Electric fence ground

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SJB

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Elizabethton, TN (upper east TN)
Everything I've read, and all my common sense tells me that grounding my energizer is key to a good installation.

Problem is, I got a rock issue. I can drive a fence post through it with the tractor bucket, but an 8' ground rod is so flimsy it won't work.

How good is ya'lls fence grounded? If I really need an 8' ground rod (some energizer manuals call for 3 of them), how the heck am I gonna get it in the ground? I don't even think renting a hammer drill would work.
 
It can be done by digging trenches and laying the rods in them. 2 rods would be the minimum, 3 a good compromise. You will also have to make sure they are some distance apart, usually 5-6 feet is enough. It's not the best solution but it will work.
 
I use galvanised T posts and they work well. You say you can get them in with the bucket so you should be sweet. Just pick an area that gets a lot of shade and stays damp.

Ken
 
How is your wells dug, steel casing?? What about power poles the electric companies ground them with a copper wire ran down the pole and a coil on the bottom of the pole. Just connect to one of the aforementioned
 
We have 2 8' rods and two 4' posts. When we got here there was only a t-post, single. Adding the additional ground helped considerable IMO. Not an electrician, but I know the fence works much better, unfortunate at how i found out...
 
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Put it in at an angle or horizontally, it will work that way. If you're too worried about it, pour some water on it every few days when the drought gets on. You can ground something laying on top the ground if you have the moisture.
 
The worst idea is to hook it to the power company ground. That can cause electrical issues with the company power in the house/barn/shop/well, etc.
 
I guess I should unhook the ground wire that's been hooked up to the light pole for 30 plus yrs and ran to the barn and connected to the power panel that the fence box is hooked too. Ya learn something new every day!!!!
 
I do the same thing, but one day my luck will run out and lighting will get the hot shot, I am retired from an electric coop and know it is not the smart thing to do , the wife is always telling me I ain't the smart one in the family. :dunce: :cboy:
 
Use a fence tester and check your ground and keep adding ground rods until there is no feedback. I checked a fence for a guy last week and he had 1500 on the ground but had 5200 on the fence. I have 4-8ft buried in the drip of the barn.
 
What about power poles the electric companies ground them with a copper wire ran down the pole and a coil on the bottom of the pole. Just connect to one of the aforementioned
Click to expand...

Grounds on powerlines can relieve lighting strikes from miles away. So if you are hooked to it you can blow up a charger and never hear thunder. If you still want to do it, run you #4 bare copper wire or insulated wire through a section of buried steel conduit. There is something about that that lightning will jump to the conduit if you get a strike. It can also work from the fence back to the charger on the energized insulated wire. It will probably burn the wire into but possibly save the charger.

Ground rods: bore the first 4 ' with the posthole digger if you can. The diameter of the ground rod, plus the length is important. The length defines the spacing. 8' rods should be spaces a minimum of 15"' apart for maximum grounding. If you cannot get depth and need to go short or in a trench, go to a well driller and buy a bag of sodium bentonite. They or you might call it driller's mud. When you get ready to backfill the rods in a bored hole, a trench or even the bare #4 wire, mix a few (4 to 5) pounds of the bentonite in about every 100 pounds in the soil as you backfill. The bentonite holds a lot of water and will effectively make the diameter of your ground rod the diameter of the soil mixed with bentonite. It makes a HUGE difference and in a drought if you add water it will hold the water and keep your fence working as best it can. If anyone has been in the Army or reserves and been around when they set up a field communication center you will have seen a network of ground rods set up in a grid pattern on 15' spacings and if the rods had bags on the ends to go into bored holes the bags contained sodium bentonite.

But do not leave the bentonite out in the weather, rain or on the surface. It is the ooiest, gooest thing you ever got on a boot or a tire.
 
I used a heavy t post driver on all of mine and it did good even though I've got a hard pan layer about 18-24" below ground.
I also drove mine on an angle.
 
The coop spect. Require the the ground rod to be driven in undistrubed ground away from the hole we had dug for the pole. The foreman had us put the rod in the hole and push it the rest of the way down with the bit. Sometimes the dirt was so hard it bend over so we would connect it that way.
The coop started checking every job site and was not happy with what they found, they then bought a driver and said to follow spects. from now on. Their was places where an 8 ft rod could not be driven, so we started cutting the rod off, that was about the time I started in the office. Never did hear if they found out about the cut off rods.
 

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