Ufer as ground - do I need ground rods?

[KI6CFW]

I have ready access to the ufer ground (concrete embedded) of the house.  I have read a couple things, but have not seen a difinitive answer as to whether using the ufer as the ground (tied to my single point ground) rather than a few 8' ground rods is ok to do?  It is my understanding a ufer is an excellent ground.

Thx!

[KG6WLS]

Get ready... This has been brought up many of times in here before.

[W5GA]

What's a ufer?

[KI6CFW]

A search on ufer brings a few hits.  Comments regarding bonding to the ufer, the ufer being a good ground, and the ufer offering a high capacitance ground, etc.  I do not see a difinitive answer to my question...

[KI6CFW]

A ufer is a length of rebar (minimum of 20-25' or so long) embedded in the building's concrete footer.  One end of the rebar is bent up and extends out from the concrete (usually near the electric service panel).  The ground from the electric service panel is attached to the piece of rebar.

[K9KJM]

The "UFer" ground system is indeed a great way to ground. If you need additional ground rods or not depends on just how good the UFer ground really is.
I would never rely on just the UFer ground no matter how good it measured. I would add at least a few rods in addition to it.
http://www.psihq.com/iread/ufergrnd.htm

http://www.comm-omni.com/polyweb/ufertower.htm

[KI6CFW]

Ken - excellent answer and reference docs!!

thx!
Vince

[KB9CRY]

using the ufer as the ground (tied to my single point ground) rather than a few 8' ground rods is ok to do?


Yes but you still need a SPG to which your arrestors are tied to, your shack ground is tied to, your tower/mast ground is tied to, and also bond your SPG to your service entrance ground.  

One can never be too grounded but you do need all the elements in place.

[W7BWT]

I would never rely on just the UFer ground no matter how good it measured. I would add at least a few rods in addition to it.
http://www.psihq.com/iread/ufergrnd.htm

http://www.comm-omni.com/polyweb/ufertower.htm

I don't think I'm getting the same thing out of the PSI article. As I read it, and some articles written back when the Ufer system was first implemented, I thought the Ufer ground was far superior to grounding rods, and in fact, in some communities where the soil is poor, building codes require the use of a Ufer ground if it is available, and only permit the use of grounding rods if a Ufer is not practical. I live in the desert and plan to put one in, so I'm very interested in some clarification if there are some EEs lurking out there :-)