- 期刊
- OpenAccess
Proper Selection of Earth Electrode in Corrosive Soil of Niger Delta
並列摘要
An earlier study carried out on corrosive effect of soil on earth electrode in the coastal areas of Niger Delta reveals that eight out of ten houses earthed for ten year and more loose their earth electrode connection. It was necessary to carry out an investigation in Rivers State to identify the reasons of the problems and find possible recommendation for better performance of earth electrode. Six sites were selected in Port Harcourt, one of it was an industrial area. Ten sites were selected in other part of Rivers State, five of them are from the coastal areas. For each site, twenty houses were selected and the type of earth electrode, year of installation and condition of electrodes were checked. From the selected sites, measurements were taken for resistivity using the four point measurement, the pH and the moisture levels were also determined. The results show that the soil was corrosive especially the coastal soil but several factors also contributed to the poor performance of the earthed electrodes. These are lack of proper knowledge of the function of earth electrode, wrong choice of materials as a result of untrained personnel and wrong installation methods.