ERICO Practical Guide to Electrical Grounding - Manual (Page 94)

CONNECTORS
For most connector applications there is a choice of good -
better - best. This choice depends on required life, expected
corrosion, expected level of current (lightning and faults)
and total installed cost. Grounding connections carry little
or no current until a fault occurs. Then, the currents can be
very high and the likelihood of detecting a damaged
connector is low since many of them are concealed. The
result is system degradation or failure. For connectors
hidden behind walls or in the ground, there is no way to
determine if something has degraded. Failure of even one
connection point in a grounding network may be
dangerous, yet go undetected for years.
Connectors are listed in Table 5-2 showing relative cost,
installation time, applicable tests and codes, and
recommendations where they should not, in the author’s
opinion, be used. The final decision is up to the designer!
Practical Guide to Electrical Grounding
Description Relative Installation Codes Not
Cost Time Tests to use
Split Bolt LOW MEDIUM UL Hidden
Service Posts LOW MEDIUM UL Hidden
Pipe Clamp MEDIUM UL Hidden
Compression MEDIUM MEDIUM UL
Devices TO HIGH TO HIGH
Ground Rod VERY MEDIUM UL
Clamps LOW
Brazed LOW HIGH
Connection
CADWELD
MEDIUM MEDIUM IEEE Std 80,
Connection TO HIGH TO HIGH IEEE Std 837
and UL
86
R CADWELD
R
R
CADWELD
+ CADWELD =
Screw
Coupler
Fig. 5-6
Fig. 5-7
Braze
Connectors
Table 5-2
Grounding Book 4/14/99 10/5/99 6:02 PM Page 86 (Black plate)