How to make grounding in the country: do-it-yourself grounding with metal parts. How to make grounding in a private house with your own hands How to make a ground loop

Or a country cottage is always associated with a large amount of electrical work. In this range of tasks, along with the power supply to the house, the installation of distribution and protective equipment, the laying of internal lines, a well-planned and executed grounding system is no less important. Unfortunately, when carrying out " samostroy"Inexperienced owners quite often forget about this moment or even deliberately ignore it, trying to achieve some kind of false savings in money and labor costs.

Meanwhile, the grounding system is extremely important - it can prevent many troubles that can lead to very sad or even tragic consequences. According to existing rules, electricians will not connect the house to the power line if this system is not in the house or it does not meet the necessary requirements. And the owner, one way or another, will have to decide how to make grounding in the country.

In modern urban buildings, a ground loop is necessarily provided for at the design stage of the building and its internal communications. The owner of private housing will have to decide this issue himself - to invite specialists or try to do everything with his own hands. There is no need to be afraid - all this is a completely feasible task.

Why is a ground loop needed?

In order to understand the importance of grounding, basic concepts from a school physics course are enough.

The vast majority of private houses are powered by a single-phase network alternating current 220 volt . The electrical circuit necessary for the operation of all devices or installations is provided by the presence of two conductors - in fact, a phase and a neutral wire.

The design of all electrical appliances, tools, household and other appliances provides for insulation elements and protective devices that should prevent voltage from entering conductive housings or casings. Nevertheless, the probability of such a phenomenon is never excluded - the insulation can be a discharge, burn out from unreliable, sparking contacts in wire connections, circuit elements, etc. can fail. In this case, the phase voltage can get on the device case, touching which becomes extremely dangerous for humans.

Of particular danger are situations if next to such a faulty device there are metal objects that have the so-called natural grounding - heating risers, plumbing or gas pipes, open elements of reinforcement of building structures and etc.. At the slightest touch to them, the chain can close, and a deadly current will pass through the human body towards a lower potential. Such situations are no less dangerous if a person stands barefoot or in wet shoes on a wet floor or ground - there are also all the prerequisites for shorting the AC circuit from the device case.

One of the pronounced properties of the electric current is that it will necessarily choose a conductor with minimal resistance. This means that it is necessary to create in advance a line with a minimum resistance and zero potential, along which, in the event of a breakdown, the voltage will be safely discharged to the case.

The resistance of the human body is a variable value, depending on individual characteristics, and even on the temporary state of a person. In electrical practice, this value is usually taken as 1000 ohms (1 kOhm). Therefore, the resistance of the ground loop should be many times lower. There is a complex system of calculations, but usually they operate with values of 30 ohms for a household electrical network of a private house and 10 ohms if grounding is also used as lightning protection.

It may be objected that all problems can be completely solved by installing special protective devices (RCDs). But for correct operation, grounding is also a necessity. If even the slightest current leakage occurs, the circuit will close almost instantly and the device will work, turning off the dangerous section of the home electrical network.

Some owners are under the prejudice that it is enough to use plumbing or heating pipes for grounding. This is extremely dangerous and absolutely unreliable. Firstly, it is impossible to guarantee effective voltage dissipation - pipes can be heavily oxidized and not have good enough contact with the ground, and besides, they often have plastic sections. It does not exclude electric shock when touching them in the event of a power failure to the case, and neighbors may also be exposed to such a danger.

Most modern electrical appliances are immediately equipped with a power cable with a three-prong plug. Appropriate sockets must also be installed when carrying out wiring work in the house. (Some older appliances have a ground terminal on the case instead.)

There is a strictly defined color "pinout" of wires: the blue wire is definitely "zero", the phase can have different colors, from white to black, and the ground wire is always yellow-green.

And now, knowing this, some “wise” owners, wanting to save money on updating the wiring and organizing a full-fledged grounding, simply make jumpers in the sockets between the zero contact and the ground. However, this does not solve the problem, but rather exacerbates it. Under certain conditions, for example, in case of burnout or poor contact of the working zero in some section of the circuit, or in case of accidental phase reversal, a phase potential will appear on the instrument case, and this can happen in the most unexpected place in the house. The danger of electric shock increases many times in such a situation.

Grounding is a reliable protection against many troubles.

The conclusion from all of the above is that grounding is an indispensable structural element of the home electrical network. It immediately performs the following functions:

Efficient discharge of voltage leakage from conductive parts, touching which can cause electric shock.
Equalization of potentials in all objects in the house, for example, grounded appliances and pipes for heating, water supply, gas supply.
Ensuring the correct operation of all installed systems and safety devices - fuses, .
Grounding is also important in preventing the accumulation of static charge on the housings of household appliances.
It is of particular importance for modern electronics, especially computer technology. For example, the operation of switching power supplies for computers is very often accompanied by voltage induction on the cases of system units. Any discharge can lead to failure of electronic elements, malfunctions, loss of information.

Now that the importance of the grounding system has been clarified, we can move on to the question of how to make it in a private house on your own.

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Protective automation

What are the grounding systems in private homes

So, a well-executed grounding system should provide reliable contact with zero ground potential and with the lowest possible resistance of the created circuit. However, gruent -gruntat discord - its different types seriously differ from each other in resistivity:

Soil type	soil resistivity (ohm × m)
Sand (when the groundwater level is below 5 m)	1000
Sand (when the groundwater level is above 5 m)	500
Fertile soil (chernozem)	200
Wet sandy loam	150
Semi-hard or forest-like loam	100
Chalk or semi-hard clay	60
Graphite schist, clayey marl	50
Plastic loam	30
Plastic clay or peat	20
underground aquifers	from 5 to 50

Obviously, those layers that have the lowest resistivity are, as a rule, located at a considerable depth. But even when the electrode is deepened, the results obtained may not be enough. This problem is solved in several ways - from increasing the depth of installation of pin electrodes, to increasing their number, the distance between them or the total area of contact with the ground. In practice, several basic schemes are most often used:

Scheme "a" - installation of a buried metal closed loop around the perimeter of the house. As an option - shallowly hammered pins connected by a bus around the ring.

In suburban construction, it is used infrequently due to the large amount of earthworks or due to the peculiarities of the location of buildings on the site.

Scheme "b" is perhaps the most popular among owners of suburban housing. Three or more moderately buried pin electrodes connected by one bus - this design is easy to do on your own, even in a limited space.
The diagram "c" shows grounding with one electrode installed at a great depth. Sometimes such a system is arranged even in the basement of a building. The scheme is convenient, but not always feasible - it is almost impossible to implement it on rocky soils. In addition, for such a grounding system, you need to use special electrodes - we will talk about it a little lower.
Scheme "g" is quite convenient, but only if it was thought out at the design stage of the house, and executed during the pouring of the foundation. Bringing it to life on a finished building will be extremely unprofitable.

So, the easiest way to implement with minimal cost schemes "b" or, if possible, "c".

Grounding using homemade metal parts

To make this type of grounding system, you will need metal profiles, a welding machine, earthwork tools, a sledgehammer. In some cases, with complex dense soils, a hand drill may be required.

Schematically, this system looks like this:

Location buried electrodes is selected in such a way that it is most convenient to bring the ground bus to the switchboard. The optimal distance from the house is 3-6 meters. Permissible limits are no closer than one meter and no further than ten.

The dimensions indicated on the diagram are by no means some kind of dogma. So, the side of the triangle can be up to three meters in length, and the depth of driving the pin can be somewhat smaller - 2.0 ÷ 2.5 m. The number of electrodes can also change - if the soil is dense and it is not possible to drive the pins to a great depth, you can increase their number.

Sound advice is to contact your local power supply in advance for recommendations on the implementation of a ground loop. These specialists probably have well-thought-out and tested schemes in this region. In addition, they will be able to help calculate the dimensions based on the planned load of the home electrical network - this also matters.

What can serve as electrodes? For these purposes, a steel corner with a shelf of 50 × 50 mm and a thickness of at least 4 ÷ 5 mm is most often used. Pipes can be used, preferably galvanized with a wall thickness of at least 3.5 mm. It is possible to take a steel strip with a cross-sectional area of the order of 48 mm² (12 × 4), but it is more difficult to drive it vertically into the ground. If it is decided to use a steel bar, now and then it is better to take galvanized, with a diameter of at least 10 mm.

To tie the pins into one loop, use a 40 × 4 mm strip or 12 - 14 mm wire rod. The same material is suitable for laying the ground bus to the point of its entry into the house.

So, initially marking is done at the chosen place.

Then it is advisable to dig a small pit of the intended shape to a depth of 1 meter. The minimum depth is 0.5 m. At the same time, a trench is dug to the same depth - a ground bus will go along it from the contour to the basement of the house.

The task can be somewhat simplified by digging not a continuous pit, but only trenches along the perimeter of the contour being created. The main thing is that their width allows for free plugging of electrodes and welding.

Prepare electrodes of the desired length. The edge with which they will be driven into the ground must be sharpened with a grinder, cutting it at an angle. The metal must be clean, unpainted.

In the designated places, the electrodes are driven into the ground using a sledgehammer or an electric hammer. They are deepened so that in the pit (trench) they protrude above the surface level by about 200 mm.

After all the electrodes are clogged, they are connected with a common bus (horizontal ground electrode) from a metal strip 40 × 4 mm. Only welding is applicable here, although you can find recommendations to get by with a bolted connection. No, in order to ensure reliable and durable grounding, this harness must be welded - the threaded contact located underground will quickly oxidize, the resistance of the circuit will increase sharply.

Now you can lay a tire from the same lane to the foundation of the house. The busbar is welded into one of the clogged electrodes and placed in a trench, then it enters the basement of the building.
The tire is attached to the plinth. Not shown in the figure, but it is advisable to provide a slight bend in front of the attachment point, so-called"compensation hump" to compensate for the linear expansion of the metal during temperature changes. At the end of the strip, a bolt with an M10 thread is welded. A copper terminal with a ground wire will be attached to it, which will go to the switchboard.

To pass the wire through the wall or through the base, a hole is drilled and a plastic sleeve is inserted into it. The wire is copper, with a cross section of 16 or 25 mm² (it is better to check this parameter with specialists in advance). It is also better to use copper nuts and washers for connection.

Sometimes they do it differently - a long steel pin is welded to the tire, so that it passes through the wall of the house, also through the sleeve. In this case, the terminal part will be in the room and will be less susceptible to oxidation under the influence of high humidity.

Bronze distribution plate for ground wires

The ground wire is connected to the electrical switchboard. For further “distribution”, it is best to use a special plate made of electrical bronze - all ground wires going to consumption points will be attached to it.

Do not rush to immediately fill the mounted circuit with soil.

- It is recommended, firstly, to capture it in a photograph with reference to the surrounding stationary ground objects - this may be required to make changes to project documentation, as well as for carrying out control and verification activities in the future.

- Secondly, it is necessary to check the resistance of the resulting circuit. For these purposes, it is better to invite specialists from the energy supply organization, especially since their call, one way or another, will be necessary to obtain permits.

If the test results show that the resistance is high, it will be necessary to add one more or even more vertical electrodes. Sometimes, before checking, they also go for tricks, abundantly watering the places near the corners nailed into the ground with a saturated solution of ordinary table salt. This will certainly improve performance, however, do not forget that salt activates metal corrosion.

By the way, if you can’t hammer in the corners, then they resort to drilling wells to the desired depth. After installing the electrodes, they are filled with clay soil with the highest possible density, into which they are also mixed with salt.

After the operability of the ground loop has been verified, it is necessary to treat the welds with an anti-corrosion compound. The same can be done with the bus going to the building. Then, after the mastic has dried, the pit and trenches are covered with soil. It should be homogeneous, not littered and without crushed stone inclusions. Then the place of backfilling is carefully compacted.

Video: installation of a ground loop using a metal corner

Use of ready-made factory kits

Prefabricated ready-made kits are very convenient for organizing grounding in the country. They are a set of pins with couplings that allow you to increase the depth of immersion into the ground as you drive.

This grounding system provides for the installation of one pin electrode, but to a greater depth, from 6 and even up to 15 meters.

The kit usually includes:

Steel pins 1500 mm long with a galvanized or copper-plated surface, or made of stainless steel. The diameter of the pieces may vary in different sets - from 14 to 18 mm.

For their connection, they are equipped with threaded couplings, and for the convenience of penetration through the ground, a steel tip is included in the kit.

In some kits, the couplings are not threaded, but pressing. In this case, one end of the grounding pin is tapered by forging and has a ribbed surface. During impact, a strong connection occurs and a reliable electrical contact between the rods is achieved.

To transfer the impact, a special nozzle (dowel) made of high-strength steel is provided, which will not be deformed by the impact of the hammer.

Nagel - a nozzle that will transmit the impact force from the hammer

Some kits provide for a special adapter that allows you to use a powerful hammer drill as a driving tool.

To install such a grounding system, it is also advisable to dig a small pit up to a meter deep and the same in diameter, although some even prefer outdoor placement.

The pins are sequentially driven in with an extension to the desired depth.

Then left on the surface section (about 200 mm) a brass contact clamp is put on.

Either a conductive bus made of a metal strip is inserted into it, or a ground cable with a cross section of 25 square meters is immediately inserted. mm. For connection with a steel strip, a special gasket is provided, which does not allow for electrochemical contact between the ground of the rod and steel (zinc). In the future, the bus or cable is brought into the house and connected to the switchboard in the same way as described above.

Video: driving stick electrodes manually

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Accessories for lightning protection and grounding

What type of rod coating to choose - galvanized or copper-plated?

From the point of view of economy, galvanizing with a thin layer (from 5 to 30 microns) is more profitable. These pins are not afraid of mechanical damage during installation, even deep scratches left do not affect the degree of protection of iron. However, zinc is a fairly reactive metal, and while protecting the iron, it oxidizes itself. Over time, when the entire zinc layer has reacted, the iron remains unprotected and is quickly “eaten away” by corrosion. The service life of such elements usually does not exceed 15 years. And making the zinc coating thicker costs a lot of money.

Copper, on the contrary, without entering into reactions, protects the iron it closes, which is more active from the point of view of chemistry. Such electrodes can serve for a very long time without sacrificing efficiency, for example, the manufacturer guarantees their safety in loamy soil up to 100 years. But during installation, care should be taken - in places where the copper plating layer is damaged, a corrosion area will most likely occur. To reduce the likelihood of this, the copper plating layer is made thick enough, up to 200 microns, so such pins are much more expensive than conventional galvanized ones.

What are the general advantages of such a grounding system kit with one deep-seated electrode:

Installation is not particularly difficult. No bulky earthworks are required, no welding machine is needed - everything is done with a common tool that is in every home.
The system is very compact, it can be placed on a tiny "patch" or even in the basement of the house.
If copper-plated electrodes are used, then the service life of such grounding will be calculated in several tens of years.
Due to good contact with the ground, a minimum electrical resistance is achieved. In addition, the efficiency of the system is practically not affected by seasonal conditions. The level of soil freezing accounts for no more than 10% of the electrode length, and winter temperatures cannot adversely affect conductivity in any way.

Of course, there are also disadvantages:

This type of grounding cannot be implemented on rocky soils - most likely, it will not be possible to drive the electrodes to the required depth.
Perhaps someone will be scared away by the price of the kit. However, this is a question With with porn, since high-quality rolled metal for a conventional grounding scheme is also expensive. If we add the duration of operation, the simplicity and speed of installation, the absence of the need for a specialized tool, then, quite possibly, such an approach to solving the problem of grounding may seem even more promising from the point of view of efficiency.

Video: how to make grounding in a country house using a modular pin system

Operation of modern household and computer equipment without grounding is fraught with its failure. In a significant part of our country, especially in rural areas, there are old-style power transmission systems. They do not provide for the presence of protective grounding or they are in such a state that they simply do not meet the requirements of electrical safety. Therefore, the owners have to do the grounding of a private house or cottage themselves.

What does it give

Protective grounding is necessary to ensure electrical safety in the house. Properly performed, the appearance of a leakage current leads to the immediate operation of the RCD (damage to the electrical insulation or when touching live parts). This is the main and main task of this system.

The second function of grounding is to ensure the normal operation of electrical equipment. For some electrical appliances, the presence of a protective wire in the socket (if any) is not enough. A direct connection to the ground bus is required. For this, there are usually special clips on the case. If we talk about household appliances, then this is a microwave oven, oven and washing machine.

The main task of grounding is to ensure the electrical safety of a frequent home.

Few people know, but a microwave oven without a direct connection to the "ground" during operation can significantly emit radiation, receiving a radiation level can be life-threatening. In some models, a special terminal can be seen on the back wall, although the instructions usually contain only one phrase: “grounding is required” without specifying exactly how it is desirable to do it.

When touched with wet hands to the body washing machine tingling is often felt. It's harmless, but annoying. You can get rid of it by connecting the "ground" directly to the case. In the case of the oven, the situation is similar. Even if it doesn't 'sting', a direct connection is safer, as the wiring inside the unit is subject to very harsh conditions.

With computers, the situation is even more interesting. By directly connecting the "ground" wire to the case, you can increase the speed of the Internet several times and minimize the number of "freezes". It's so simple because of the presence of a direct connection to the ground bus.

Do I need grounding in the country or in a wooden house

In holiday villages, it is necessary to make grounding. Especially if the house is built of combustible material - wood or frame. It's about thunderstorms. There are a lot of elements that attract lightning in summer cottages. These are wells, wells, pipelines lying on the surface or buried to a minimum depth. All these objects attract lightning.

If there is no lightning rod and grounding, a lightning strike is almost tantamount to a fire. There is no fire station nearby, so the fire will spread very quickly. Therefore, together with grounding, also make a lightning rod - at least a couple of meter-long rods attached to the ridge and connected with a steel wire to grounding.

Grounding systems of a private house

There are six systems in total, but in individual developments, mainly only two are used: TN-S-C and TT. In recent years, the TN-S-C system has been recommended. In this scheme, the neutral at the substation is solidly grounded, and the equipment has direct contact with the ground. To the consumer, earth (PE) and neutral / zero (N) are conducted by one conductor (PEN), and at the entrance to the house it is again divided into two separate ones.

With such a system, a sufficient degree of protection is provided by automatic devices (RCDs are not required). The disadvantage is that if the PEN wire burns out or is damaged in the area between the house and the substation, a phase voltage appears on the earth bus in the house, which is not turned off by anything. Therefore, the PUE imposes strict requirements on such a line: there must be mandatory mechanical protection of the PEN wire, as well as periodic backup grounding on poles every 200 m or 100 m.

However, many transmission lines in rural areas do not meet these conditions. In this case, the TT system is recommended. Also, this scheme should be used in free-standing open outbuildings with an earthen floor. They have a risk of touching the ground and the ground at the same time, which can be dangerous in a TN-S-C system.

The difference is that the "ground" wire to the shield comes from an individual ground loop, and not from a transformer substation, as in the previous diagram. Such a system is resistant to damage to the protective wire, but requires the mandatory installation of an RCD. Without them, there is no protection against electric shock. Therefore, the PUE defines it only as a backup if the existing line does not meet the requirements of the TN-S-C system.

Grounding device of a private house

Some older transmission lines do not have a protective earth at all. All of them should change, but when this will happen is an open question. If you have just such a case, you need to make a separate circuit. There are two options - to make grounding in a private house or in the country on your own, with your own hands, or to entrust the execution of the campaign. Campaign services are expensive, but there is an important plus: if during operation there are problems caused by improper functioning of the grounding system, the company that performed the installation will compensate for the damage (should be written in the contract, read carefully). In the case of self-execution, everything is on you.

The grounding system of a private house consists of:

grounding pins,
metal strips that combine them into one system;
lines from the ground loop to .

What to make ground electrodes

As pins, you can use a metal rod with a diameter of 16 mm or more. Moreover, it is impossible to take reinforcement: its surface is hardened, which changes the current distribution. Also, the red-hot layer in the ground is destroyed faster. The second option is a metal corner with 50 mm shelves. These materials are good because they can be hammered into soft ground with a sledgehammer. To make this easier to do, one end is pointed, and a platform is welded to the second, which is easier to hit.

Sometimes metal pipes are used, one edge of which is flattened (welded) into a cone. Holes are drilled in their lower part (about half a meter from the edge). When the soil dries out, the distribution of the leakage current deteriorates significantly, and such rods can be filled with saline, restoring the operation of the ground. The disadvantage of this method is that you have to dig / drill wells under each rod - you won’t be able to hammer them with a sledgehammer to the desired depth.

Depth of driving pins

Ground rods should go into the ground at least 60-100 cm below the freezing depth. In regions with dry summers, it is desirable that the rods be at least partially in moist soil. Therefore, mainly corners or a rod 2-3 m long are used. Such dimensions provide a sufficient area of \u200b\u200bcontact with the ground, which creates normal conditions for dissipating leakage currents.

What Not to Do

The job of a protective earth is to dissipate leakage currents over a large area. This happens due to the tight contact of metal ground electrodes - pins and strips - with the ground. That's why grounding elements are never painted. This greatly reduces the conductance between the metal and the ground, the protection becomes ineffective. Corrosion at welding points can be prevented with anti-corrosion compounds, but not with paint.

The second important point: grounding should have low resistance, and good contact is very important for this. It is provided by welding. All joints are welded, and the quality of the seam must be high, without cracks, cavities and other defects. Once again, pay attention: grounding in a private house cannot be done on threaded connections. Over time, the metal oxidizes, breaks down, the resistance increases many times, the protection deteriorates or does not work at all.

It is very unreasonable to use pipelines or other metal structures that are in the ground as a ground electrode. For some time, such grounding in a private house works. But over time, the pipe joints, due to electrochemical corrosion activated by leakage currents, oxidize and collapse, the grounding turns out to be inoperative, as well as the pipeline. Therefore, it is better not to use such types of ground electrodes.

How to do it right

First, let's deal with the shape of the ground electrode. The most popular is in the form of an equilateral triangle, at the tops of which pins are clogged. There is also a linear arrangement (the same three pieces, only in a line) and in the form of a contour - the pins are hammered around the house in increments of about 1 meter (for houses with an area of more than 100 sq. M). The pins are interconnected by metal strips - a metal bond.

Procedure

From the edge of the house to the installation site, the pin should be at least 1.5 meters. In the selected area, they dig a trench in the form of an equilateral triangle with a side of 3 m. The depth of the trench is 70 cm, the width is 50-60 cm - so that it is convenient to cook. One of the peaks, usually located closer to the house, is connected to the house by a trench having a depth of at least 50 cm.

At the vertices of the triangle, pins are hammered (a round bar or a corner 3 m long). About 10 cm are left above the bottom of the pit. Please note that the ground electrode is not brought to the surface of the earth. It is located below the ground level by 50-60 cm.

A metal bond is welded to the protruding parts of the rods / corners - a strip of 40 * 4 mm. The created grounding conductor with the house is connected with a metal strip (40 * 4 mm) or a round conductor (section 10-16 mm 2). A strip with a metal triangle created is also welded. When everything is ready, the welding spots are cleaned of slag, coated with an anti-corrosion compound (not paint).

After checking the ground resistance (in the general case, it should not exceed 4 ohms), the trenches are covered with earth. There should be no large stones or construction debris in the soil, the earth is compacted in layers.

At the entrance to the house, a bolt is welded to the metal strip from the ground electrode, to which a copper conductor in insulation is attached (traditionally, the color of the ground wires is yellow with a green stripe) with a core cross section of at least 4 mm 2.

Ground outlet at the wall of the house with a bolt welded on the end

In the electrical panel, grounding is connected to a special bus. Moreover, only on a special platform, polished to a shine and lubricated with grease. From this bus, the "ground" is connected to each line that is bred around the house. Moreover, the wiring of the "ground" with a separate conductor according to the PUE is unacceptable - only as part of a common cable. This means that if your wiring is wired with two-wire wires, you will have to completely change it.

Why you can not make separate grounding

Redoing the wiring throughout the house, of course, is long and expensive, but if you want to operate modern electrical appliances and household appliances without any problems, this is necessary. Separate grounding of certain outlets is inefficient and even dangerous. And that's why. The presence of two or more such devices sooner or later leads to the output of the equipment included in these sockets. The thing is that the resistance of the contours depends on the condition of the soil in each particular place. In some situation, a potential difference occurs between two grounding devices, which leads to equipment failure or electrical injury.

Modular pin system

All devices described earlier - from hammered corners, pipes and rods - are called traditional. Their disadvantage is a large amount of land work and a large area that is required when installing a ground electrode system. This is because a certain area of contact of the pins with the ground is necessary, sufficient to ensure the normal "spreading" of the current. The need for welding can also cause complexity - it is impossible to connect the grounding elements in another way. But the advantage of this system is relatively low costs. If you do traditional grounding in a private house with your own hands, it will cost a maximum of $ 100. This is if you buy all the metal and pay for welding, and carry out the rest of the work yourself

A few years ago, modular pin (pin) systems appeared. This is a set of pins that are hammered to a depth of up to 40 m. That is, a very long ground electrode is obtained, which goes to a depth. Fragments of the pin are connected to each other using special clamps, which not only fix them, but also provide a high-quality electrical connection.

The advantage of modular grounding is a small area and less work that is required. A small pit is required with sides of 60 * 60 cm and a depth of 70 cm, a trench connecting the ground electrode with the house. The pins are long and thin, it is not difficult to drive them into suitable soil. This is where we came to the main disadvantage: the depth is large, and if you meet, for example, a stone on the way, you will have to start over. And removing the rods is a problem. They are not welded, but whether the clamp will withstand or not is a question.

The second disadvantage is the high price. Together with the installation, such grounding will cost you $ 300-500. Self-installation is problematic, since it will not work to hammer these rods with a sledgehammer. We need a special pneumatic tool, which we learned to replace with a percussion hammer. It is also necessary to check the resistance after each clogged rod. But if you don't want to mess with welding and earthworks, a modular grounding pin is a good option.

The ground loop is a device that is designed to ground various parts of electrical equipment. The grounding device is extremely important for the safety of residents. Often when buying suburban area or during the construction of the cottage, the owner has problems installing the charger. However, in reality, there is nothing complicated here.

Circuit operating conditions

The efficiency of the circuit is strongly influenced by factors such as soil properties, quality, quantity and depth of electrodes. Therefore, before making a ground loop, it is necessary to determine the quality of the soil.

The memory works great in peat soils, wet clay and loam. But in rocky and stone rocks, it does not function.

Preparation

To install a ground loop, you will need:

steel corner or electrodes;
steel strip.

It is necessary to dig a trench in the form of a triangle with sides of 3 meters each next to the introductory shield of the house. The width and depth of the ditch should be on average half a meter. Grounding must necessarily be located below the freezing point of the soil, otherwise it stops working. The top of the triangle should face the house.

Circuit setting

Steel angles will serve as vertical ground electrodes in the structure.

The length of such a corner should be about 3 meters. One of its ends must first be sharpened. On the three peaks of the completed triangular trench, it is necessary to drive in the corners. (Sharpening is necessary to facilitate the work).

Now it remains only to weld a steel strip around the perimeter to them, and the contour is ready. But this is only the grounding device itself. In order for it to work, it must also be connected to the power shield of the house. Therefore, from the top of the triangle to the power shield, it is necessary to dig an additional trench. Along this groove, using a steel strip, it is necessary to connect the circuit to the shield. The trench is covered with soil.

Grounding resistance must be no higher than 4 ohms. It can be measured with an ohm meter. Often, for greater efficiency, two circuits are made, which are then connected into one and also brought to the shield.

Final details

Instead of steel angles, you can also use special rods designed specifically for contouring. When choosing angle and sheet steel, it is important to pay attention to its cross-sectional area. It must be over 150 sq. mm. The steel pipe must have a diameter greater than 32 mm.

The ground electrode, regardless of the material from which it is made, must not be less than 2 meters in length. In this case, there should be no coatings on the surface of the electrode. Ordinary paint can make the electrode unsuitable for the circuit.

For electrodes, steel rods and angles are most often used. However, in some cases, the use of copper and steel in a copper coating is acceptable.

The ground loop is necessary for protection against electric shock. Although completely, of course, it does not guarantee the safety of residents. In order to enhance the action of the charger, you can increase the number of ground electrodes by driving in an additional 2-3 corners.

In private houses, you can install a circuit in the foundation. As a rule, with the correct design of the house, the ground loop is made exactly there, and then it is led through the fittings to the switchboard. However, if the memory was not planned in advance, then it can be done even in the garden. At the same time, it will be completely safe to work nearby. In the event of a sudden current hit, the charge will instantly dissipate in the ground. Good place for contour and subfloor.

For complete safety, it is also desirable to install an RCD. These are protective devices.

The main element of ensuring the safety of electrical installations is protective grounding. Related systems: automatic protective switches, fuses, lightning protection - cannot function in its absence, and become useless.

What is grounding

This is a complex consisting of metal structures and conductors, which provides electrical contact between the electrical installation housing and the physical earth, that is, with the ground. The system starts with a ground electrode: a metal electrode grounded into the ground. These elements cannot be single; for reliability, they are combined into a ground loop.

How it works

The external ground loop (which is located directly in the ground) is connected using a reliable conductor to the internal loop in the room, or to the ground shield. Further, with the help of an internal network of protective conductors, a connection is made to the housings of electrical installations, and grounding contacts on switching devices (switchboards, boxes, sockets, etc.).

Devices that generate electricity also have a grounding system to which the neutral bus is connected. In the event of an emergency (the phase is connected to the body of the electrical installation), an electrical circuit occurs between the phase conductor and the neutral bus along the ground line. The current in the emergency circuit increases spontaneously, the residual current device (circuit breaker) trips or the fuse link blows.

The result of a working system:

the power cable does not ignite (fire hazard);
the possibility of electric shock when touching the emergency housing of the electrical installation is prevented.

The resistance of the human body is ten times higher than the ground resistance. Therefore, the current strength (in the presence of a phase on the body of the electrical installation) will not reach a life-threatening value.

What is grounding

External ground loop. It is located outside the premises, directly in the ground. It is a spatial structure of electrodes (ground electrodes) interconnected by an inseparable conductor.
Internal ground loop. Conductive bus located inside the building. Covers the perimeter of each room. All electrical installations are connected to this device. Instead of an internal circuit, a ground shield can be installed.
Grounding conductors. Connecting lines designed to connect electrical installations directly to the ground electrode system, or to an internal ground loop.

Consider these components in more detail.

External, or external contour

The installation of the ground loop depends on the external conditions. Before starting the calculation and making a design drawing, it is necessary to know the parameters of the soil in which the ground electrodes will be installed. If you have built a house yourself, these characteristics are known. Otherwise, it is better to call surveyors to get an opinion on the ground.

What are the soils, and how do they affect the quality of grounding? Approximate resistivity of each soil type. The lower it is, the better the conductivity.

Plastic clay, peat = 20–30 Ωm m
Plastic loam, ash soils, ash, classic garden soil = 30–40 Ohm m
Chernozem, shale, semi-hard clay = 50–60 Ohm m

This is the best environment to install an external ground loop. Current spreading resistance will be quite low even at low moisture content. And in these soils natural humidity usually above average.

Semi-solid loam, mixture of clay and sand, wet sandy loam - 100–150 Ohm m

The resistance is slightly higher, but with normal humidity, the grounding parameters will not go beyond the standards. If prolonged dry weather sets in in the installation region, it is necessary to take measures to forcibly moisten the installation sites of the ground electrodes.

Clay gravel, sandy loam, wet (permanent) sand = 300–500 ohm m

Gravel, rock, dry sand - even with high overall humidity, grounding in such soil will be ineffective. To comply with the regulations, it is necessary to install deep ground electrodes.

Important! Incorrect calculation of the ground loop, ignoring the parameters, often lead to sad results: electric shock, equipment failure, cable fire.

Many owners of objects, saving "on matches", simply do not understand why a ground loop is needed. Its task, when connecting the phase to the ground, is to ensure the maximum value of the short circuit current. Only in this case, the residual current devices will quickly operate. This cannot be achieved if the current flow resistance is high.

Having decided on the soil, you can choose the type, and most importantly, the size of the ground electrodes. Preliminary calculation of parameters can be performed using the formula:

The calculation is given for vertically installed earthing switches.

Deciphering the formula values:

R0 - the resistance of one ground electrode (electrode) obtained after calculation in ohms.
Req - soil resistivity, see information above.
L is the total length of each electrode in the circuit.
d is the diameter of the electrode (if the section is round).
T is the calculated distance from the center of the electrode to the earth's surface.

By setting known data, as well as changing the ratio of values, you should achieve a value for one electrode of the order of 30 ohms.

If the installation of vertical grounding is not possible (due to the quality of the soil), it is possible to calculate the resistance value of horizontal grounding.

Important! Installation of a horizontal circuit is more laborious and is associated with increased material consumption. In addition, such grounding is highly dependent on seasonal weather.

Therefore, it is better to spend more time hammering vertical rods than to follow the barometer and air humidity.

And yet we give the formula for calculating horizontal ground electrodes.

Accordingly, the decoding of additional values:

Rv - the resistance of one ground electrode (electrode) obtained after calculation in ohms.
b - the width of the electrode - ground electrode.
ψ - coefficient depending on the weather season. The data can be taken from the table:

ɳГ is the so-called demand factor for horizontal electrodes. Without going into details, we get the numbers from the table in the illustration:

A preliminary calculation of the resistance is necessary not only for the correct planning of material purchases: although it will be a shame if you do not have enough to complete the work, a couple of meters of the electrode, and several tens of kilometers to the store. A more or less neatly drawn up plan, calculations and drawings will be useful for solving bureaucratic issues: when signing documents on the acceptance of an object, or drawing up technical specifications with an energy sales company.

Of course, no engineer will sign papers only on the basis of even beautifully executed drawings. Spreading resistance measurements will be made.

Work technology

We choose the location of the ground electrodes. Of course, not far from the house (object), so that you do not have to lay a long conductor, which will have to be mechanically protected. It is desirable that the entire area of \u200b\u200bthe contour is located in the territory that you control (are the owner). So that at one fine moment, your protective "earth" is not dug up by a drunken excavator. So we will not hammer the pins behind the fence.

A garden is suitable (with the exception of a potato bed), a front garden, a flower bed near the house. Cultivated areas are preferred, they are regularly watered. And additional moisture in the ground will benefit grounding. If your soil has low resistivity, you can install grounding on the site, which will then be covered with asphalt or tiles. Under artificial turf the earth does not dry out. And the risk of damaging the ground loop is minimal.

Of course, it is necessary to take into account future plans. If a garage with a viewing hole appears at the installation site of the circuit in a year, it is better to immediately choose a quieter place.

Depending on the shape of the site, we choose the order of the electrodes: in a line, or in a triangle.

Important! Regardless of the location, there must be at least three vertical ground electrodes.

If a triangle is selected, we mark out a platform of the appropriate shape with sides of 2.5–3 meters. We dig a trench in the shape of an equilateral triangle to a depth of 70–100 cm, a width of 50–70 cm. We know that all ground electrodes are interconnected. The conductor must be deepened to a distance of at least 50 cm, taking into account the minimum ground level (for example, digging up beds). If a coating is laid on top, its thickness is not taken into account. Only clean soil.

You can select the entire soil, not only along the perimeter of the trench. A triangular pit with a depth of 0.7–1.0 m will be obtained. The finished contour can be covered with soil with low resistivity. For example, ash or ashes. Salts will penetrate into the ground, and will help reduce the overall resistance to current spreading.

After that, at the corners of the pit (trench), we begin to clog the electrodes.

Grounding parameters (we consider the vertical arrangement)

Steel without galvanized coating:

Circle - diameter 16 mm.

Pipe - diameter 32 mm.

Rectangle or corner - cross-sectional area 100 mm².

Steel galvanized

Circle - diameter 12 mm.

Pipe - diameter 25 mm.

Rectangle or corner - cross-sectional area 75 mm².

Circle - diameter 12 mm.

Pipe - diameter 20 mm.

Rectangle or corner - cross-sectional area 50 mm².

The soil should tightly fit the metal surface of the ground electrode. It is forbidden to paint the electrodes!

But what if, according to calculations, the length of each of the three electrodes exceeds 1.5–2 meters? There are little secrets.

We connect the electrodes with a conductor. If the reinforcement is steel, welding is best. Copper rods are connected with a bolted tie, the conductor must have a cross section of at least 30% of the cross section of the electrodes.

After assembling the circuit, we measure the resistance to current spreading. Requirements for the ground loop for individual housing - 10 ohms. It is better to entrust the measurement to certified specialists who have the appropriate equipment. Moreover, when receiving technical specifications from power engineers, you still have to provide a grounding system for measurements. If the resistance is above the norm, add electrodes and weld them to the circuit. Until we get the norm.

Ground loop inside the object

As a rule, this is a steel tire laid in an open way along the inner surface of the walls, near the floor.

In individual residential buildings installation of an internal ground loop is not carried out. Due to the low hazard class of the premises, and a small number of electrical installations. Instead of an internal circuit, a grounding shield, or main grounding bus (GHSh), is installed.

The shield is connected either to the internal circuit (as in the illustration), or with the help of a conductor to the external ground circuit. Protective ground conductors are routed directly from the shield to electrical installations. Often, instead of the grounding shield, the “PE” terminal block can be used directly in the entrance shield of the apartment.

Outcome

We examined in detail what a ground loop is, why it is needed, and what it should be like according to the PUE. Self-installation does not reduce responsibility: your life and the lives of household members depend on compliance with safety requirements.

Materials for the ground loop

In order for the grounding of a private house to be effective, its resistance should not exceed 4 ohms. To do this, it is necessary to ensure good contact of the ground electrodes with the ground. The problem is that it is possible to measure the grounding resistance only with a special device. This procedure is carried out when the system is put into operation. If the parameters are worse, the act is not signed. Therefore, when making the grounding of a private house or cottage with your own hands, try to strictly adhere to the technology.

Parameters and materials of pins

Ground pins are usually made of ferrous metal. Most often, a bar with a cross section of 16 mm or more or a corner with parameters of 50 * 50 * 5 mm (shelf 5 cm, metal thickness - 5 mm) is used. Please note that fittings cannot be used - its surface is hardened, which changes the distribution of currents, besides, it quickly rusts and collapses in the ground. You need a bar, not reinforcement.

Another option for dry regions is thick-walled metal pipes. Their lower part is flattened in the form of a cone, holes are drilled in the lower third. Holes of the required length are drilled for their installation, since they cannot be hammered. When the soil dries up and the grounding parameters deteriorate, a saline solution is poured into the pipes to restore the scattering ability of the soils.

The length of the ground rods is 2.5-3 meters. This is sufficient for most regions. More specifically, there are two requirements:

Specific grounding parameters can be calculated, but the results of a geological study are required. If you have any, you can order a calculation in a specialized organization.

What to make a metal bond and how to connect with pins

All pins of the circuit are interconnected by a metal bond. It can be made from:

copper wire with a cross section of less than 10 mm 2;
aluminum wire with a cross section of at least 16 mm 2
steel conductor with a cross section of at least 100 mm 2 (usually a strip of 25 * 5 mm).

Most often, the pins are interconnected using a steel strip. It is welded to the corners or heads of the bar. It is very important that the quality of the weld be high - it depends on whether your grounding passes the test or not (whether it meets the requirements - the resistance is less than 4 ohms).

When using aluminum or copper wire, a large cross-section bolt is welded to the pins, wires are already attached to it. The wire can be screwed onto the bolt and pressed with a washer and nut, the wire can be terminated with a connector of a suitable size. The main task is the same - to ensure good contact. Therefore, do not forget to strip the bolt and wire to bare metal (can be sanded) and tighten it well - for good contact.

How to make grounding with your own hands

After all the materials have been purchased, you can proceed to the actual manufacture of the ground loop. First, cut the metal into pieces. Their length should be approximately 20-30 cm longer than the calculated one - when driving in the tops, the pins bend, so they have to be cut off.

Sharpen clogged edges of vertical electrodes - things will go faster

There is a way to reduce the resistance when clogging the electrodes - sharpen one end of the corner or pin at an angle of 30 °. This angle is optimal when driving into the ground. The second moment is to weld a metal platform to the upper edge of the electrode, from above. Firstly, it is easier to hit it, and secondly, the metal is less deformed.

Work order

Regardless of the shape of the contour, everything begins with earthworks. A ditch needs to be dug. It is better to make it with beveled edges - so it is less sprinkled. The order of work is as follows:

Actually, that's all. Do-it-yourself grounding in a private house. It remains to connect it. To do this, you need to understand the grounding organization schemes.

Entering the ground loop into the house

The ground loop must somehow be brought to the ground bus. This can be done using a steel strip 24 * 4 mm, copper wire with a cross section of 10 mm2, aluminum wire with a cross section of 16 mm2.

In the case of using wires, it is better to look for them in insulation. Then a bolt is welded to the circuit, the end of the conductor is put on a sleeve with pad(round). A nut is screwed onto the bolt, a washer is screwed onto it, then a wire, another washer on top, and all this is tightened with a nut (picture on the right).

How to bring "land" into the house

When using a steel strip, there are two ways out - to bring a bus or wire into the house. I really don’t want to pull a steel tire with a size of 24 * 4 mm - the view is unaesthetic. If there is, you can use the same bolted connection to conduct a copper bus. It needs a much smaller size, it looks better (photo on the left).

You can also make a transition from a metal bus to a copper wire (section 10 mm2). In this case, two bolts are welded to the tire at a distance of several centimeters from each other (5-10 cm). Copper wire is twisted around both bolts, pressing them with a washer and nut to the metal (tighten as best as possible). This is the most economical and convenient way. It does not require as much money as when using only copper / aluminum wire, it is easier to pass it through the wall than a bus (even copper).

Grounding schemes: which one is better to do

Currently, only two ground connection schemes are used in the private sector - TN-C-S and TT. For the most part, a two-core (220 V) or four-core (380 V) cable (TN-C system) is suitable for the house. With such wiring, in addition to the phase (phase) wires, a PEN protective conductor comes, in which zero and earth are combined. At the moment, this method does not provide adequate protection against electric shock, therefore it is recommended to replace the old two-wire wiring with three-wire (220 V) or five-wire (380 V).

In order to obtain a normal three- or five-wire wiring, it is necessary to separate this conductor to ground PE and neutral N (in this case, an individual ground loop is required). They do this in the introductory cabinet on the facade of the house or in the accounting and distribution cabinet inside the house, but always before the counter. Depending on the separation method, either the TN-C-S or TT system is obtained.

Device in a private house of the TN-C-S grounding system

When using this circuit, it is very important to make a good individual ground loop. Please note that with the TN-C-S system, the installation of RCDs and difavtomatov is necessary to protect against electric shock. Without them, there is no protection.

Also, to ensure protection, it is required to connect to the earth bus with separate wires (inseparable) all systems that are made of conductive materials - heating, water supply, foundation reinforcing cage, sewerage, gas pipeline (if they are made of metal pipes). Therefore, the ground bus must be taken "with a margin."

To separate the PEN conductor and create a ground in a TN-C-S private house, three tires are needed: on a metal base - this will be a PE (ground) bus, and on a dielectric base - it will be an N (neutral) bus, and a small splitter bus into four " seating" places.

The metal "earth" bus must be attached to the metal case of the cabinet so that there is a good electrical contact. To do this, at the attachment points, under the bolts, the paint is peeled off the body to bare metal. Zero bus - on a dielectric base - it is better to mount it on a DIN rail. This installation method fulfills the main requirement - after the bus separation, PE and N should not intersect anywhere (they should not have contact).

Grounding in a private house - transition from the TN-C system to TN-C-S

The PEN conductor that came from the line is wound up on the splitter bus.
We connect the wire from the ground loop to the same bus.
From one socket with a copper wire with a cross section of 10 mm 2 we put a jumper on the earth bus;
From the last free slot, we put a jumper on the neutral bus or neutral bus (also a copper wire 10 mm 2).

Now everything is done - grounding in a private house is done according to the TN-C-S scheme. Further, to connect consumers, we take the phase from the input cable, zero - from the N bus, ground - from the PE bus. Be sure to make sure that the earth and zero do not intersect anywhere.

TT grounding

Converting a TN-C circuit to TT is generally simple. Two wires come from the pole. The phase conductor is still used as a phase, and the protective PEN conductor is attached to the “zero” bus and is then considered zero. The conductor from the made circuit is directly fed to the ground bus.

Do-it-yourself grounding in a private house - TT scheme

The disadvantage of this system is that it provides protection only for equipment that provides for the use of a "ground" wire. If there is still household appliances made according to a two-wire circuit, it may be energized. Even if their cases are grounded with separate conductors, in case of problems, the voltage may remain at “zero” (the phase will be broken by the machine). Therefore, of these two schemes, TN-C-S is preferred as more reliable.

How to make grounding in the country: do-it-yourself grounding with metal parts. How to make grounding in a private house with your own hands How to make a ground loop

Why is a ground loop needed?

Prices for protective automation

What are the grounding systems in private homes

Grounding using homemade metal parts

Video: installation of a ground loop using a metal corner

Use of ready-made factory kits

Video: driving stick electrodes manually

Prices for components for lightning protection and grounding

Video: how to make grounding in a country house using a modular pin system

What does it give

Do I need grounding in the country or in a wooden house

Grounding systems of a private house

Grounding device of a private house

What to make ground electrodes

Depth of driving pins

What Not to Do

How to do it right

Procedure

Why you can not make separate grounding

Modular pin system

Circuit operating conditions

Preparation

Circuit setting

Final details

What is grounding

How it works

What is grounding

External, or external contour

Work technology

Grounding parameters (we consider the vertical arrangement)

Ground loop inside the object

Outcome

Related videos

Triangle

Linear ground loop

Materials for the ground loop

Parameters and materials of pins

What to make a metal bond and how to connect with pins

How to make grounding with your own hands

Work order

Entering the ground loop into the house

Grounding schemes: which one is better to do

Device in a private house of the TN-C-S grounding system

TT grounding