Why would it need to break loose? The torque wrench will click to indicate that it's at least as tight as the torque setting of the wrench without moving the bolt. If it's not tight enough the bolt will turn.
Overtightening is an improper installation as well so if it doesn't turn before wrench clicks how do you know it isn't too tight?
Horizontal is the actual reference, because that's the exact plane you are driving the rod into, there is no other plane, it's XY. My point is, there's no reason to add an additional reference of "vertical", it's simply not needed. It's not wrong, but simply not needed. When possible, it's always better to simplify the grammar.
What's the reason? The only reason I see is so the words "not more than 45deg" can be used and "vertical" is the reference 0deg. One could then say the ground plane (XY) is at 90deg, but that really makes no sense in terms of convention, or even the fact that the rod is driven into the ground plane. The word "vertical" is also a compound reference of two planes XZ and YZ, as "vertical" must then be parallel to both of those planes, which just so happens to be exactly 90deg from the XY plane.
Because you don't need to add words to describe the same thing, thus simplifying the verbiage. The NEC simply added words to make what they were saying work. As I mentioned, the word "vertical" if a referece to the ground plane XY, and, it also means "parallel to two planes XZ and YZ", which basically just complicates the meaning of "vertical".
The NEC 2017 limits you to the 45 degree angle or horizontal installations where the electrode is buried 2.5’ down. The spirit of the code wants you to obtain a minimum resistance to ground of 25 ohms. I know this is hard to achieve in a rocky environment and I find it laughable that the code then states the solution as the addition of another set of electrodes and yet says nothing about what to do if you can not get the 25 ohms even then. Perhaps the EI is looking at that as opposed to the 45 degree angle. Do you know for sure it is because of the angle of installation? Also, if you can demonstrate that you have 25 ohms or less, perhaps that would be acceptable?
Your logic is not straight forward, it does not address the issue of a slanted plane. The NEC does not want the ground rod driven perpendicular to the surface, it wants it vertical.
??
I don't think that an inspector is checking for over-tightening, if they are then we should just leave the connections loose and let him torque them down.
I do not, but how else would you describe "vertical" in terms of any coord system. I used two of them to drive my point home (no pun intended).
NEC users, especially the ones that are driving ground rods often, don't necessarily have degrees that involved taking much for advanced mathematics courses. What is so complicated about "no more than 45 degrees (from vertical) if vertical is the general requirement?
I agree not practical. Also believe if inspector truly is concerned about proper torque, only way to know is to witness actual tightening. Checking after the fact proves nothing. You can come back some time later to many terminations with torque wrench on same setting and likely can turn the set screw some before the wrench clicks. That don't mean you were wrong the first time. Proper tightening is to stop when the wrench says you are there.I don't think that an inspector is checking for over-tightening, if they are then we should just leave the connections loose and let him torque them down.
The idea of losening and re-tightneing connections for an inspection is just not practical.
I can agree with that.
I did work construction for some years, we never used the word "vertical", it was always "plumb" and "level". We used 2/4/8ft levels to determine both "level" and "plumb", and then with bubble levels could get a sense of pitch depending on what lines were on the bubble. I never saw a digital inclinometer level in that trade, probably too expensive at the time.
