Can a detached garage ground rod be driven next to the house foundation ?
Question:running electricity to detached garage. code says drive rod 8' vertically or 45 angle. or bury rod horizontally 2' 6". or bury ground plate 2' 6". i hit bedrock at 2'. i am assuming i could drive the rods, i need two, against the house foundation because they must have dug out the rock and back filled. house is 25' from garage. is this ok? the power company drove their rod,at the meter, against the foundation. my rods will be at least 6' apart and at least 6' from the power company rod. i could also rent a jackhammer for the last 6" and put in ground plates, but is it ok to put a ground plate in rock? electricity wont travel through rock, will it? i know i could just ask the town inspector, but i would like to have some idea of what i am talking about before i ask him.
Answers:
The main point for the depth of this rod is to reach water rich soil... (water = conductor), and thus gives a good earth.
If you hit bedrock at 2' then it's more than likely, putting your plates at this level will be in the most water rich soil posible.. Opening up the bedrock to get the extra 6" wont acctually put you closer to it, Ecept for maybe creating a little bath to catch water in the rain season...
placing it at by the house is the better bet, then bury the bare copper earth wire all the way to the garage, As deep as posible too... ad this will give you more than ample earth protection...
Yes you can, no problem
If you are putting in a sub-panel you are going to run into bonding issues. If you are just pulling for general receps and LTing, you can carry a ground through your conduit or overhead service, and be as simple as hitting a standard LT switch and labeling it as a main disconnect (it sounds sketchy but I did dozens of houses like this for a legit compant). But if you are mounting a sub panel, when you talk to your inspector you should be fimilar with bonding. When your power company brings in power, there is no real ground. Your common / neutral is actully your ground as well, they are "together" or "bonded" e-sense-i-ly *spelling* the same thing, and once you hit your first means of disconnect IE: main panel they are still bonded, but all the branch circuit IE: feeds to everything and anything in your house, they are completly seperate. So if you do mount a sub panel, your ground and neutral will be 2 seperate things, the opposite of how it is at your panel(s)
also for driving the ground rod, a easy solution ive found is using a hammer drill, and put the ground rod in it like a bit, and it will go through rocks like butter, just about ever 2 feet take the drill off, and cut like an inch off the head, so it doesnt get all mashed down and get stuck
You should just rent a large hammer drill to get it in , you can also get a ground rod attachment for it , you dont want to be that far from the panel I think it cant be more then 10 feet away not 100% sure off the top of my head and you have to make sure you have the ground wires and neutrals in that panel separated on different bars because it is a sub panel
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