Grounding Rods

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packersbay

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New mexico
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Electrician
So I’m doing a service upgrade on a residential home. I have everything complete except the grounding. I’ve tried driving two rods down and am having no luck. The deepest it goes is about 24in at every angle. I spoke with inspector and the last resort is laying rods horizontal 30in deep. My question is what if I can’t get 30in in trench. I’m at 24in right now but there’s boulders under this ground or something. I’ve been using a jack hammer but it is still solid. And if I do get the 30in, do I lay rods flat in trench or do I bend the rod to come up to surface.
 
If you find you absolutely can not comply w/ requirements of the driven electrode, and already being @ 24+ inch depth, maybe 250.52(A)(7) might be a possibility.
 
I think you're hitting the foundation. Try moving away from the house a few inches at a time.
 
packersbay said:
So I’m doing a service upgrade on a residential home. I have everything complete except the grounding. I’ve tried driving two rods down and am having no luck. The deepest it goes is about 24in at every angle. I spoke with inspector and the last resort is laying rods horizontal 30in deep. My question is what if I can’t get 30in in trench. I’m at 24in right now but there’s boulders under this ground or something. I’ve been using a jack hammer but it is still solid. And if I do get the 30in, do I lay rods flat in trench or do I bend the rod to come up to surface.
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If you can get the trench to 30" deep you lay them flat in the bottom. If you cannot get the required depth of 30" you can always backfill over the top with some dirt to get the proper depth. When backfilling a plate electrode might be better.
 
No basement, house was built on rocky hill and I guess they just covered top with 2ft dirt. I don’t know all caliche I guess
 
At 24” deep I think curiosity would get me and I would have to grab a shovel or post hole diggers and see exactly what I was hitting
 
Should bare copper that goes from rod to rod be buried in trench or is that against code, I’m trying to see in code book. Or does it have to be in pvc above ground
 
Existing system may not satisfy current codes. With an upgrade, the OP probably is required to bring electrodes up to date.
 
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