Greetings all,

I've set out to replace my FPE stab-lok panel in my home. I'm trying to figure out if I should bond neutral and ground in the replacement panel. All of the reading I have done to-date is that you always bond in the first disconnect only. Simple enough. However, my situation is a bit different. Here is my setup.

My service comes in from the pole to a standard weatherhead, which runs into a meter box on the side of the house. This meter box has a ground rod driven in the ground next to it, and the wire attached to that rod goes into the meter box. I'm not sure of the internal connections on my meter without actually pulling it (which I'm hesitant to do), but I assume neutral is bonded to ground there.

From the meter, the feed goes into the ground in a protected conduit, and comes out the side of my basement wall and into the FPE breaker box as 3 insulated legs of #3 wire. The two hots terminate into the main 100A beaker, and the third is tied to a "shared" ground/neutral bar at the bottom of the panel.

To add to the fun, the two hots are spliced before the main breaker, which feed a 60A sub-panel for the basement... which gives me a maximum potential draw of 160A on the #3 wire. This subpanel will be eliminated with the replacement panel... another reason I want to finish this project!

So my question is... in the new panel, do I install the screw to bond the panel case to neutral or do I leave it float? Is it dangerous to bond neutral and ground at the meter, since it's not the main disconnect?

The neutral should be bonded in the main panel. This is also where your grounding electrodes and water bond should terminate.

The meter is also bonded but this is not a disconnect. In fact it is out of the scope of the NEC and is the power company's jurisdiction.

Thank you.

Glad you are changing out the FPE panel... smart move. When I see them I shudder.