Drill/Hammer for installing earth rods.

[richy3333]

I'm fed up with whacking these things in by hand and so have decided to by a drill/hammer for putting these blighters into the ground. Around here the earth is not obliging so I'm looking for something with some power. Just wondered what other people use and what sort of power (joules?) other could recommend?

Thanks

 

[snowhead]

SDS drill on hammer only.

 

[richy3333]

Yeah, but how beefy do I go? I've tried smaller SDS drill on hammer and they aint got the clout

 

[monkeyelectric]

Kango 900k beast of a tool, earth rod fits in where chisel goes

 

[Guest55]

sds plus isnt gonna cut it for hard ground
you'll need sds max drill at the least , 5-6 kg minimum.

 

[Marvo]

I would suggest a small/medium sized jack hammer with a suitable attachment.

 

[Engineer54]

If your driving rods into crap soil conditions with higher than usual resistance values, try using a powered fence post auger. You can get a local machine shop or the like, to extend the auger bit shaft to have an overall length of a metre or so. You can then drive your coupled rod into the bottom of the made hole and have the top metre or so of the rod surrounded by ''Bentonite'' (soil to rod enhancer) or Mactonite (conductive mortar). Both will greatly improve your Ra values and just as importantly your rods stability...

As for SDS driving of earth rods, i drove all my house rods in with a standard Makita SDS, with a home made drive tool made from an old cut down SDS point chisel with a suitable sized (old) long reach socket welded to it. Have one for both 5/8'' and 3/4'' rods... Wouldn't say that the ground around my house is soft either, but can see where particularly hard ground could possibly need a an SDS with a bit more punch to it...lol!!!

 

[Marvo]

We also have a home-made slide hammer for areas where there's no power. Looks a bit like this except there's an inner tube that you put over the rod and it stays static and then an outer tube that slides over it and weighs about 7-8 kilos. You get a good workout whilst using it but for some reason the guys prefer the jackhammer so it only gets used occasionally.

 

[Guest55]

of course , once you've sank rods using a pneumatic 20kg jack hammer , theres no going back lol.
3metres of rod fired in under 60 seconds - no sweat.

 

[richy3333]

Many thanks for the replies. I've actually been paying someone to install the rods for me under my supervision, but am feeling that it would be better to use that money for some better equipment to install them than blowing it on their 'wages' etc.

I like Eng54 idea about getting some 'tools' welded up. I have a friend that could do that for me


I've been thinking along the lines of a 9 Kilo SDS Max combi hammer that will do around 2000 blows per minute and have a maximum impact energy of 18 joules.
I'm wondering if my idea of a standard SDS drill isn't the same as others - i.e. mine's certainly too weak for rods!

 

[Engineer54]

I've actually been paying someone to install the rods for me under my supervision

So what does the guy you pay use, to drive the rods in??

 

[richy3333]

So what does the guy you pay use, to drive the rods in??

It's all manual labour - spade, A percy (Sledge-hammer), digging bar and a fence post whacker. The agreement is he has to keep going until I say stop. Usually he does 2 rods, I Ra test and then tell him how many more before testing again, etc until we get a low(ish) Ra reading etc

 

[Billynm]

We used these : By the way, it's an 8 foot rod !!

 

[Marvo]

Well he looks like he's having fun but I wouldn't like to have to use that size jack hammer 8 feet in the air though.

 

[richy3333]

We used these : By the way, it's an 8 foot rod !! View attachment 15634

Do you know what model Dewalt that is?

 

[Billynm]

No idea what model, pic taken in Afghan.

 

[Engineer54]

Well he looks like he's having fun but I wouldn't like to have to use that size jack hammer 8 feet in the air though.

Can't be any worse than wielding a sledge hammer 8 foot or more in the air!! lol!!

At least with the jack hammer, it's being supported to some degree by the rod it's driving in. And with a tool like that, you'll not be 8 foot in the air for long at all!! lol!!!

 

[drew35]

I've got a fence post driver for the back of the tractor? Never tried it on a rod yet but if it pushes a 12" gate post into Welsh slate soil it should manage a rod! Not sure what customers would think of it though.....?

 

[Engineer54]

I've got a fence post driver for the back of the tractor? Never tried it on a rod yet but if it pushes a 12" gate post into Welsh slate soil it should manage a rod! Not sure what customers would think of it though.....?

Probably end up with bent and buckled rod's using that!! lol!! Mind, you may be alright if using 3/4'' earth rods!!

 

[richy3333]

I've got a fence post driver for the back of the tractor? Never tried it on a rod yet but if it pushes a 12" gate post into Welsh slate soil it should manage a rod! Not sure what customers would think of it though.....?

That conjures up a great image of you turning up to do a TT rewire in a tractor