Ground rod size and material?

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olly

Senior Member
Location
Berthoud, Colorado
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Master Electrician
For a residential home, why would you use copper clad over galvanized? I realize CU clad is superior most likely when it comes to being a better conductor, but is it worth it?

Are there places galvanized are not code compliant?

Just wondering if I am missing something? Galvanized is the less expensive option. Seems like the way to go always?
 
olly said:
For a residential home, why would you use copper clad over galvanized?
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I wouldn't ever use copper clad over galvanized even on commercial or industrial projects except for the fact that some designers spec it.
 
I have had success adding ground rods to clamp down on power line surges from lightning. My neighbor that lives on top of a treeless hill kept getting his electric fence charger knocked out every time a storm came up. I drove three at his service, three at his barn. He has not had to replace a charger since. I had another customer that lived below a rock quarry, he was constantly replacing tv’s and telephones. Drove three rods at the service, buried a #4 bare copper in the yard from one end of the house to the other bonding the telephone and cable to the electrical service. He never had to replace his phones and tv’s again. Another customer had similar issues, and again problem solved. Ground rods are not totally useless if other electrodes are not available.
 
Copper clad rods reduce corrosion, a UL listed copper clad Rod has thicker cladding. Near me on the Olympic Peninsula, because of the salt and moisture content of the year a galvanized Rod will only last 10 to 30 years. I have pictures of badly corroded rods from that area. The copper clad rods, reduce corrosion over a galvanized rod due to galvanized and copper, makes a corrosion cell.
 
Has anyone else noticed that all of the recent Galvin shipments of ground rods stamped as 5/8” are actually 1/2” copper clad?


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Around here there is only about $3 per rod difference between galvanized and copper clad. I have to file some of the zinc off the end of the galvanized rod to drive it with my Hilti adapter, if not it will flake off and hang the rod in the adapter, as you can imagine this is a major pain in the ass. My solution is to use copper clad rods, I feel like I save the extra cost in less irritation. My .04 cents, was 2 but adjusted for inflation.
 
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