To Tin or not to Tin

[beanland]

For bare copper wire buried in the ground for grounding purposes, is there a justification for tinning the wire? All of the projects I have seen use bare un-tinned copper wire. I have read that where there is salt water, then tinning is needed. What is typical and the preferred? My quick check on wire price is that tinning can add 50% to the cost of the bare wire. Thank you.

 

[LarryFine]

When we did the ground (not just grounding) work for a cellular site, tinned, solid #2 copper was specified.

 

[electrofelon]

When we did the ground (not just grounding) work for a cellular site, tinned, solid #2 copper was specified.

Same on the two I worked on. All cad welded.

 

[LarryFine]

Same on the two I worked on. All cad welded.

Yep. We bought a few new toys for that one; most notably the Bosch rotary hammer and rod driver.

 

[tom baker]

Tinning protects the copper from acid rain & corrosion. Common spec for cell towers.