Ground Rod Drivers

[ElectricBeth]

Hello, new to the site. I'm currently starting my own electrical business. It's small, but have to start somewhere.

To get to it. I'm sick and tired of pounding ground rods by hand. I'm using a post driver, than a sledgehammer the rest of the way. It's taking too much time and even though I like a little manual labor, it's getting tiring. Especially in the clay and sandstone.:rant:

What kind of machine/tool is out there, and what is most effective? I've been looking at rotary hammers, Bosch and Milwaukee (sds plus). I've done a little digging, but what do others use. I also don't want to spend a ton of money. Right now I average about 10-15 ground rod installations and the numbers are increasing. I live in "no-man's" land and there are A LOT of sketchy electrical systems out there and I'm the gal that fixes them.

Thanks.

 

[CONDUIT]

Rotary Hammer with Ground Rod adapter will work great!

 

[DAWGS]

Roto hammer with rod bit also.

 

[ptonsparky]

I hire apprentices but the roto hammer is probably cheaper an faster in the long run.

 

[junkhound]

I use a Bosch bulldog (spline drive) and works great.

Ya get even more attached to it when you need to run a conduit thru a 12" thick concrete wall.

Still remember a job 50 years ago when a 'kid' drilling a horizontal 1" hole thru 12" of concrete with a simple rotary 1/2" drill and carbide bit, probably took 2 hours and a LOT of pushing! The bulldog does that job in about 10 minutes or less.

 

[jmellc]

I have a DeWalt driver set that doubles as a jack hammer. Excellent driver. Sadly, I burned out the motor last time I used it. I will have to get it fixed soon. $300 to fix but well worth it. I don't plan to ever drive another grnd rod with a hammer. I'm not too good to do it but I have shoulder and back issues that make a hammer torture.

 

[kwired]

Hello, new to the site. I'm currently starting my own electrical business. It's small, but have to start somewhere.

To get to it. I'm sick and tired of pounding ground rods by hand. I'm using a post driver, than a sledgehammer the rest of the way. It's taking too much time and even though I like a little manual labor, it's getting tiring. Especially in the clay and sandstone.:rant:

What kind of machine/tool is out there, and what is most effective? I've been looking at rotary hammers, Bosch and Milwaukee (sds plus). I've done a little digging, but what do others use. I also don't want to spend a ton of money. Right now I average about 10-15 ground rod installations and the numbers are increasing. I live in "no-man's" land and there are A LOT of sketchy electrical systems out there and I'm the gal that fixes them.

Thanks.

I've told this story before but will tell it again.

I had used the post driver method for 15 -20 years. I did have a spline drive rotary hammer, and had seen the ~$50 ground rod driving bit but thought it was not worth the cost.

One day while pounding a rod in some hard soil, my upstroke was a little too much and was past the top of the rod. I missed the rod with the driver on the following downstroke but found it with my hand. The rod went right through the web of my hand between thumb and index finger. I was lucky as it missed bones, tendons, ligaments, they sewed it up and sent me home. A few days later it had an infection in it and was nearly twice normal size. They wanted me to spend about a day and a half in the hospital and were going to give it a heavy treatment of antibiotics - told me they don't want me to lose my hand to an infection.

Eventually there was full recovery and has been no complications since, but I learned from that and broke down and bought the driver bit for my drill. It ended up being much less than the medical billshmy:

 

[ActionDave]

I have a DeWalt driver set that doubles as a jack hammer. Excellent driver. Sadly, I burned out the motor last time I used it. I will have to get it fixed soon. $300 to fix but well worth it. I don't plan to ever drive another grnd rod with a hammer. I'm not too good to do it but I have shoulder and back issues that make a hammer torture.

Hilti TE905 is a similar tool if what you are describing is the same thing.

It is better than the hammer drill and bit by a factor of 1,000.

 

[ElectricBeth]

I've told this story before but will tell it again.

I had used the post driver method for 15 -20 years. I did have a spline drive rotary hammer, and had seen the ~$50 ground rod driving bit but thought it was not worth the cost.

One day while pounding a rod in some hard soil, my upstroke was a little too much and was past the top of the rod. I missed the rod with the driver on the following downstroke but found it with my hand. The rod went right through the web of my hand between thumb and index finger. I was lucky as it missed bones, tendons, ligaments, they sewed it up and sent me home. A few days later it had an infection in it and was nearly twice normal size. They wanted me to spend about a day and a half in the hospital and were going to give it a heavy treatment of antibiotics - told me they don't want me to lose my hand to an infection.

Eventually there was full recovery and has been no complications since, but I learned from that and broke down and bought the driver bit for my drill. It ended up being much less than the medical billshmy:

That would be awful! It makes me sick thinking about it. Especially to have it become infected. That is never a cheap medical bill! I had a close call this summer, but luckily nothing happened. Otherwise I would have had a ground rod thru my chin.

 

[ElectricBeth]

Thanks for all of the feedback and helping me make my mind up. I appreciate it.

 

[ElectricBeth]

I use a Bosch bulldog (spline drive) and works great.

Ya get even more attached to it when you need to run a conduit thru a 12" thick concrete wall.

Still remember a job 50 years ago when a 'kid' drilling a horizontal 1" hole thru 12" of concrete with a simple rotary 1/2" drill and carbide bit, probably took 2 hours and a LOT of pushing! The bulldog does that job in about 10 minutes or less.

I was thinking the same thing. Which was helping me justify buying a new tool.

2 hours at 12" of concrete. That's almost as slow as using a chisel and hammer!

 

[growler]

What kind of machine/tool is out there, and what is most effective? I've been looking at rotary hammers, Bosch and Milwaukee (sds plus). I've done a little digging, but what do others use. I also don't want to spend a ton of money.

What you want is a demolition hammer. It's will also have a rotary hammer function but is designed for hammering or chiseling ( they are designed to be a little tougher than a normal rotary hammer) Pay close attention to the amount of impact that the hammer has. I have a smaller one with only 11 lbs of impact and it's OK for where I use it. For harder soil and rocks a little more power would be better ( 15-20 pounds of impact).

If you look around you can probably find a used demo hammer for under $500 but make sure that it's not been beaten to death because repairs are expensive.

Hilti is probably the best but that's expensive.

 

[ZZDoug]

What you want is a demolition hammer. It's will also have a rotary hammer function

Actually demo hammers don't always have the drilling function. You probably do want a dual function machine (which will also drill holes), that means you want a large rotary hammer. Usually anything that draws 13 amps or more or has a rated drilling capacity of 1.5 to 2 inches will pound rods nicely. The 2" models are the best but large and heavy. Not sure if they make them anymore but look into the Hilti ground rod driver attachment, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pi3qiYcR3E it's worth the money they charge.

 

[goldstar]

Actually demo hammers don't always have the drilling function. You probably do want a dual function machine (which will also drill holes), that means you want a large rotary hammer. Usually anything that draws 13 amps or more or has a rated drilling capacity of 1.5 to 2 inches will pound rods nicely. The 2" models are the best but large and heavy. Not sure if they make them anymore but look into the Hilti ground rod driver attachment, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pi3qiYcR3E it's worth the money they charge.

Any idea what this Hilti system costs ? I'd bet you're in the $900.00 area. Seems like you can buy the ground rod driver attachment for about $60-$80. The Hilti drill is what costs the $$$.

 

[Daja7]

Any idea what this Hilti system costs ? I'd bet you're in the $900.00 area. Seems like you can buy the ground rod driver attachment for about $60-$80. The Hilti drill is what costs the $$$.

Hilti's are pricey initially but in my opinion they have no equal. I still use a TE 70 that is about 15 years old, pounded a lot of ground rods and drilled a lot of concrete. just a little grease occasionaly. to replace with an equivilent about $1,300.00 but well worth it if you can get this kind of service from it. all our hammer drills are Hilti. Small TE 7 C about 350.00 but a beast for its size.