I have a breaker panel (not a main panel with disconnect) which has two bus bars on each side, mounted on plastic insulating brackets, and which are connected together via a metal strap.
The original electrician had connected the ground wires to one, the neutral wires to the other withouth removing the metal strap

The inspector said no no.
I had a second electrician come and remove the metal strap, hereby separating the two bus bars.
Inspector came back, cussed and said no no. He wanted a new bus bar installed in the panel, and all the ground wires reconnected to that new bus bar.

Is he full of it?
Thanks
Pierre

Hello Pierre

The neutral and the ground are different electrical levels and should not be hoked together.
That it is often done is because these levels are often near to each other.
The ground wire should ALWAYS be zero.
The neutral wire voltage and phase depends on the load on the 2 or 3 phase transformer and may change quite dramatically over the day.

So the inspector has a good point. There should be clear different connection rails used for both neutral and ground.

:)

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He's not full of it.

Somewhere in your electrical system, the ground and neutral are connected together. This could be at he meter or main panel, but it's usually at the first disconnect.

Any panel beyond that point is treated as a sub-panel (which I think this is) and needs a separate ground and isolated neutral bar. Unfortunately, to the unsuspecting, the "ground bar kit" is an optional accessory. It must be firmly attached to the panel, I believe, with machine screws.

The two neutral bars are there for convienience.

Usually there is a green screw that needs to be removed to isolate the neutral bar(s), then a ground bar kit is installed for sub-panels.

The electrician should know better.

Where is your ground/neutral/ground rod connection?

What is the nutral bar connected to

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chevynut321

What is the nutral bar connected to

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Are you asking pierre52 from a post he made four years ago?
Or are you asking a question to the board?