My grounding rod was torn out by a contractor while digging a trench for some lines we wanted buried. I just discovered this, many months later. 1.Can this cause cricuit breakers to pop off?and 2. When I install a new rod, do I need to shut off the main breaker to the house?

1.Can this cause cricuit breakers to pop off?Absolutely not.



2. When I install a new rod, do I need to shut off the main breaker to the house?ABSOLUTELY YES!
You will be messing around in the main panel with a bare copper wire.
Unless of course the wire going into the panel is OK and does not need replacement.
Either way you should kill the main to make this connection just to be safe.

Thank you. The ground wire is still connected in the panel, so I won't be messing around in there. The rod is wrecked, and I didn't want to light up when I re-connected the wire to a new rod. I'll kill the main! Thanks again.

Have you had any breakers tripping since the rod got disconnected?