That's a very strange looking ground rod (with the screw-in pointed tip and the dowel in the middle). Why not just show a conventional 8 foot long (or 10 foot long) copper plated ground rod?
Interesting letter. Worrying about the ground rod is not something thats crossed my mind at a campground, or even my house. In some labs I've been in they have run #4 copper wire around the perimeter bolted to the building steel, but that was for different reasons than a a ground rod.
So I'm wondering. What would happen to your RV if the campgrounds ground rod was bad or missing? As you mention the neutral/ground bond is whats important. A ground rod is not going to trip a breaker even with a dead short (120v/25ohm = 4.8A). It could drain off static charges. As I understand it the purpose of a ground rod is lighting protection.
You are correct. A ground rod is for lightning strikes and static or small leakage current mitigation. It will do nothing to clear a circuit breaker if there’s a dead short to chassis ground without a neutral bond on the EGC ground wire. A fault current test with an 8 ft ground rod in my backyard produced less than 1.5 amperes of current to earth. That’s never going to trip any 15 or 20 amp circuit breaker.
I'm an amateur radio operator, Amateur Extra class license): The reason amateur radio operators surround their house with a substantial electrical conductor (#4 AWG solid copper qualifies) connected to ground rods spaced 2X the ground rod length (8 foot or 10 foot ground rods) is to keep as much as possible of the current from a lightning strike (to the power line feeding the house or to the antenna system) from going through the wiring inside the house on its way to ground.
That's a very strange looking ground rod (with the screw-in pointed tip and the dowel in the middle). Why not just show a conventional 8 foot long (or 10 foot long) copper plated ground rod?
Yeah, you’re right. But it’s a really cool looking ground rod…
Interesting letter. Worrying about the ground rod is not something thats crossed my mind at a campground, or even my house. In some labs I've been in they have run #4 copper wire around the perimeter bolted to the building steel, but that was for different reasons than a a ground rod.
So I'm wondering. What would happen to your RV if the campgrounds ground rod was bad or missing? As you mention the neutral/ground bond is whats important. A ground rod is not going to trip a breaker even with a dead short (120v/25ohm = 4.8A). It could drain off static charges. As I understand it the purpose of a ground rod is lighting protection.
Thanks
You are correct. A ground rod is for lightning strikes and static or small leakage current mitigation. It will do nothing to clear a circuit breaker if there’s a dead short to chassis ground without a neutral bond on the EGC ground wire. A fault current test with an 8 ft ground rod in my backyard produced less than 1.5 amperes of current to earth. That’s never going to trip any 15 or 20 amp circuit breaker.
I'm an amateur radio operator, Amateur Extra class license): The reason amateur radio operators surround their house with a substantial electrical conductor (#4 AWG solid copper qualifies) connected to ground rods spaced 2X the ground rod length (8 foot or 10 foot ground rods) is to keep as much as possible of the current from a lightning strike (to the power line feeding the house or to the antenna system) from going through the wiring inside the house on its way to ground.