[Lowfer] Not a RotoHammer, but a good pilot hole starter

[Stan, W1LE]

I have found bentonite at a local water well drilling supply company.
They use it to seal off the outside of the well casing, as a final step.

The bentonite will expand as it absorbs moisture and provides a nice 
seal from the ground water.
I got it in 5 gallon buckets in a pelletized form.

I have heard of bags coke breeze being available near steel mills in PA,
but I never determined an ordering procedure.

For the extreme case of grounding on a mountain top, everything needs to 
be electrically bonded together
to achieve a "equal potential" during a lightning event.


Stan, W1LE      Cape Cod


On 11/6/2010 12:21 AM, JD wrote:
>>>> On mountaintops like that, or even worse, they cut a trench about 12"
>>>> deep,
> lay a heavy copper wire into it and pour in a slurry of bentonite.  The
> results often prove far superior to any amount of rods.>>>
>
> True.  Ground rods have significant limitations, especially when dealing
> with RF or lightning currents, both of which most frequently confine
> themselves to within a foot or two of the surface anyway.  Lowering ground
> resistance sometimes becomes a goal that takes on a life of its own, with
> people obsessing over ways to attain a few ohms lower resistance at DC or 60
> Hz, while disregarding the physics of the actual phenomenon they're trying
> to manipulate.  Deeps ground rods and well casings are not necessarily
> beneficial.  The technique Kurt describes is really helpful for lightning
> protection on a mountaintop that has only a thin skin of soil.  (On one that
> is bare rock, a sufficiently large grid of bare wire in contact with the
> rock will collect and distribute most of the charge adequately.)
>
> About soil conductivity enhancers...I've found coke breeze to be very
> effective in commercial installations, but I'm not exactly fond of working
> with it myself.  It sounds as if bentonite might be a better choice for our
> hobby applications, and I'd like to give it a try.
>
> What's the best type of place to find some, though?  The stores I've
> contacted locally thus far don't seem to know what I'm talking about.  I
> can't see myself buying a trailer load of kitty litter sacks for my upcoming
> 160m ground field, and end up burying all the who-knows-what other
> ingredients beyond the bentonite itself.
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Lowfer mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/lowfer
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:Lowfer at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>