Ground Rod

A groundrod is a connection between part of the electrical system and the 'earth'.

It provides a safety ground for the equipment and will lead away harmful voltages from equipment housing and so on (hopefully) before anybody gets hurt. This should trip a 'ground fault interruptor', after which you will be made aware of the problem (you now have no power) so you can go and fix it.

There are two different ways of providing a ground, ground 'rods' and 'plates'.

I personally prefer the rods, but that may be just because that is what I'm used to. My reasoning is that a rod stands a much better chance of being in contact with the ground water and so will provide a better 'connection' to the earth than a plate (plates are usually buried only about 2 ft (60 cm) deep).

Another important function of a ground rod is near structures such as wind towers and solar panel tracker installations. Here they provide a path for lightning to go into the earth rather than into your equipment in the case of a strike into the metal part of the structures. Make sure you connect your ground rod(s) using heavy braided copper, especially sold for the purpose and that you use a proper 'clamp' to connect the wire to the rod.