Earth rod and cable exposed

[lee3366]

Hi

Recently moved into a new build house, and in the corner of my lawn (adjacent to garage) is an earth rod (protrudes by 2 inches above lawn height) from the earth rod runs a sleeved earth cable (approx 6 inches long and exposed before feeding through the garage wall) it is connected to a car charging point (situated on an internal garage wall). I asked the builders to cover it as it’s exposed and could be prone to lawnmower or strimmer damage and I didn’t want the kids touching it. They said “it’s safe” and won’t add any protection. Are the builders correct? I think this is shoddy and should be covered, would appreciate any advice on this on safety or standards grounds. Thank you Lee

 

[Murdoch]

At the very least there should be a cover on it

 like

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/MTETC.html

 

[Phoenix]

 it is connected to a car charging point (situated on an internal garage wall).

Just to confirm a few points ?

The car charge point is installed internally in the garage? is it positioned such that the car is intended to be charged while it is parked in the garage, rather than in front of it?

The earth cable from the rod goes direct to the car charger, not to a consumer unit, or joint box on an armoured cable?

Is there other electrics in the garage

With most designs of car charge points, it is not acceptable to use the type of earth that is supplied to your house to earth a big conductive item (such as the car) outside, so a separate locally derived earth is often used, this deals with this problem but has the potential to cause others; the two earthing systems must not be within touching distance of each other (so you have to be carful of metal outside lights etc). If the car charger is inside the garage (and intended to be used in the garage, not just near the door so the lead can be run outside) then its acceptable to use the supply earth and this is just as well as you'd need a very big garage to make sure you couldn't touch car and anything else electrical at the same time! (you could, with a detached garage put the whole thing onto a local earth, but not so easy with an attached garage)

 

[lee3366]

Hi

Thanks for the replies. To confirm the car charger is located inside the garage, the earth cable runs directly from the car charging unit, through the garage wall into my garden where it is attached to an earth rod. There are two armoured cables, one for the car charger and one for the power / lights. The car charger has its own fuse within the consumer unit and can be isolated independently of any other electrical unit. The earth rod is covered (with a cover similar to that posted in the first reply by Murdoch). My concern is both the earth rod and earth cable are exposed / visible,  I have young children, and was just concerned around the safety of the set up. 
Thanks Lee