Electric Fence grounding

[JMJ Farms]

I'm finishing up installing a high tensile electric fence on 35 acres. This land is real sandy. And right now we are bad dry. I usually install (4) 8' ground rods on other farms with excellent results. With this land being real sandy and dry, would this be sufficient? I was pondering "stacking" them, and try to drive two or three on top of each other to get deeper. Would this be better and is it doable without special machinery or tools?

 

[sstterry]

I'm finishing up installing a high tensile electric fence on 35 acres. This land is real sandy. And right now we are bad dry. I usually install (4) 8' ground rods on other farms with excellent results. With this land being real sandy and dry, would this be sufficient? I was pondering "stacking" them, and try to drive two or three on top of each other to get deeper. Would this be better and is it doable without special machinery or tools?

I will defer a real answer to someone more knowledgeable than me but trying to drive two 8' ground rods one on top of the other seems a little dicey.

 

[JW IN VA]

Can you "water" the ground rods from time to time? That will help.

Also,I think that,unless you have a dedicated ground wire or wires in your fence,the dry ground will not be "grounding" the animal as well.You might want to attach your ground wire or wires in your fence to a ground stake of their own.

Just my thoughts.

 

[JMJ Farms]

I'm finishing up installing a high tensile electric fence on 35 acres. This land is real sandy. And right now we are bad dry. I usually install (4) 8' ground rods on other farms with excellent results. With this land being real sandy and dry, would this be sufficient? I was pondering "stacking" them, and try to drive two or three on top of each other to get deeper. Would this be better and is it doable without special machinery or tools?

I will defer a real answer to someone more knowledgeable than me but trying to drive two 8' ground rods one on top of the other seems a little dicey.

Local EMC stacked 40' worth for a friend of mine. But that was for grounding an electrical service due to repeated lightning damage. Wasn't sure it would help in the case of an electric fence. I'm sure they have some form of a connector to facilitate stacking and driving.

 

[JMJ Farms]

Can you "water" the ground rods from time to time? That will help.

Also,I think that,unless you have a dedicated ground wire or wires in your fence,the dry ground will not be "grounding" the animal as well.You might want to attach your ground wire or wires in your fence to a ground stake of their own.

Just my thoughts.

I can water the ground rods. The only problem I see with a ground wire is that the animal must cross both wires to complete the circuit.

If you run a ground wire(s) along the fence, can you space ground rods connected to the ground wire(s) out every so often along the fence as well as having the ground wire(s) connected to the energizer and your normal "ground field"? Will that help?

 

[kenny thomas]

I have never used a ground wire as part of the fence. Not saying it won't work. If it's so dry you must do that to get a shock to the animal your gonna have more issues than the fence.

 

[GoWyo]

I use high tensile 3-wire single strand fencing here with middle wire being ground in dry conditions here. Works well on interior fences. Use 4-wire for boundary fence with top and 3rd wires hot and 2nd wire grounded. Nothing messes with them. Ground rod on both ends of a stretch of fence and middle if needed. 6' rod pounded til just a couple inches stick out.

 

[kenny thomas]

I use high tensile 3-wire single strand fencing here with middle wire being ground in dry conditions here. Works well on interior fences. Use 4-wire for boundary fence with top and 3rd wires hot and 2nd wire grounded. Nothing messes with them. Ground rod on both ends of a stretch of fence and middle if needed. 6' rod pounded til just a couple inches stick out.

Thinking about this I realized that the conditions are different according to the type soil, the moisture, lots of things. Good points.

 

[sstterry]

I have never used a ground wire as part of the fence. Not saying it won't work. If it's so dry you must do that to get a shock to the animal your gonna have more issues than the fence.

Kenny,

I know we don't do it much around here, but I have seen places that the ground wire is the common practice. But, they space their wires much closer than we do. Based on what I have heard, having a ground wire will really knock an animal back.

 

[JMJ Farms]

I use high tensile 3-wire single strand fencing here with middle wire being ground in dry conditions here. Works well on interior fences. Use 4-wire for boundary fence with top and 3rd wires hot and 2nd wire grounded. Nothing messes with them. Ground rod on both ends of a stretch of fence and middle if needed. 6' rod pounded til just a couple inches stick out.

Thank you. Couple questions.

On 3 wire..... are wires spaced at 2',3', and 4' acceptable?

Do you insulate the ground wire on T posts or would it work better to ground the ground wire to each T post by tying it to the post with wire?

I read that the best possible ground is a bare galvanized wire buried 4-6" deep along the entire perimeter of the fence and tied to each T post and tied back to energizer. And I understand why. But I can assure you that I'm not digging a 6000' trench 6" deep!

 

[JMJ Farms]

I have never used a ground wire as part of the fence. Not saying it won't work. If it's so dry you must do that to get a shock to the animal your gonna have more issues than the fence.

True in a way. We are dry right now. But this sandy dirt just doesn't hold enough moisture to conduct well in the summer. Fine in the winter.

 

[JW IN VA]

I would not ground back to the fence charger but someone with more knowledge may tell you it's fine.

Your T posts will help ground the ground wire and may be enough that you don't need a dedicated ground rod for that wire.A voltage tester should tell you.

 

[GoWyo]

I use high tensile 3-wire single strand fencing here with middle wire being ground in dry conditions here. Works well on interior fences. Use 4-wire for boundary fence with top and 3rd wires hot and 2nd wire grounded. Nothing messes with them. Ground rod on both ends of a stretch of fence and middle if needed. 6' rod pounded til just a couple inches stick out.

Thank you. Couple questions.

On 3 wire..... are wires spaced at 2',3', and 4' acceptable?

Do you insulate the ground wire on T posts or would it work better to ground the ground wire to each T post by tying it to the post with wire?

I read that the best possible ground is a bare galvanized wire buried 4-6" deep along the entire perimeter of the fence and tied to each T post and tied back to energizer. And I understand why. But I can assure you that I'm not digging a 6000' trench 6" deep!

JMJ -- on the 3-wire fences, I put the bottom wire about knee height (20-22") so they don't catch tumble weeds. Then 10" apart. Fence is only 42-44 inches tall and no cows or bulls mess with it, but they are all in the same pasture. I use 7/8" fiberglass posts spaced 50-60 feet apart and use the cotter pin type attachments that allow the wire to freely slide. Kencove carries everything I use. Sometimes I can get the posts locally. Deer and antelope can go through, under or over no problem. Antelope can hit them at a run and they have plenty of spring using the spring tensioners. These are only for interior pasture division fences. Generally run a Parmak solar on these.

The 4-wire I have, we replaced the wire on existing wood posts that were a rod apart using claw insulators for the hot wires and stapling the ground wires to the posts. This is a boundary fence that will get a 10 joule AC charger on it and is a mile and a half long with the plan to tie it in to the 3-wire fences at some point.

 

[shaz]

A single 3ft aluminum rod may work but you have to measure the output to know if you have a problem to begin with. Measure from your negative output terminal to ground and if that's less than 200 volts you probably have a good ground and no reason to overdo it.

 

[JMJ Farms]

I would not ground back to the fence charger but someone with more knowledge may tell you it's fine.

Your T posts will help ground the ground wire and may be enough that you don't need a dedicated ground rod for that wire.A voltage tester should tell you.

I went back today and added a third strand to serve as a ground wire. Attached it to the T Posts with wire clips, but loose enough that it could move. Hoping that the T Posts will aid in the grounding. Ran the wire the entire 6000' of the perimeter and will tie it into (4) 8' ground rods spaced 10' apart that are then tied to the negative terminal on the energizer. Hoping this will provide a sufficient ground and that the T Posts will serve as "mini" ground rods in the event that the cows don't touch both a hot wire and the ground wire at the same time.

JW, I'm not following you on not connecting the ground wire to the energizer. It has to be connected in order to be a ground, correct?

 

[GoWyo]

Charger should be grounded to your ground wire on the fence which should be grounded to several ground rods around your perimeter in addition to using the steel posts as ground.

 

[JW IN VA]

I was referring to the wire you just added when I spoke of a "ground" wire.Sorry for the confusion.
Sounds like you have a well put together set up which should hold any reasonable stock.

 

[JMJ Farms]

I was referring to the wire you just added when I spoke of a "ground" wire.Sorry for the confusion.
Sounds like you have a well put together set up which should hold any reasonable stock.

No worries. I am easily confused at times. Got done with everything except driving the ground rods and hanging the energizer and the gates. I think tomorrow will wind this project up. Anxious to see what the tester says.

 

[JW IN VA]

I was referring to the wire you just added when I spoke of a "ground" wire.Sorry for the confusion.
Sounds like you have a well put together set up which should hold any reasonable stock.

No worries. I am easily confused at times. Got done with everything except driving the ground rods and hanging the energizer and the gates. I think tomorrow will wind this project up. Anxious to see what the tester says.

Just for fun and possible confusion,try testing the fence with the ground lead of the tester to the soil.Then,ground it to your dedicated ground wire in the fence.
I'd be interested to see what,if any,difference you find.

 

[JMJ Farms]

I was referring to the wire you just added when I spoke of a "ground" wire.Sorry for the confusion.
Sounds like you have a well put together set up which should hold any reasonable stock.

No worries. I am easily confused at times. Got done with everything except driving the ground rods and hanging the energizer and the gates. I think tomorrow will wind this project up. Anxious to see what the tester says.

Just for fun and possible confusion,try testing the fence with the ground lead of the tester to the soil.Then,ground it to your dedicated ground wire in the fence.
I'd be interested to see what,if any,difference you find.

Will do and report back. Got done just a while ago. But I've about had enough of this high 90s heat. I feel like a baked potato. Energizer display is showing 8k volts. I will check with handheld digital tester in the morning to soil and also to ground wire and also to ground rods just to see if there is any variance.