Is Electrode earthing better than the conventional copper-plate type of earthing ?

Question

I am offered a new technology Electrode earthing, where-in they use a 3mt G.I. electrode and fill the pit with a compound, mainly containing 'Sodium-bentonite', which is supposed to retain moisture 13 times it's volume and for quite long so that frequent watering is not required. But the initial ohmic-value of the earth point is not guaranteed, because they say the ohmic-value depends on the soil resistance.
But conventional plate earthing guy is saying you will definitely get even less than 1 ohm resistance also. But problem here is that the plate will start corroding in 3/4 years, due to presence of heavy salt and thus resistance will automatically increase then.
But in Electrode earthing, whatever is the initial resistance, it remains the same for many years as there is virtually no corrosion at all because the compound has a neutral pH value.

My question is, is it OK to mix bit of salt in the compound, so as to get the initial ohmic-value very low ?WHICH IS BETTER EARTHING ?

Answer 1

The type of earthing used depends on the soil conditions. A reputable earthing company should be able to advise the most cost effective method. It is nothing new to use conductive minerals around electrodes.

Usually the cheapest (if soil conditions allow) is to drive electrode rods into the ground as far as possible then measure the resistance. These can be positioned around the building. The material, again, dependent on soil conditions to resist corrosion. There is little or no maintenance and only routine testing required.

Answer 2

I worked at a site where electrolytic ground rods were installed. Normal ground rods installed in the sandy soild gave resistance readings in the 100's of ohms (300+) .

The fix was installing 30 foot 2in diameter electrolytic ground rods with a drill rig. The rods are filled wil a salt and there is a pin hole at either end of the rod to allow moisture to enter and migrate through the salt. The idea is that over time the draining water from the botton of the rod picks up salt ions and will form conductive fingers extending from the bottom of the rod through the soil further enhancing resistance readings.

The drill hole was filled with bentonite as I recall as well.

We had a fantastic improvment of ground resistance using these rods. We got below 15 ohms soon after installation and in some cases below 5. One or two installs did measure around 40 to 50 and are expected to improve over time. Still considering the regular rods were several hundred ohms it was a big improvment

Answer 3

Earthing is critical area of electrical engineering maintenance. An effective earthing ensures the safety to human life, appliances, machines, equipment's etc. The increasing use of modern solid state logic systems and microprocessor based control systems has elevated the importance of consistent, spike free and steady voltage.

Utilizing metal alloys and natural compositions, the electrode is able to provide multifaceted proactive earthing protection strategy.
Manufactured from custom made GI tubes to ensure maximum conductivity and longer service life.
The electrode contains a conductor rich crystalline mixture to protect the main earth electrode in the soil and facilitates the transfer of the fault current to the earth.

Thus the benefits of greater personal and equipment safety, reliability, current load capacity, discharge path for short circuits, fault current/surge protection, stable earth values, low resistance, longer life, and low cost maintenance makes JMV earthing electrode a preferred choice.

Applications
Telecommunication
Transmission & distribution system
Substations & power generators
Lighting arrestor earthing
Equipment body earthing
Computer & data processing centers
Manufacturing facilities and refineries
Others, where dedicate earthing is required.

Answer 4

I had positive results with electrode earthing. To be sure to have a low resistance I rammed four electrodes at 3 meters each along a line with 1.5 distance between them. The upper ends of the electrodes are in a trench 0.6m below surface and interconnected with a braided copper cable (similar to what you gave at your car battery to chassis connection. The clamps that connect the braided copper cable to the electrodes are protected with anti-corrosion grease.
Watering the whole earthing system four times in ten days gave a good result. Once the whole electrodes are wet and all the gaps are filled with wet earth, the ohm value will stay low because at a total depth of more than 3 meters it will never become completely dry again. In my opinion you should not experiment with salt - to avoid corrosion.

Answer 5

May be