Why Test Grounding?

Jan 1, 2000 12:00 PM, By Earl Wilcox and Mark Lamendola

Think of grounding as the foundation of a house that holds all of your electrical systems.
Without it, the whole thing comes tumbling down.

Grounding tests fall into two categories: those you do to ensure your installation meets
grounding specifications, and those you do to make sure it still meets grounding specifications.
Why the first category? Your electrical system needs a low impedance path to ground for
protecting people and equipment. Why the second? Because grounding systems deteriorate and
so does their performance. Such deterioration is unavoidable, as it is the result of the ion
exchanges that make grounding systems effective in the first place.

Here's one example that illustrates how much things can change. About 12 years ago, an
engineer evaluated the lightning protection system at an airport. The original installation met the
UL specifications for a Master Label. After years of service, the impedance to ground
measurement was almost infinite. Excavation revealed the buried portion of the grounding
system had corroded so only a few recognizable pieces remained.

What about original installations? Why not just drive a bunch of ground rods or bury a grid
and be done with it? In some cases, that's just not effective. In other cases, it's not possible. The
only way to know if your grounding system provides low enough impedance to ground is to test
it.

What is ground testing? Ground testing is the verification that resistance between your
grounding system and earth meets the specifications of the National Electrical Code (NEC) and
other pertinent guidelines. The standard answer to NEC requirements is to drive a second rod and
call the job done. However, doing so may not protect your installation for purposes beyond those
of the NEC.

To test ground levels on your system, measure the resistance between a ground connection and
earth. This is not as straightforward as it seems. Results are approximations; even though you are
dealing with precise measurements. The variables that affect the measurement can, and usually
do, change your readings.

For example, don't do a ground resistance test right after a major rainfall; the results will be
overly favorable. You want to repeat your ground resistance test on a day when the soil is
especially dry; your estimate of a "worst case" or "less than normal moisture" scenario. Besides
this, you must understand how to do the test correctly and where to select the points of
measurement.

You can use several methods to do a ground test. All of them use at least two reference ground
points and a current source. The testing device circulates AC current through the ground under
test. The testers that use the bridge method are common. These use currents on the order of
milliamps. Some of the high-end testers use over 100A. There's no difference in accuracy
between these, but each has its own advantages. Skill with the tester is more important than
which to use. Now, let's look at what ground testing reveals.

Bonding problems. Remember, grounding is what you do to connect your system to earth.
Bonding is what you do to connect your system components to the grounding system. Either one
is useless without the other. Bonding is the means by which you can achieve effective grounding.
Without good bonding, you lack the effective low-impedance path over which short- circuit
currents can flow to ground. This leaves you with unsafe electrical equipment, metal raceway,
and enclosures.

Let's look at a case history. A plant had many instances of arcing damage to equipment. Yet, it
had ground rods driven next to each of its 10 main production machines. A ground test showed
25 ohms to earth ground from the building steel, 180 ohms to earth ground from the transformer.
Amazingly, there was an open circuit from the machine to the main ground!

How can there be an open circuit with the machine's ground rod in place? That ground rod, for
lack of bonding to the rest of the system, was irrelevant. The assumption was the 250 ft or so of
soil between the system's earth ground and the machine's ground rod would provide a low-
impedance path; no need to bond! The soil; even after a solid rain; proved to be a poor
conductor. The grounding test showed the need for bonding jumpers and some other changes.

If you test for proper bonding, it's normally sufficient to do a visual inspection annually. If you
replace bonding jumpers, add equipment, or modify the grounding system, it's good to repeat this
test. Unfortunately, it cannot reveal improper neutral to ground connections.

Grounding system inadequacies. How many ohms to ground should you try for? You may
have other concerns beyong the NEC. It tells you to look for 25 ohms and add another ground
rod if you're above 25 ohms.

You may want your lightning protection system to provide increased security. Or you may want
a low resistance, to provide a better environment for your electronic loads. What should that
resistance be? That depends on what's normal for your area and type of soil, as well as what
equipment you are trying to protect. Also consider the level of zero sequence current, if there's a
safety ground or step touch potential concern.

You can perform tests to help determine a figure, or speak to a consultant familiar with your
area. Use this number as a reference and look for gross differences between that number and
what you are reading.

Think of grounding as the foundation of a house that holds your electrical systems. Without it,
the whole thing comes tumbling down.

Wilcox is Area Manager for Electro-Test, Inc., Lee's Summit, Mo. and Chairs the IEEE's Power
Engineering Society, Kansas City Section. Lamendola is a Technical Editor for EC&M and
Chair of the IEEE, Kansas City Section
 Testing Bonding Resistance
Most often the weakest link in a grounding system is the bonding
from one conductor to the next. This would be from the ground
wire/cable to the bonding clamp, and the connection from the clamp
to the ground rod (sometimes called an electrode). In RF
environments, multiple antenna systems, ground rods, and ground
radials may be involved so naturally they all must make proper
connection. These bonding points can degrade with time due to
vibration, climatic changes, weather moisture causing galvanic
corrosion, and other reasons. Your ground connections should be
checked periodically.

There are several ways of checking the integrity of bonding

conductors in a grounding system.

=> First, visually inspect the entire site, looking for loose
connections, broken connection points and corroded connections:
repair any of these.

=> Secondly, do a mechanical inspection, physically stressing each

connection looking for less obvious loose or broken tie points.

=> Lastly, do an electrical bond resistance test. Here the most appropriate instrument to employ is a micro-
ohmmeter. The micro-ohmmeter is far more effective in checking the quality of a resistive bond than a multi meter
or other resistance-measuring device. The micro-ohmmeter conducts the test with a higher current. In this way,
the quality of the bond is electrically stressed, eliminating the appearance of good resistance from weak
connection points, such as a connection point where a single strand of wire is the bonding point. In this case, the
multi meter using low current would potentially show this single strand bond as a good connection. The micro-
ohmmeter will quickly identify it as a poor bond by actually causing the single strand connection to open.

Before reviewing the actual testing process, let's first examine the components of a grounding electrode. Notice
the figure above shows a typical grounding electrode with three major bonding points: the ground electrode, the
bonding clamp and the lead wire. All three points should be checked with respect to each other.

The 10-amp micro-ohmmeter is an effective tool for testing any grounding bonding system. It employs a low
voltage, typically 8-10 volts DC and a high current, typically adjustable from 1 to 10 amps. A commercial micro-
ohmmeter, such as the AEMC Instrument (See picture below) consists of a test instrument, and a set of heavy
test leads. Once the leads are attached to the connection, a button is pushed and the connection resistance is
read directly. (See below for an inexpensive way the ham operator can test his bonding connection)

A good resistive connection will be in the micro-ohm region and at worse case the milli-ohm region. This test
procedure should occur for every bond along the grounding system from the tower and all equipment right down
to each and every grounding rod. This testing of the bonding system should be conducted quarterly or at very
least annually to ensure a good quality grounding system.

Topic outline: Thanks to John Olobri, AEMC Instruments

 How to Make Your Own Milli-Ohmmeter

* The micro-ohm meter is not a test instrument that the typical ham will have, of course. But you can easily
approximate the function by following the steps I have done, below:

Locate a fairly inexpensive automobile battery charger in the 6 to 10 amp charging range. I used both a very old
K-Mart charger rated at 6 amperes and also a newer "Starline 404" by Starline Products, Minneapolis, Minn. It
also was rated a 6 amps, but the meter reads to 8 amps. I used an automotive charger since it has relatively high
internal resistance and will endure momentary shorts repeatedly. You could use bench DC power supply that has
current limiting. Set it for 10 to 20 amps current limit and measure all day long! The automotive charger can be
found at garage sales and flea markets for just a few dollars and makes a great piece to test gear.

Locate or borrow a high current ammeter, and with caution, determine the maximum current the charger will
deliver in a short circuit condition. I found that the Starline would deliver 35 amps when I shorted the clip leads
together. Of course this is for a slit second, since prolonged short will open the internal circuit breaker.

Next, place one charger lead on your ground rod, (see figure above) and then momentarily touch the other lead to
first the bonding clamp and then to the lead ground wire. Of course, small sparks will fly as the 35 amps goes
through the connection. This exercise will prove that the connection is electrically sound: if it can pass 35 amps, it
can pass your RF with little attenuation, and should the need arise, the connection can safely pass lightning
surges to ground.

To estimate the resistance of the connection, place a DC voltmeter across the connection to test. For example,
place one volt meter lead on the ground lead wire, and the other connection on the ground rod. Verify the meter
connections are secure and then momentarily place the battery charger leads at the same location. Watch the
volt meter move up slightly as you pass about 35 amps thru the connection. If the connection is poor, then less
current will flow, resulting in a poorer "short" to the battery charger. This will allow the measured voltage to raise
indicating higher resistance and more voltage drop at this connection.

When doing my tower and ground system, I found very good repeatability in my readings and measurable
variances in the different connections. I found all my connections which have been in place for over 4 years would
handily pass 35 amps. In fact, I found I could quickly verify all connections simply by tapping one lead to each
ground connection of my radial fan-out. By listening to the battery charger meter ping across the scale with the
high current flow, I was assured that this connection was intact.

For experimentation I did continue and measure the voltage across selected connections to see what I measured.
The following table shows sample readings. Assume 35 ampere current flow (admittedly this value will be
inaccurate, but I have no way to determine high currents at various loads).

Connection meas. volts. calculated res.

a 0.1 0.00285 ohm
b 0.17 0.0048 ohm
c 0.28 0.008 ohm
d 0.13 0.0037 ohm

This simple process will verify connections are good and also you can identify good connections and better ones.
I found several that looked robust and well made, yet they measured poorly. This summer after my other projects
are done, I will come back to that connection and see if I can improve it. ---Brian Davis, W9HLQ

Example of commercial micro-ohmmeter by AEMC Instruments

(www.aemc.com)