Grounding clamp

[Sonny C. Shipler]

I was wondering if its o.k to have a grounding clamp thats for galvanized piping on a copper piper?

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

What makes you think it was "for galvanized piping?" Do you have a picture? Was it actually a "grounding" clamp?

[George P. Wells, CMI]

Originally Posted by sshipler

I was wondering if its o.k to have a grounding clamp thats for galvanized piping on a copper piper?

Is the clamp zinc? Zinc is often used for electrical clamps because it does not have a Galvanic effect when in contact with other metals. Metals are Galvanized with zinc for that reason. Zinc clamps can be use on copper. The main disadvantage to zinc is that it is soft so it cannot tolerate the mechanical abuse that a copper clamp tolerate.

[Sonny C. Shipler]

I bought these grounding clamps for my house,It didnt have the jumper over the water meter. But the package said it is for galvanized pipes. I didnt think it mattered?

[Sonny C. Shipler]

Originally Posted by gwells

Is the clamp zinc? Zinc is often used for electrical clamps because it does not have a Galvanic effect when in contact with other metals. Metals are Galvanized with zinc for that reason. Zinc clamps can be use on copper. The main disadvantage to zinc is that it is soft so it cannot tolerate the mechanical abuse that a copper clamp tolerate.

The package didnt say what the material was.The clamps are silver in color.

[George P. Wells, CMI]

Originally Posted by sshipler

The package didnt say what the material was.The clamps are silver in color.

Then they are almost certain to be zinc, zinc plated steel or zinc plated malleable iron. You can use the zinc or zinc coated clamps almost anywhere. However, solid zinc clamps are not a good choice for attachment to driven ground rods for two reasons. First, as I mentioned earlier is that pure zinc clamps are not very durable. The other reason is that zinc can kill grass or flowers if the connector is buried a couple of inches below the surface. You can usually tell if it is pure zinc or zinc plated. Zinc plating tends to be a little shiny and pure (or nearly pure) zinc has a dull silver color. Zinc plated steel and zinc plated malleable iron are also much heavier than zinc. Zinc plated steal or malleable iron is more common with beam clamps and other mounting hardware. Pure zinc is more common with grounding clamps.