What's the best grounding electrode

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dean belcher

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El Paso
I need to bond and ground all metal in a cinder block room that is 14' x 20'. The room has a 6" concrete slab reinforced with 5/8" and 3/8" rebar. I have an electrode connection from the rebar stubbed up for the GEC, but the question I have is should I also drive a 5/8" by 9' GEC. The purpose for this is for static discharge in a Methanol room.
 
The general concensus is that a slab and rebar makes the best GE. The rod would do no harm, of course.
 
I agree. The CEE connection is adequate.

Is there an electrical service or feeder installed to the structure? If so, I would consider TVSS protection and possibly a simple lightning protection system.
 
LarryFine said:
The rod would do no harm, of course.
Click to expand...
I meant as a supplement. I haven't manually driven a rod since I bought a Bosch rotary hammer and driver bits.
 
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Thank's for the info. The next question is how would I increase the surface contact with the ground rod and the Earth being that the soil is very dry where this installation is. Would a 4" casing around the GE Filled with some chemical be of choice for increasing the affective surface contact.?????
 
Your concern is voltage gradients, or differences, between surfaces or objects. Minimal resistance between surfaces within your room is more important than the resistance to external earth is.

If you have a spark, it's not going to be between something in the room and the ground outside.
 
Dean,
Ufer invented the Ufer-Ground (aka concrete encased electrode) to protect from lightning and static charges in bomb shelters in the Arizona desert during WWII. To this day there has never been an incident.

Does that help?
 
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