Kemer said:
I just found out than my second anode rod is gone.I'm told I must have a stray ground.I will call my power co.to see if they will come out and check things out.Any body know how I can track this stray ground? My water was checked twice and came back Ok.I also ground and drilled a hole in the ear of the garn to make my connection to my ground rod but I used the ground rod from my back up generator.I was told by an electrician that would be ok.Maybe not?
Kemer, et al;
I'll quote myself from another post regarding auxiliary bonding connections to ground. I don't mean to be preachy, but I am also a Power Engineer, so I also know a few things about pipe corrosion from stray currents and dissimilar piping connections, and poor water chemistry, but situations like this where the anode device is consumed so quickly is almost ALWAYS linked to stray ground currents. Please be sure to note the terminology in that; the issue is not necessarily a bad ground, but certainly electrical current flow to that ground.
Folks;
As an electrician, it causes me some concern that a GROUND rod was driven and tied to a lifting lug for the Garn.
I am not sure how the building is serviced where the garn is located, but the GROUND is to be tied to the electrical panel ONLY, and anything metallic in the building (such as gas lines, water piping, etc) should be tied to that ground (and is henceforth called a BOND) to ensure none of these systems can become energized. This BOND wire is run seperately from the metallic piping back to the load compartment of the electrical panel, electrically bonding the two together.
What you may have there is a ground-current path from a potential ground-faulted device that may be travelling through the structure of the Garn and into the ground rod as electricity will follow the least-resistive path back to ground. Stray electrical currents can not only cause enormous corrosion issues, but can also get people electrocuted from stray voltages. Were I you, I would disconnect the ground rod from the Garn, ensuring that all electrical wiring to the Garn has a proper bond wire and that the bond has been made continuous throughout all the splices and junction boxes. Then I would find the electrical panel that services the building in which lives the Garn, and open the panel cover (service side) and ensure that there is a ground wire present and it is connected at the propoer location in that panel. Next, follow the grounding wire (heavy, usually green covering or bare copper) from that panel and ensure that it is connected to a good grounding device. In my case (Canada) we can use two 10 ft long ground rods, driven 10 ft apart, or a certified ground plate, buried at least 3 ft.
All circuits that come from that panel, such as those that serve your pumps, etc. should have a BOND wire that connects the metallic bits of the devices being energized back to the electrical panel BOND BUSS. This is usually a row of uninsulated terminals mounted in the load compartment of the panel box where all the other bare copper bond wires are tied to.
As usual, if you do not feel comfortable doing this, find a qualified electrical friend and lure him/her to your spread with the promise of BBQ’d vittles and some brew. Safety is paramount!
Cheers.