To create a full-fledged living in a private home, you need to take care of its electrical safety. For this, in addition to lightning protection, even at the design stage, it is necessary to provide for the installation of grounding devices. The installation of the grounding of a private house does not present any difficulties, in comparison, for example, with devices for high-rise buildings.
The grounding loop for a private house is usually made in the form of pins driven vertically into the ground, connected together by means of horizontal earthing switches and, by means of a conductor connected to an electrical panel.
Vertical earthing switches are usually made of steel corners with dimensions of 5 × 5 × 0.5 cm. Horizontal grounding devices can also be made of 4 × 40 mm steel strip. The conductor, most often, is made of a round steel rod with a cross section of 8-10 mm2.
It is structurally accepted to carry out the grounding circuit in the form of an equilateral triangle. For this purpose, appropriate marking is carried out in the yard of the house. The very same grounding rules are recommended to be located not more than 1 meter from the foundation of the building.
After the marking is done, a trench about a meter deep and a width of 50-70 cm is pulled out along the perimeter. This trench is intended for laying horizontal earthing switches.
Next, on the vertices of the triangle, you should drive vertical grounding pins( to a depth of 2-3 m).The pins can be driven using a conventional sledgehammer, which in the case of using the corners as pins is not at all difficult. In order to facilitate this process, the corners at the ends can be sharpened by a Bulgarian, then they will easily enter the ground. You can also dig through, or drill small wells with a depth of about one and a half meters, then you have to drive into a smaller layer of soil.
After completing all the preliminary work, selecting the place, making the markings and digging out the trench, you can proceed to the very installation of the ground loop. On the tops of the trench, the corners are driven into the ground, but not completely, but so that from the trench 200-250 mm of the corner protrude.
After the vertical parts of the contour are driven in, they must be connected together by means of horizontal earthing switches, creating a closed loop. Usually, this is done by welding, welding the strips to the protruding corners. To connect the corners with a strip is only necessary with the help of welding, bolting for this purpose is inadmissible.
After assembling the earthing circuit itself, it must be connected to the electrical panel. To do this again, you need to use welding. The grounding conductor( wire made of steel with a diameter of 8-10 mm) should be welded to the contour, then lay it along the trench to the shield. At the end of the wire, on the shield side, the M6 bolt( M8) is welded, intended for fastening the ground wire.
In the absence of steel wire, the use of a steel strip, such as used in the manufacture of a horizontal earthing switch, is acceptable as an earthing conductor.
