ECN Forum Forums Technical Discussion Electrical Theory and Applications Does ground rod work??

Here is a graphic from the handbook that labels the conductors of a grounding electrode system.




A ground rod by itself can become very important if you have a primary voltage conductor fall across the bare neutral of a triplex heading toward a building.

In that case the voltage might be 7000 volts or more to ground.

A 25 ohm ground rod with a 7000 volt fault to it will result in 280 amps of current flow, (forgetting about the POCOs grounding resistance) well above the primary overcurrent protection device.

In that case the ground rod would aid in the opening of the primary overcurrent device.

Then there is some added protection from lightning strikes.