[TowerTalk] Recap: attaching ground wire to rod

[jccrtv@jccrtv.com]

Here's the recap to the subject of whether clamping the ground wire to the
ground rod was hthe right way to do it. Thank you to all who replied:


>The best connection you can get is a Cadweld from Erico. It's a
permanent connection rated for burial. If you don't want to invest a bunch
of money in molds, weld materials, and miscellaneous tools, you can buy one
of their "Oneshot" molds.There are also a variety of crimp connections
available from electrical
suppliers that are rated for burial. These are permanent connections that
require large, expensive, specialized crimp tools.
The technique I use most often is to install what's commonly called an
"acorn" clamp. These are cheap, removable, and rated for burial.
Other materials that are not U.L. listed for this use, or rated for
burial include hose clamps, and lugs screwed down to holes tapped into the
rod.
Jim Smith--KQ6UV

>Jim, I acquired some large bronze clamps froma commercial Lightning
place. They're sort of oblong, so you can slip one over the ground ron,
then put a fat cable in. They have 2 stainless botls to tighten
everything up. I coated all the serfaces with NoALox, placed the top halk
of a plastic soda bottle over it, then covered with dirt. The dirt won't
really touch the clamp with that soda bottle in place. -pat

>cadweld them! never have to touch them again.
you can find them on my web page at www.scoden.com

>Polyphaser makes a nice clamp designed for copper strap and ground rods,
with a cleaning kit to prepare the surfaces and "goop" to cover all the
metal to metal junctions and good mechanical design to apply good even
pressure. IMHO, this is the way to go, unless you want to do CADweld, which
is better, but much more expensive.
73 John N5CQ

>The National Electrical Code (NEC) basically allows mechanical
compression joints and exothermic joints.

>You are correct that corrosion is more likely with buried rods and
clamps- that's the primary reason for ground system degradation and rising
resistance. Use of good fittings and anti-oxidant paste will give you the
best
chance for a reliable system.

>Exothermic welding systems like Cadweld and others are the preferred,
albeit more expensive, methods. A web search should turn up some
distributers/dealers.
Cheers,  Steve  K7LXC

>I believe you will find that CadWelds are cheaper than good mechanical
clamps (I paid about $5-$6 for the CadWelds) and they create a permanent
bond.
Let me know if you have any questions.  Oh, I think I have a few extras
CadWelds that I can sell you if you're interested... the flint gun too! :-)
The CadWelds are for 5/8" ground rods to #2 stranded copper wire.
- Scott

>I used CadWelds, purchased from Harger (http://www.harger.com).  If you get
them, be sure to get their 'flint starter' for the extra $5 -- made them go
a lot faster.


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