Heard a journeyman say ground rods are overrated on a job site last Tuesday

I was running conduit in a basement in Marietta and this old timer walks by and tells the new guy that ground rods are basically just for code these days. Stuck with me because I've always just hammered them in without thinking why. Got me researching soil resistivity that night and found out my local clay actually does a decent job without a second rod. Anyone else ever question something you've done a hundred times after hearing one offhand comment?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_olivia6d ago

Stick a meter on it next time and see what you're actually getting. I tested a rod in our local clay once and got under 10 ohms with just the one, so the old timer wasn't totally wrong around here. But I've also hit spots where the soil was so dry and rocky I had to drive two rods and still barely passed. Soil moisture shifts with the seasons too so what works in spring might not cut it in August. Always worth verifying instead of just trusting the hammer.

sam_cooper7d ago

Yeah, that 'basically just for code' line got me too. I mean, I've probably hammered in like 50 ground rods without thinking, which says way more about me than the rods.