Grounding electric fence

[JW IN VA]

I know I'm always telling folks to ground their electric fence well.I have a problem with proper grounding,tho.In my area we a have a lot of rocks on the surface and beneath.Will someone get the same grounding effect laying a ground rod in a trench flat as vertical ? I'm thinking surface contact would be the same.Thanks in advance.

 

[M5farm]

Im far from an expert but I would think that it would not work as good. The ground rod driven into ground makes contact with different layers of moisture to create a good ground. I can drive a metal fence stob in moist soil and get a good ground at 3' , as soon as it dries out the ground is not as good.

 

[dun]

The ground may not be as strong but with several of them it shuld be adequate. It will take more area to put in enough rods though what with the spacing and length of the rods. Our fences don;t red any hhigher when the ground is (was) wet as it does now. Here it's dry as a bone down to bedrock, any where from 1 foot to 5-6 foot. The grounds are ina mound of dirt about 5 foot high and the bottom end is well above the nomrla ground surface.

 

[cowboy43]

I have wondered what kind of ground , connecting to a live tree that has deep roots would work as a ground.

 

[dun]

I have wondered what kind of ground , connecting to a live tree that has deep roots would work as a ground.

Since a tree is really a pretty poor conductor I wouldn;t think it would work very well.

 

[Bigfoot]

I like to drive it straight in. Then put a 5 gallon bucket with a pin hole in the bottom to drip water down the rod.

 

[3waycross]

I got my best ground ever this year. There was a little creek running about 40ft from my charger. I sunk two 3ft rods in the creek bottom and wired it up. Did not have another jail break all summer.

 

[kenny thomas]

If you want to see if you have a proper ground do the following.
1.With a fence checker or volt meter check the ground rod. Yes the ground rod. Bet lots of you will be surprised to see how moch feedback you are getting.
2. Drive and connect ground rods until that number goes down to 0. Do not cut the ground wire, keep it a solid wire attached to all the rods. Accordcing to your charger it may take 3-4 rods.
3. go maybe 50 yds and check the voltage on your fence. Place some ground rods or anything that will short out the fence on the hot wires until you get the voltage as low as you can. This might be 0 but that is hard to get.
4. go back to your origional ground rods at the fence box and check the voltage on the ground now. It will probably be more than 0.
5. Add additional ground rods until it gets to 0 again.
6. Unless it is in a drought already add at least 1 more in case the ground gets dry.
Each of you try that and see how much better your system works.

 

[dun]

If you want to see if you have a proper ground do the following.
1.With a fence checker or volt meter check the ground rod. Yes the ground rod. Bet lots of you will be surprised to see how moch feedback you are getting.
2. Drive and connect ground rods until that number goes down to 0. Do not cut the ground wire, keep it a solid wire attached to all the rods. Accordcing to your charger it may take 3-4 rods.
3. go maybe 50 yds and check the voltage on your fence. Place some ground rods or anything that will short out the fence on the hot wires until you get the voltage as low as you can. This might be 0 but that is hard to get.
4. go back to your origional ground rods at the fence box and check the voltage on the ground now. It will probably be more than 0.
5. Add additional ground rods until it gets to 0 again.
6. Unless it is in a drought already add at least 1 more in case the ground gets dry.
Each of you try that and see how much better your system works.

That's the system test that Gaallagher used to have in their fencing manual, and it works!

 

[pricefarm]

How far apart should your ground rods be apart? Kenny when u say check the voltage on the ground rod with a volt meter do u use ac or dc ? What would u ground the black meter lead to?

 

[kenny thomas]

I use the fence tester so cant help you with the volt meter except I do know it can be used. Sorry, someone else chime in here.

 

[skyhightree1]

In rocky areas I helped my cousin ground his fence in Floyd by taking 4- 6 foot grounding rods cutting them in half we were able to drive them down till anywhere from 2"-8" he bound them all together along the outside of his fence ever 3' apart and used 10 gauge wire I believe it was thick and then tied it to the box and that sob sounds like a fire cracker when a cow touches it.

 

[kenny thomas]

How far apart should your ground rods be apart? Kenny when u say check the voltage on the ground rod with a volt meter do u use ac or dc ? What would u ground the black meter lead to?

We put them 8-10ft apart.

 

[greybeard]

I use the fence tester so cant help you with the volt meter except I do know it can be used. Sorry, someone else chime in here.

Careful..
I've seen more than one person fry their perfectly good VOM while troubleshooting a hot fence wire system.
Most Voltmeters aren't rated for over 600VDC--a few work at 1000VDC. (six hundred to one thousand volts).
Most chargers output over 6000-10,000VDC. (Six to ten THOUSAND volts).

 

[dun]

I use the fence tester so cant help you with the volt meter except I do know it can be used. Sorry, someone else chime in here.

Careful..
I've seen more than one person fry their perfectly good VOM while troubleshooting a hot fence wire system.

I've got the shirt!

 

[greybeard]

So do I Dun. An old heavy but very reliable Simpson 260 analog meter burned to a crisp, and I mean in a violent manner--not like the digital meters today that just make a little 'pop' and never work again.

 

[muleskinner]

The best ground that we ever put in was a 20 ft 3 inch peice of pipe wrapped in copper wire and barried about 4 ft deep. It runs a 200 mile charger real well.

 

[Gunner]

I have an electric fence that runs along side of a barb wire fence to try to keep my bull and the neighbors bull from tearing up the fence. About 1/4 mile of fence. Have 3- 6' foot ground rods now. When I added the third ground rod I tied the ground wire that is attached to all three ground rods to one of the strands of barbwire figuring the steel tee posts the length of the fence would help with the ground. Anybody know if this is a good idea or not?

 

[greybeard]

I've done that Gunner, but since TeePosts aren't driven in very far around here, I doubt it does much good.

 

[Gunner]

I really didn't think it would do much good either but I did not think it would hurt anything. It has been so dry here the last few years that I have had to run a grounded wire along with the hot ones to get a shock.