Life expectancy of a ground rod?

[ultramegabob]

any reason why they couldnt use stainless in the manufacture of groundrods?

 

[JohnJ0906]

any reason why they couldnt use stainless in the manufacture of groundrods?

Stainless ground rods are available.

 

[ultramegabob]

never had call to use one, seems that would take care of most corrosion concerns....

 

[Dennis Alwon]

I have no substantiaition for this comment but I had heard 20 years was the life expectancy of a galvinized rod. This particular person always uses copper rods for that reason.

If the rod last 20-30 years how long before the clamp loosens on the rod. At what point is the rod no good. Maybe those clamps are better off above ground.:grin:

 

[Frenetic]

Yeah. Copper is by far the best ground rod material to use. Copper corrosion, while it does happen, isn't nearly as bad as steel and steel can't come close to the conductivity of Copper. I would use Copper over galvinized or stainless steel rods.

Even if the Copper losses some mass--which it will--the increase in resistance, while measureable, isn't nearly as bad as some other materials that are sometimes used as ground rods.

I've seen Copper clad, steel rods pulled up after just ten years in the ground to be nothing more than a Copper shell with the steel completely corroded away.

That's why it's so important to periodically check and test the grounding system. Nothing lasts forever, but if you get 30+ years out of a ground rod before having to replace it or augment it, you got your money's worth.

 

[c2500]

So now we have a business opportunity....

Mr. Homewoner I will replace that 20-30 year old ground rod with two genuine stainless steel rods that will last forever, or pretty darned close.(assuming it is not a 400 series rod). A failing ground rod puts your whole house at risk. We will do a resistance test and replace your faulty rod with not one, but two code compliant ones (if you live in the county two...the city one)! I will do this swapout for $xxxx.xx. Take your house out of harms way. Protect your family.

There is a local HVAC guy that mails letters of this nature that kinda scare you if you don't know any better.

c2500

 

[LarryFine]

Sometimes you can't yank em out for an inspection.

Yank them out??!! If an inspector ever asked me to do that, I'd laugh.

 

[LarryFine]

I understand that this test had gone on for years, but had to be abandoned because development finally made its way out to the field where the rods were installed.

I wonder if they used the existing rods? :grin:

 

[480sparky]

I wonder if they used the existing rods? :grin:

No... they were dead, so they buried them! :grin: :grin:

 

[frizbeedog]

Yank them out??!! If an inspector ever asked me to do that, I'd laugh.

This rod was pull out on a lark. And like Excalibur my young apprentice yanked it out. I was a bit surprised, cause a stiff breeze would blow him over.

No need to get your knickers in a twist over it Larry. :grin:

I drive two new rods.

 

[tom baker]

Mike Holt just sent out the final report on the National Grounding Electrode Research Project. Its some 135 pages long. I have been following this project for ten years.
Haven't read it yet, but I expect to see some proposals for the NEC based on the results, example no longer allow a plate electrode, its the worse of the worse.

 

[LarryFine]

I was a bit surprised, cause a stiff breeze would blow him over.

Maybe it was driven for one of them new-fangled high-resistance grounds we hear so much about.