and post a thread with who you are, and we'll send you some stats etc

Electrical Forum

Welcome to the Electrical Forum at ElectriciansForums.net. The friendliest electrical forum online. General electrical questions and answers can be found in the electrical forum.
This website was designed, optimised and is hosted by Untold Media. Operating under the name Untold Media since 2001.
Back
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock