Today's KNOWLEDGE Share: Why are Charcoal and Salt Added in the Earth Pit?

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share:

Why are Charcoal and Salt Added in the Earth Pit?

The combination of salt and charcoal is the perfect mixture which makes the ionic bonding for moisture in the earth pit. When the moisture increases in the soil, it increases the conductivity of the earth or ground conductor to the grounding rod or earth plat buried in the earth pit. That’s why the mixture of charcoal and salt is the best combination to put in the earth pit to maintain the low resistance.

An alternate layer of salt and charcoal is used to increase the effective area of the earth which leads to decrease the earth’s resistance.

As discussed above, the mixture of salt and charcoal as an alternate layer in the earth pit absorbs the moisture from the soil and surroundings. Additionally, the salt makes a perfect bonding with water, soil and charcoal. Therefore, the combination of charcoal and salt decreases the resistance and increases the conductivity of the earth pit. This way, the fault current can easily flow from the metallic body of the machine through the grounding conductor (earth continuity conductor) to the earthing lead and earth electrode (earth plat) buried in the earth pit.

The mixture of coal and powdered charcoal can maintain the moisture around the soil for a long time period. Hence, it reduces the resistance of earth pit and soil. This way, in case of fault, a less resistive path is available for fault current to flow to the ground. Thus, it provides proper protection to electrical machines as well as against the electric shock to a human body in contact with the metallic body of electrical appliances.

As the resistances may vary according to the different types of soil, thus it is important to check and test the conductivity of the soil before making an earth pit for grounding rods and earth electrodes (generally GI pipe or plate).

Keep in mind that the minimum and ideal resistance of the earthing and grounding system should be at least 1 Ω. If the resistance is more than 1-5+ ohms, you may increase the size of earthing lead and earth continuity conductor. Make sure to put water from time to time in the GI pipe connected to the earth pit which makes sure proper moisture around the earth plat. Hence, the earthing & grounding system for protection purposes works smoothly.

Source:Technical Engineering Portal (Linkedin)

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