Re: driving copper pipe

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Daniel Hess by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <dhess1-at-us.ibm-dot-com>





1/2" hard copper water pipe is vastly cheaper that copper clad rebar and it
comes in standard 10' lengths; much more contact area with the earth IF you
can get it all the way into the ground.

I have a lot of clay in my area as well (North Texas) but used a simple
trick I learned on this list; I bought a brass adaptor at a local
hardware/plumbing supply which I screwed on to an 8' length of 1/2" steel
pipe, the other side of the adaptor accepts the end of a garden hose. Dug a
3' narrow hole in the ground with a sharp shooter and then let my 'water
drill' do the rest. If I'd hit a rock or other obstruction just pull up and
try a few inches over but I never did and drilled 3 holes for 3 rods this
way. The 1/2" copper pipe simply dropped into the hole. I used copper
ribbon soldered to the top of each pipe and covered 'er up. It was a piece
'o cake but a little muddy.

Daniel


  > Original poster: "Rodney Goolsby by way of Terry Fritz
<teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <jeronimo-at-bright-dot-net>
  >
  > I'm sure many of you know how hard it is to drive long pieces of copper
  > pipe into hard ground to make an RF ground, such as my yard which has a
  lot
  > of clay in it.  I was wondering if it would be alright to fill a 5'
  piece
  > of .5" or .75" copper pipe with quick cement to make it sturdy enough to
  > pound into the ground.  If not what other method could I use to get the
  > pipe into the ground?