[TowerTalk] Copper pipe for ground rods?...YES

[Ian White GM3SEK]

JC Smith wrote:
>Also (sorry if I'm repeating myself here) I have found that a large 
>impact wrench or roto-hammer with a socket large enough to fit over the 
>ground rod makes a slick driver.  The rod just zips on in. Pounding 
>with a sledgehammer in the same dense clay soil is serious work here.

Like JC, I've had good success with a 0.5in square socket drive adapter 
for the SDS hammer drill, and the right size of socket to slip over the 
end of the ground rod.

You can buy special ground rod drivers for SDS drills, but you'd need 
one for each diameter of rod. If you already have an SDS drill and a 
socket set, the adapter is more versatile and cheaper too.

With the SDS drill set to hammer-only, rods just fall into soft ground 
or even hard clay.

In rocky ground, it's easier to make a pilot hole using a very long 
drill bit. SDS bits are available in 10mm or 12mm diameter up to 1.0 
metre long (0.4 or 0.5in x 39in) and they will drill through most kinds 
of rock, even at full depth. Also the drilling doesn't disturb the 
surrounding soil much. A slightly under-size pilot hole pretty much 
guarantees that the first 1.0m of ground rod will go in very easily... 
though below that level you're back to pure hammering again.

If the pilot hole works for copper and copper-plated steel rods, it 
should work even better for copper tubing.

If you don't know about SDS drills, all I can say is: you're going to 
want one! They really are as good as everybody says. See:
http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/powertools/sds.htm



-- 
73 from Ian GM3SEK