[TowerTalk] Difficult ground rod installation

[George Lee]

Maybe if you need to do more grounding in the future you could investigate 
the use of ground rods that are installed in the horizontal position.

I forget all the ramifications but this method is used in some instances and 
seems to satisfy the needs.

Lots of hard work you did and I hope your persistence paid off for you.

73, George
> From: "Gedas" <w8bya at mchsi.com>
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Copper pipe for ground rods?
> To: "'towertalk reflector'" <towertalk at contesting.com>
> Message-ID: <00b301c56f59$6789e530$0402a8c0 at W8BYA>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
> reply-type=original
>
> What is interesting to me are all the different opinions on one method vs.
> another.  All I can do is add yet another opinion.
>
> I live in NE Indiana where the soil is nothing but solid, hard stinkin 
> clay.
> When I was installing my 3 towers the first order of business was 
> installing
> 3 ground rods for each.  I also wanted to install 3 rods near the QTH
> entrance at my metal panel.  First, let me say that I was shocked at how
> difficult it was for me to get them into the ground.  Second, I was using 
> a
> combination of 1/2" steel rods (copper coated) and a bunch of 10' long 
> 1/2"
> and 3/4" copper pipe.  Using the sledge hammer on the copper pipes quickly
> resulted in mushroomed ends which had to be cut off with only several feet
> being driven into the ground. This, regardless of how careful I was 
> hitting
> the rods. The steel rods did better but were stopped about half way down
> leaving 4 or more feet out of the ground.
>
> I'm over 6' tall and 250 pounds and am not afraid to work with a
> hammer.....let me tell you, I just could not get the rods down. The clay 
> was
> so hard and dense it just was not working.  Soon I was trying the hydro
> method on some of the 3/4" copper pipes. For my clay it just didn't work. 
> It
> did end up making a terrible mess as the countless gallons of water were
> just emptied out around the rod at the ground surface.  Remember, this is
> clay so all that water stays on the top where is makes a fine mess.  I 
> then
> tried to cut the drilling end of the copper pipe at a 45 degree angle and
> must have lifted and driven down the pipe (with water flowing) several
> hundred times before finally giving up. The driving end under ground will
> get mangled up as well sometimes making it nearly impossible to pull back
> out.
>
> Next came the heavy steel pipe over the copper pipe with end cap idea. 
> This
> managed to get the pipes down a bit but eventually the ends of the copper
> still mushroomed.  If you don't stop and cut off the bad portion it will
> become stuck inside the heavy steel pipe and you won't be able to get it
> out.  Some of the copper pipes bent right after the steel pipe and once 
> this
> happens all you can do is cut it off at ground level and start a new one. 
> I
> even tried to carefully add water to the hole (slop area right around the
> rods) every day for over a week thinking I might be able to "soften" up 
> the
> ground a little with no difference whatsoever.
>
> The only thing that worked, for me, and several others have mentioned 
> this,
> was to use an impact hammer. In my case I was able to borrow a real
> industrial electric Jack-Hammer. Without any attachments the opening of 
> the
> hammer will let you slide in a 3/4" copper pipe.  Using a step ladder I 
> was
> able to drive every rod into the clay in about 15 minutes time. It was 
> very
> hard work as the hammer is large and weighs almost 100 pounds.
>
> Sorry for being long-winded but I wanted to share my experience in case
> someone is in the same predicament as I was.  I hope this can save someone 
> a
> bunch of time and a lot of sore back muscles and frustration.
>
> 73,
> Gedas, W8BYA