I keep seeing guys land ground rods way too shallow

Watched a crew in Denver yesterday drive a rod maybe 3 feet in before stopping because they hit a rock. Not even a clamp on it yet but they packed up and called it good. How do you convince people that 8 feet means 8 feet not just until it gets hard?

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2 Comments

sage_park62mo ago

Saw a guy out in Phoenix once who swore by driving rods at an angle to avoid rocks. He'd go maybe 4 feet deep and then just bend the rod sideways under the dirt. Called it "desert code" or something dumb like that. Meanwhile the bonding inspector showed up a week later and made them dig the whole thing up again. That was on a Friday right before a monsoon rolled in, so the whole crew was just standing in the mud watching him try to straighten it out with a sledgehammer.

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thomas_roberts2mo ago

Ran into the same issue on a job near Tucson a few years back. Best thing I found was using a driving bit with a flat tip that could punch through caliche instead of trying to dodge it. Took a bit longer on the first rod but saved us from having to redo the whole thing later. Also started carrying a sledge and a pipe wrench in the truck after that mess, just in case the ground fought back. Sounds like that inspector saved them from a bigger headache down the line at least.

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