Earth reading too high

[anto]

Just had NIE out to the house to upgrade the meter.
He left a note to call a spark urgently with the note saying my earth reading was too high.

Called the spark and he said nothing to worry about its not urgent urgent but I'll need another earth rod driven.

My spark had said that it's possibly my electric provider that should be providing it but they (NIE) have wiped their hands of it.
It doesn't sound like a big job but I'd rather not have to pay if it's something they should be sorting.

I am in a medium sized town and the house is about 30years old FYI.

Thanks,
Anton

 

[brightspark]

check it out if u have an earth rod the reading should be under 200 ohms . fit a new one take readings and if its still over fit a second one a meter away and connect both together test again or u could just try fit an extension to the new one and try deeper . must be sandy soil or a dry position of rod

 

[wookie]

check it out if u have an earth rod the reading should be under 200 ohms .

Just curious where do you measure from and to ?

 

[brightspark]

use an earth loop impedance tester. plug in to live and neutral and connect earth lead from meter to the rod and take the reading

 

[wookie]

use an earth loop impedance tester. plug in to live and neutral and connect earth lead from meter to the rod and take the reading

Ah, not something I can measure with my DMM then, I'm always interested in learning new things but I'm not about to buy some test kit that I would hardly ever use.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[brightspark]

the worst I've ever had was up the Yorkshire dales in rocky ground 3 rods needed 1 meter apart

 

[anto]

check it out if u have an earth rod the reading should be under 200 ohms . fit a new one take readings and if its still over fit a second one a meter away and connect both together test again or u could just try fit an extension to the new one and try deeper . must be sandy soil or a dry position of rod

How do i know if I have an earth rod? Do all houses have one?

 

[brightspark]

How do i know if I have an earth rod? Do all houses have one?

not all. depends on what the supply is and how good the earth is at source in house

 

[Kayos]

It's called TT because for some reason we use the French Terra Terra (earth earth) when we mean an earth spike

God I know some useless stuff...

 

[dobbslc]

If your on a TT system you'll need a 30ma rcd too.
Don't for get to disconnect the earth cable before you measure the rod or you will get a false reading.

the worst I've ever had was up the Yorkshire dales in rocky ground 3 rods needed 1 meter apart

I had to put in 17 rods on one sub station as the required maximum reading was 1ohm.
Broke the pneumatic rod driver as well......

 

[WorkshopChris]

I had to put in 17 rods on one sub station as the required maximum reading was 1ohm.
Broke the pneumatic rod driver as well......

Last time I was working around a sub station the whole area and directly under the base was a huge mesh structure all buried when it was built. Don't know if they still do this.

 

[MrFluffy]

Here they take a earth reading on the spike, and then from the spike to the sockets individually and the total cant exceed 50ohms I think it was. Tales abound of people watering their earths before the test etc so I buried a mesh of rebar under my house and drove in 3 spikes too before we laid the floor like Id do to get the ground plane impedance down for a better radio install, look of surprise on the engineers face at the impedance reading on the test gear when he measured it. He went and recalibrated his meter after the first set of results
We did manage to fail on accumulated impedance because here they test from the earth point of each socket back to the earth and 3 brand new sockets were measuring 2 ohms more than the statutory limit... And being a brit in france doing it myself they measured every single socket in the install...
Better/lower impedance earth will mean your safety devices can be set up to be more sensitive...

 

[anto]

Any opinions on whether this is my problem or something that my electricity provider should be sorting out?

 

[Spark plug]

Any opinions on whether this is my problem or something that my electricity provider should be sorting out?

Your earth is your responsibility, it's part of your system not there's.

 

[Dave3066]

Your earth is your responsibility, it's part of your system not there's.

That depends on who originally provided the earth. If the earth was provided by the DNO (network operator) then they are obliged to maintain it. If it was put in by an electrician (ie a TT system) then it's your responsibility.

 

[brightspark]

That depends on who originally provided the earth. If the earth was provided by the DNO (network operator) then they are obliged to maintain it. If it was put in by an electrician (ie a TT system) then it's your responsibility.

that's not the case. if u cant get the reading even if they supply the earth and its an old supply u need to fit a rod and rcd protection

 

[dobbslc]

I get both extremes of ground conditions here in north London, nice softish London clay then 15 miles further north chalk and flint!

 

[Dave3066]

that's not the case. if u cant get the reading even if they supply the earth and its an old supply u need to fit a rod and rcd protection

The Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations states otherwise:

General requirements for connection with earth
8.—(1) A generator or distributor shall ensure that, so far as is reasonably practicable, his network does not become disconnected from earth in the event of any foreseeable current due to a fault.

This essentially means that if there is an earth there it is the DNO's responsibility to maintain it. Most of them are happy to do so if you cannot achieve a low enough reading. The electrician fitting an earth spike is an unnecessary expense to the customer.

This is an extract from SPEN's LOW VOLTAGE EARTHING POLICY AND APPLICATION GUIDE:

"Where a customer (or their electrical contractor) makes a request for an earth terminal no charge shall be made in cases where it is determined that modernisation of the supply arrangement is required"

This may not be the case for your DNO, but it's worth asking.

 

[Kayos]

The Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations states otherwise:

General requirements for connection with earth
8.—(1) A generator or distributor shall ensure that, so far as is reasonably practicable, his network does not become disconnected from earth in the event of any foreseeable current due to a fault.

This essentially means that if there is an earth there it is the DNO's responsibility to maintain it. Most of them are happy to do so if you cannot achieve a low enough reading. The electrician fitting an earth spike is an unnecessary expense to the customer.

This is an extract from SPEN's LOW VOLTAGE EARTHING POLICY AND APPLICATION GUIDE:

"Where a customer (or their electrical contractor) makes a request for an earth terminal no charge shall be made in cases where it is determined that modernisation of the supply arrangement is required"

This may not be the case for your DNO, but it's worth asking.

Northern power grid charge £200+ to "convert" a supply to TNC

I know it's not suitable in all cases but it's how most newer stuff is setup

 

[brightspark]

had to fiot a 6foot
[QUOTE="Dave3066, omer (or their electrical contractor) makes a request for an earth terminal no charge shall be made in cases where it is determined that modernisation of the supply arrangement is required"

This may not be the case for your DNO, but it's worth asking.[/QUOTE]that's what I said. an old supply and would need the cable upgrading from the road and they would charge for renewing it