Can't ground electric fence

[Kyguylal]

Hi all,

Had a fox try to get in. I ended up getting two shots off before it could get through the hardware cloth, but I shot the ground due to my chickens getting in the way.

I went out and bought an electric fence. I'm just running a single line, looped, so its now a double row.

Problem is that I live in New Hampshire on a slab of granite. I can't dig more than 6 inches without hitting a slab of rock. It extends well beyond my property, so grounding with rods is out.

Any other ideas?

 

[CindyinSD]

You can drive your ground rods diagonally or run a ground wire along with your hot wire. The book I recommended will explain how.

 

[Kyguylal]

Thank you. After thinking about it for two minutes, I realized that I could just run the ground to an alternate wire, between my two hot wires.

 

[Howard E]

Interesting dilemma. What did you use for posts to hold your hot wires up?

 

[Kyguylal]

Interesting dilemma. What did you use for posts to hold your hot wires up?

I just attached the insulators to the wooden posts on my run and coop.

 

[Kyguylal]

You can drive your ground rods diagonally or run a ground wire along with your hot wire. The book I recommended will explain how.

Thank you for the book info. I'll pick it up on my laptop to read. Looks like a lot of info.

 

[neo71665]

Look at grounding plates. Honestly I would just bury the rod horizontally, not ideal but it's just a fence. Dig down as deep as you can and put a bend in the rod so it will sill poke up enough to attach to.

 

[Howard E]

Just so we all understand the concept of the earth ground system........it is to assure that when a varmint is standing on the soil, the soil is the earth ground half of the circuit, so when varmint touches hot wire, that will complete the circuit....so the juice flows, which varmint feels as a violent shock.

Normally, this is done by pounding a ground rod.....or rods...vertically in the ground. But if you can do the same by burying the same rod horizontal in a few inches of soil, that may serve the same purpose. And it is all about surface area, so you may even be able to bury a 2' square piece of galvanized chicken wire.....and if the ground wire hooked to your fencer is securely attached to it, it may work.

But once you do one or the other, then give it a test. If it's working, well.....it's working.

BTW, your alternate plan of alternating hot wire and ground wire may also work, provided they try to crawl through it and touch both wires at the same time. If they go under, that won't help.

But to paraphrase "the kid" in League of Their Own......"can't we do both"?

 

[neo71665]

NEC section 250


LMAO trust me I understand it. You know what that means without google you do too.

 

[Al Gerhart]

One thing we learned about electric fences when controlling cows, in dry weather you need to keep the area around a ground rod well watered. If the soil gets dry enough the fence isn't going to work. That said, once the critter gets the first shock the fence doesn't have to work, it just needs to be there.