[TowerTalk] Erico chemical ground electrode

[K1TTT]

'GEM' could just mean Ground Enhancement Material... which could just be
bentonite or some mix of other conductive material.  Usually chemical
grounds like that require periodic replacement of the salts and would work
best in damp areas or could use periodic watering.  The idea is to simply
increase the conductivity in the area around the rod by adding some kind of
salt ions to the soil.

David Robbins K1TTT
e-mail: mailto:k1ttt at arrl.net
web: http://wiki.k1ttt.net
AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://k1ttt.net

-----Original Message-----
From: John E. Cleeve [mailto:g3jvc at jcleeve.idps.co.uk] 
Sent: Sunday, March 03, 2013 22:18
To: Towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] Erico chemical ground electrode

Gentlemen,

Has anyone had experience of using the Erico chemical ground electrode?
The Erico claim is that one chemical ground electrode can be as effective as
multiple ordinary ground rods.

I am not sure if the Erico product is available in the UK, but from the
available Erico literature, it would appear to be a copper tube, which has
been packed with "electrolyte salts", the base of the tube has a number of
holes drilled around the base. The method is to drill a hole in the ground,
larger in diameter than the electrode, put a layer of Bentonite/Fullers
earth in the bottom of the hole, lower the electrode to the Bentonite, to a
depth that covers the holes in the tube, and then pack the vacant space
around the Erico electrode, up to the ground surface, with Erico "Gem"
material, whatever that might be. The electrodes come with cables already
welded for connection.

I am not a chemist, but I am intrigued, perhaps if we have a chemist among
the group, who could provide a simple explanation of how this chemical
electrode system might work, it would be appreciated.



Sincerely, John. G3JVC/GM3JVC.





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