ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Rebar Grounding Protection???

Hello Everyone,

After a recent lightning storm in my neighborhood many of my neighbors and my family lost garage door openers, televisions, and computers. Thankfully I only lost my garage door opener! I had acceptable point of use surge protection…I think.

I’ve since upgraded my point of use surge protectors to 6000 joule models, installed a Siemens Surge Protector Breaker in my main panel, and also put a Cutler-Hammer Surge Trap at the point of entry that should help protect my phone line, cable TV line, and add a little more surge suppression to the Siemens unit in the main panel.

Now I want to upgrade my outdoor grounding system. My house is only 2 years old so I assume it has the standard minimal code requirement of a couple of rods with #4 copper wire connecting them via acorn bolts. I’d like to create a ground loop circling half the house with rods about 10 feet from each other off the same #4 copper.

Here’s my question: I have access to 1 inch rebar and I can get as much as I want for free. May I use this for my grounding rods at lengths of 6 feet each? Or should I go out to Home Depot and spend $7.00 for the copper rods they have there? Is rebar suitable for this sort of grounding application?

Thanks for taking the time to read my post!

There is no requirement that the ground rods be store-bought, or listed. Finding 5/8 or 3/4 rebar might be a challenge, though, at the home centers.

Lightning is a specialty field, and I have no idea whether your efforts would accomplish anything.

First welcome, Ryan We try not to give advice to DIY, i can understand your concern, after your experience with, a near strike, there are codes, and standards for grounding electrode systems, more is not always better, but if you do extend it, get the proper material, and placement information.