Driving ground rods - RFEDA Forum

I don't know about you guys, but I get nervous every time I drive an eight foot rod into the ground.pcjqwmvd
pcjqwmvd
What precautions do you guy take prior to driving one in?pcjqwmvd
pcjqwmvd
In Nj, you call the 1-800-dig number.

Reply No.	Replier	Total Replies 19 [View All Replies] [New Reply]	Replied at

1	knoxville	I know that there was a cable guy just blew himself and a couple houses up driving a ground rod a few months back. Let me see if I can dig up that article.	2008/9/1 11:11

2	hgping	http://indianapolis.injuryboard.com/...-explosion.php	2008/9/1 11:11

3	htc2498	What I do is look in the basement or crawl to see if any utilities come in where I want to drive rods. I also look for curb stops and do a line of site from the curb stops to the house to see if there might be any contradictions. Yes, rightfully, we should call for a locate before we drive rods. I'm 99% sure nobody does.	2008/9/1 11:11

4	fujun2013	I disaree. Only a fool would not 'call before you dig' , now-a-days. Can you afford to be burned bad $	2008/9/1 11:11

5	edu	I am one of those fools. We take all the normal precautions mentiontioned earlier, plus ask homeowner or gc but we usually just get after it. I did make a big mistake years ago on a custom home built next to a river in a high ground water area. The gc put in a pond liner and then built a wood foundation house on top of that, and then wrapped the pond liner up the sides of the house to ground level. When I went to pound ground rods I pounded them right through the pond liner on top of the wood foundation and on through the bottom of the liner into the dirt below. The gc was all over me when he saw how close to the house the rods were. He guessed, correctly, that I had committed a mortal sin and wanted me to dig the whole thing up and repair it. The only way I got out of it was to point out that he had never given me a set of plans and how was I to know there was a pond liner there. Nevertheless, I did stick around and help with the repair. P.S. I HATE ground rods.	2008/9/1 11:11

6	netlgc	I hate ground rods, too. At least if you call first, you have that 'clearence paper' to wave at them in the emergency room! . . . BTW, I've found that it is difficult to get a hard copy of the 'dig clearance' from any locater. Phone clearance is about all you get, plus the paint on the grass. Admissable, I doubt it . . . Recently had a sub 'locate' a 25 pair telephone with his trencher, after having a 'so called' dig clearance issued. Probably be in court for years . . .	2008/9/1 11:11

7	bubulu	I do new houses, no gas or tel run yet, most of the time no underground power run either. Just set up the big hammerdrill and squeeze.	2008/9/1 11:11

8	z4120356	I love it. Squeeze on . . .	2008/9/1 11:11

9	hgping	I usually call for digging if i even think there's a small chance something could be down there, I never even heard of calling for a ground rod. I just grit my teeth and use my tick tracer/ a lot. I have moved the ground rod on the far side of the gas meter a couple times just to be safe.	2008/9/1 11:11

10	naoge	Pictures before the locates are done. Pictures after the locates are done. Hard copy to be left on site somewhere if you can't meet the locater and get it in person - they're pretty good about that around here. Take it and get a copy made because the NCR paper they use will get messed up if wet or in a lot of heat - like on the dashboard. Make them get a body on site - a phone clearance is NOT, IS NOT acceptable. Been there, done that. You don't have a leg to stand on without pictures and a SIGNED hard copy. The first time it happened to me we hit a 6" gas line while drilling a 10' X 36" hole for a traffic signal pole foundation. The line was marked 5' from where we drilled. There are just too many plastic pipes and buried cables anymore to gamble. Finally, if you hit something in the clear zone stop immediately and get pictures from the same places you took the originals to show you were in the clear. Call the utility you hit immediately and let them know that they were hit and that you had clearance to dig. SHOW THE HARD COPY to the repair crew forman so they know immediately who to go after. I've seen guys that thought they were in the clear drive a ground rod and hit a buried line to a garage because it didn't "look" like the line would be there.	2008/9/1 11:11
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