TIL my grounding rod clamp was barely finger tight after 8 years.

I got a call from a homeowner last Tuesday saying their lights flickered every time the dryer ran. I went in and checked the panel, found loose neutrals, but the real problem was behind the house. The grounding rod clamp had been installed with a cheap screw clamp and it vibrated loose over time. I retorqued it and cleaned up the connection, and the flickering stopped completely. Has anyone else run into a grounding rod clamp failing like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

miaa4119d agoMost Upvoted

My own house had one of those cheap screw clamps that I put in 10 years ago. When I checked it last spring after some flickering, I could literally spin it by hand. Guess I'm not as good at tightening things as I thought I was. That day I learned why people use the acorn clamps that bite into the rod instead. I felt like a real dummy standing there in the rain with a crescent wrench, fixing my own screw-up from a decade ago.

sean_perry19d ago

Acorn clamps are the way to go for sure. I had the same thing happen on my place, swapped them all out after that and never looked back. Little dab of anti-seize on the threads makes future maintenance way easier too.

patricia_lee19d ago

Hate when that happens, especially with cheap clamps that just don't hold over the years. Glad you caught it before it caused bigger issues.