Ask Experts Questions for FREE Help !
Ask

Smoke coming from ground rod?

Asked Mar 20, 2012, 03:31 AM — 2 Answers
My 250kva generator is earth however there is now smoke coming from the pit that the generator is earthed

Search this Thread
Share |
2 Answers
tkrussell's Avatar
tkrussell Posts: 9,673, Reputation: 3698
Senior Electrical & Lighting Expert
  
#2

Mar 20, 2012, 04:14 AM


Using an clamp on amp meter , measure the ground wire connecting to the rod, to determine if any current is flowing.

That will need to be corrected.

Could be a poor soil condition causing the ground resitance to be too high, still should not have high amps flowing to ground thou.

There is a clamp on ground rod resistance instrument available to measure the resistance of the rod.
Helpful  (1)
hfcarson's Avatar
hfcarson Posts: 457, Reputation: 93
Full Member
  
#3

Mar 20, 2012, 06:32 AM
J4, along with the recommendations of TK, you should be carefully reviewing the
grounding and if the neutral to ground connections are correct. If this is not a separately
derived system, the neutral should not be bonded to the ground. This may have something to do
with the "hot" ground rod if installed incorrectly.
Helpful
Not your question? Ask your question View similar questions
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Add your answer here.

Remove Text Formatting
 

Undo
Redo
  
Decrease Size
Increase Size
Bold
Italic
Underline
Align Left
Align Center
Align Right
Ordered List
Unordered List
Decrease Indent
Increase Indent
Insert Email Link
Wrap [QUOTE] tags around selected text
Wrap [CODE] tags around selected text
Wrap [HTML] tags around selected text
Wrap [PHP] tags around selected text
Wrap [YOUTUBE] tags around selected text
Notification Type:



Check out some similar questions!

Can I ground my generator to a copper rod driven into the ground with coax cable? [ 2 Answers ]

I am going to test my 6000 watt generator. It is recommended that I ground it to a copper rod driven into the ground. I alread have a copper rod that is used to ground my telephone and cable lines. Can I use a length of coax cable to run from my generator ground to the copper rod?

Nec-covering of ground wire from the ground rod to the water pipecables [ 1 Answers ]

I installed a new service meter panel and ground rod. The ground rod is connected to the meter panel via a #4 copper wire to a water pipe located 10 feet away. Is is allowable to bury the #4 wire between the ground rod and water pipe to keep it from being a trip hazard and protect the wire? ...

Ground rod wire is not connected to the ground rod [ 1 Answers ]

My inspection report for a property that I'm looking to purchase said that my " ground rod wire is not connected to the ground rod". I have no idea what something this would cost to fix. He also said that the ground rod clamp was rotten. Am I looking at thousands in repairs?

Ground rod instead of ground wire? [ 7 Answers ]

I'd like to install an RV outlet (120v, 30amp) in our parking area. Unfortunately, I only have two wires available to that location and adding a third wire would be quite difficult. Can I use the two available wires for hot and neutral and drive in a grounding rod next to the outlet for the...

Ground Rod / ground wire [ 9 Answers ]

Hello, I am installing a 100 amp subpanel in my workshop 125' away from my house. I have two ground rods in the ground by the shop, and was wondering if it was necessary to run 4 wires from the house to the shop (two hots, one neutral, one ground), or could I just run the three wires from the...

View more Electrical & Lighting questions Search