Strips, flats, plate and pipe electrodes, rods and bonding accessories — fabricated and hot-dip galvanized on one floor at Howrah. An earthing conductor spends thirty years buried in wet soil, so the coating is not a finish. It is the design life.
This page is about the material. For what the code of practice actually requires — electrode arrangements, conductor sizing, soil resistivity, testing — see IS 3043, where we have written it out properly.
What matters commercially is simpler. Earthing steel is the most corrosion-exposed steel on a site: permanently buried, often in wet or aggressive soil, and effectively impossible to inspect or replace once the switchyard is energised. That is the argument for galvanizing it to a real coating figure and for asking your supplier for the actual DFT readings rather than a compliance sentence. We galvanize on our own kettle and issue the readings per batch.
| Item | What it is | Standard reference |
|---|---|---|
| Earthing strips and flats | Galvanized mild steel flat, the main buried conductor and the connection run between electrodes and equipment | Steel to IS 2062; galvanizing to IS 2629 and IS 4759; installation per IS 3043 |
| Plate electrodes | Galvanized steel plate electrode buried vertically with its backfill treatment | IS 3043 governs the arrangement and burial depth |
| Pipe electrodes | Galvanized steel pipe electrode, perforated where the design calls for it | IS 1239 pipe; IS 3043 for the arrangement |
| Earthing rods | Driven rod electrodes in steel | IS 3043; copper-bonded rods are a bought-in item — see below |
| Structure bonding steel | The cleats, lugs, brackets and bonding straps that tie a structure into the earthing grid | Fabricated to your drawing, galvanized to the same standard as the structure |
| Earthing strand | Stranded earthing conductor where the design specifies strand rather than flat | IS 12776 is the earthing strand standard |
⚠ A standard confusion worth avoiding. IS 12776 is earthing strand. IS 2141 is stay and guy wire. They are different products and specifications regularly cite the wrong one. If your document calls for IS 12776 on a stay wire, that is the mistake — and we will raise it rather than quietly supplying whichever we hold.
We fabricate and galvanize the steel: strips and flats, plate electrodes, pipe electrodes, steel rods, cleats, lugs and bonding steel. That is our own floor, our own kettle, our own coating readings.
We buy in and pass through: copper and copper-bonded items, exothermic welding kits and proprietary connectors, chemical earthing electrodes and backfill compounds. These are bought from their makers and supplied against the specification. We do not present bought-in items as our own manufacture, and against your bill of materials we will mark which line is which before you order.
| Requirement as written | What that means | What we hold |
|---|---|---|
| 610 g/m² | The mass of zinc per square metre — how most Indian utility purchase specifications state it | ≈ 85 microns. We hold and certify it |
| 85 µm mean | The same requirement expressed as thickness, as EN ISO 1461 states it | The same coating, reported on a calibrated DFT gauge |
| ASTM A123 Grade 100 | 100 microns on structural shapes over ¼ in — the American route | Achievable, but it is about 18% more zinc and a different price. Tell us at enquiry |
| “Galvanized as per IS” | Not a requirement. It names no coating mass and no test | We will ask you which figure applies rather than choose the cheapest reading of it |
See IS 4759 for the conversions, and the coating calculator if you want to convert a figure in your own specification right now.
Earthing material is usually a small line on a substation or tower order, and it is usually the line that arrives late from a different vendor with a different coating. Fabricated and galvanized here, it carries the same coating standard, the same batch readings and the same inspection release as the structures it bonds, and it ships in the same consignment.
That is a scheduling argument rather than a technical one — but on a site waiting to be energised, scheduling is the argument that matters.
Answered from our own line, not from the standard's cover page.
We fabricate and hot-dip galvanize the steel items: earthing strips and flats, plate electrodes, pipe electrodes, steel rods, and the cleats, lugs and bonding steel that tie a structure into the grid. Copper and copper-bonded items, exothermic welding kits, proprietary connectors and chemical earthing electrodes are bought in from their makers and supplied against the specification — we do not present those as our own manufacture.
IS 2629 process and IS 4759 coating mass, at 75 to 85 microns, read on a calibrated DFT gauge and reported per batch. Where a utility specification calls for 610 g per square metre, that is the same requirement stated by mass rather than thickness. Earthing steel is permanently buried and effectively impossible to replace, so it is worth specifying a real coating figure rather than the word galvanized.
No. IS 12776 is the earthing strand standard. Stay and guy wire is IS 2141. The two are confused regularly in purchase specifications, and if your document cites IS 12776 for a stay wire we will raise it rather than quietly supplying whichever we hold.
No. Earthing design — electrode arrangement, conductor sizing, soil resistivity and the resulting grid — comes from your consultant under IS 3043. We supply and galvanize the material to that design, and we have written out what the code actually requires on our IS 3043 page.
Our own laboratory is real — spectrometer, universal testing machine, hardness tester and calibrated DFT gauges — but it is not NABL-accredited. Where a specification demands NABL type-test reports dated within a stated period, that testing is arranged with an accredited laboratory against the order. It needs to be in the schedule from the start rather than discovered at inspection.
Yes, and we would recommend it. Fabricated here, it carries the same coating standard, the same batch readings and the same inspection release as the structures it bonds, and it travels in the same consignment rather than arriving separately and late.
Tell us the standard, the coating requirement and the component, and we will confirm in writing what we can hold and how we will certify it. Galvanizing is on our own floor, so the answer comes from us and not from a sub-contractor.
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