ground a fence

[NHN]

What is the easiest way to ground an electric fence to put around a small run? They have a grounding pole at Murdochs but it is over $60.00. There must be an easier way?

 

[patandchickens]

For a normal electric fence, best thing is one or several 6' lengths of galvanized water pipe. Just sledgehammer it in while wearing safety glasses.

For a very short very small fence, you probably do not need an extensive ground, though. (The drier your soil is, the better a grounding system you need). A 4' length of rebar (or galvanized pipe, which will last longer but costs more unless you have scrap) driven most of the way into the soil with a sledge would be FINE for a very small fence.

A $60 ground rod is completely, totally insane

Do make sure you have a GOOD clamp to hold the wire on, though -- a stainless steel (NOT plated) hose clamp will be adequate for a small fence like you seem to be planning. It's really important that the connection be clean, corrosion-free, and TIGHT. Otherwise the ground rod does you little or no *good*.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[NHN]

Thank you so much! So just wrapping the wire around the ground pole will not work?

 

[MIKE555444]

Quote:
Nope.. you want it clamped tight for a sufficient ground

 

[patandchickens]

What Mike said.

Indeed, one of the commonest causes of an electric fence not working well (or at all) is poor electrical connections throughout. Just wrapping things around things, or looping them together, or that sort of casual thing, does not work well. (It will also cause interference on AM radios in the vicinity). Use clamps when possible, otherwise use PROPER electrical connections e.g. well-constructed underwriters' knots etc.

This will save you a LOT of time and aggravation in troubleshooting problems or, worse, replacing part of your flock when something gets past the supposedly electrified fence

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[twentynine]

Run the ground wire to the net wire fence. Contact between the fence and the charged conductor will produce the zap. No ground rod at all is needed.

$60 for a ground rod. That is crazy!!!!!

I'm gonna look at the TSC catalog. Be back in a minute.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
You can do this, but just two notes: 1) you still need a really good connection, not just something looped around something else, and all your fence mesh has to be contiguous and conductive; and 2) it does not work as well as a normally-grounded fence, because the animal ONLY gets zapped when it touches BOTH the hotwire AND the mesh fence. Although you can arrange things so it's pretty inevitable at some point if an animal is climbing the fence, it will usually get shocked later than with the other arrangement. IMO it is generally preferable to have a normal ground so the animal gets zapped sooner and runs away sooner, before getting as invested in exploring the possibilities of getting in.

That arrangement can be real useful on very dry or frozen ground, though, when a normal grounding system might not give much of a zap.

Pat

 

[twentynine]

Here's one at Do-it center hardware $21

http://doitbest.com/Ground+Rods-Erico-model-815880UPC-doitbest-sku-502156.dib

You may not have a Do-it center hardware anywhere around you but the point is you can get a rod for lots less money than $60