50amp outlet in the garage

Vulcan Rider wrote:

KD4UPL wrote:
To meet code you need to drive a rod at the garage and ground the panel.

LIke a lot of other problems posted here......you are making this a lot harder than it really IS.

The 3 existing wires have to get into the building through some kind of a hole.....right ?? Drive a ground rod OUTSIDE near that hole and run the ground wire into the building through the same hole that the other wires already use. If necessary, chip out a little mortar or sealant to make room.

If you trace the feed wires back to a pole, there should be a ground rod at that pole, connected up to the transformer. That's where the real ground/neutral makes it's connection.

Unfortunately you are trying to make it a lot easier than it is. The hole where the wires enter the building are 15 feet in the air on the side of the building. There is concrete everywhere inside and out. This building sits on a concrete feed lot. There is no dirt for 75 feet any direction. The transformer for this property if behind the house on the other side of the road.

On the bright side of all this, I called the landlord and told him of my problem. He started laughing and said, "now you know how I felt 15 years ago when I was trying to hook up my electric fence." He then went on to explain to me that he had a ground rod intalled in the far corner of the building and if I had a few days to wait he would move all the junk out of the way so I could tap into it. Now I just need to go buy a ground rod clamp and about 60 feel of ground wire.:B