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Help me out to automatically pump out rain water from my house yard!

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Wow, all this discussion was started by a guy who wanted to know how to wire up a float switch to drain his back garden.
Amazing.

JimB

"the other forum" would probably consider this "off topic". recent discussion there about best way to connect a wire to a copper pipe other than an alligator clip.
 
FTR:

Bit different to digging a trench through granite, limestone or sandstone.

I wasn't sure about the limits as I only have that one knowledge of the technology, but it turns out that it is perfectly capable of:


Seems the hardest ground to deal with is heavy alluvial clays with embedded cobbles; because breaking up the cobbles tends to push the drilling head off line.
 
Jubilee clip round the pipe

That's great when the copper pipe and steel jclip are shiny new, but as they oxidise, the connection becomes degraded.

I'd been in my house (from new) about 15 years when we were having some electrical work done, and the electrician stuck his "mega meter" on the wiring and found that the main earth connection to the water pipes under sink had a resistance in the 100s of ohms.

He sunk a 1.2m copper grounding rod at the back of the garage near the circuit breaker board.

Or simply solder it.

Tough to do if the pipe is filled with water taking away the heat.
 
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Tough to do if the pipe is filled with water taking away the heat.
Very true. I once had to solder a pipe that had a slight trickle through it. Not a chance, I was told an old trick by a plumber, stuff bread up the pipe to block it. Worked beautifully. [/thread creep].

Mike.
 
More details. Electrically connect to in a robust fashion, two short lengths of copper pipe that you grip with each hand.
So, two short copper pipes and 2 electrode wires.

I suggested to drill a hole in a copper end cap and put in an uninsulated banana jack in one and solder (plumbing type) and solder to a piece of copper tube. The other end could be copper or a plastic cap. The uninsulated banana jack would provide the vent when soldering with a torch. Tricky, but doable. Then clean and use a palladium or nickle barrier plate and finally gold. I don't know if people having skin reactions with nickle would have a reaction to a barrier layer of nickle.

Finally use silicone insulated wire for flexibility.

Too difficult, of course.

The "bread" thing is a commercial product.
 
More details. Electrically connect to in a robust fashion, two short lengths of copper pipe that you grip with each hand.
So, two short copper pipes and 2 electrode wires.

I suggested to drill a hole in a copper end cap and put in an uninsulated banana jack in one and solder (plumbing type) and solder to a piece of copper tube. The other end could be copper or a plastic cap. The uninsulated banana jack would provide the vent when soldering with a torch. Tricky, but doable. Then clean and use a palladium or nickle barrier plate and finally gold. I don't know if people having skin reactions with nickle would have a reaction to a barrier layer of nickle.

Finally use silicone insulated wire for flexibility.

Too difficult, of course.

The "bread" thing is a commercial product.
Thread creep at it's finest. :D

Mike.
 
Works well and, if installed correctly, lasts a lifetime for most people. Failures are usually traced back to operator error when installing (wrong torque or dirty pipe. There should be no corrosion at the air tight metal-to-metal surface if torqued correctly.
Morris Products Direct Burial Copper Ground Pipe Clamps – For Connecting Grounding Electrodes to Water Pipes, Tubing, Ground Rods – 2-10 Wire Range, 1/2-1” Water Pipe Range, 1/4-20 Screw Thread
 
Works well and, if installed correctly, lasts a lifetime for most people. Failures are usually traced back to operator error when installing (wrong torque or dirty pipe. There should be no corrosion at the air tight metal-to-metal surface if torqued correctly.
Morris Products Direct Burial Copper Ground Pipe Clamps – For Connecting Grounding Electrodes to Water Pipes, Tubing, Ground Rods – 2-10 Wire Range, 1/2-1” Water Pipe Range, 1/4-20 Screw Thread

Suggesting the proper item for the job might be considered cheating? :D

 
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