Heard a guy at the supply house say 'ground rods are just for code'...

I was picking up some 12/2 romex yesterday at Platt in Portland and this older sparky was telling his apprentice that ground rods basically do nothing, they're just there to pass inspection. It got me thinking about all the houses I've worked on where I saw corroded or loose ground connections that nobody bothered to fix. How many of you actually test your ground rod resistance with a meter, or do you just drive it and call it done?

3 comments

3 Comments

ericp6727d ago

Yeah but the real question is how often does a bad ground actually show up on a rough inspection. I've seen guys drive a rod into straight rock and it's barely in there, inspector walks past it and signs off. So what's the point of testing if nobody's looking for it anyway.

umabailey14d ago

Start asking @ericp67 how many of those inspectors actually had their meter on the right setting. I've seen guys test with the damn thing set to volts instead of ohms and get a false reading, so even when they do check it's useless. Makes you wonder if half the problem is just people not knowing how to use the tools they're carrying.

gray_schmidt826d ago

You ever notice that, @ericp67? It's like the whole thing becomes a box-checking exercise instead of actual safety. I feel you on that, man. I've been on jobs where the rod sits in loose gravel and the inspector just gives it a nod, no questions asked. It kinda makes you wonder why we even bother with the meter sometimes if nobody's gonna call it out. But I guess the real risk is when something goes wrong later and that ground is the first thing everyone points to.

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