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Clarified Electrical Questions

The Neutral and Ground bus in a subpanel that was installed in a remodel are not connected, however the guy left the bar bolted into the neutral bus and left the other side hanging without a bolt. Basically, he did not bolt the bar down onto the ground bus. When the electrician that I currently have looked at it, he said that it needed to be connected and stated what the correct bolt size for it would be but I cannot remember. It is a subpanel. The main panel with a main breaker sits out in front of my house and the subpanel is inside with all of the individual circuit breakers in it, in additon to the main for that panel. Should it be connected or not?

The old electrician who was a builder/electrician who did the remodel also left notes saying that an future electrician should split the 3 and five wire branch circuits to each leg of the incoming power and panel bus to prevent overload on the neutrals. The new electrician who is a master electrician, head of a local electrical union said that this doens't really make sense. Does it make sense?

I also know that the city likes to have all neutral circuits split up at the device locations and to avoid tying all neutrals together. The new electrician said that this is not really necessary but would do it if I wanted him to. Does this make sense?

Reply to
Michael Roback
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Michael Roback wrote in news:BE195505.A80% snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net:

IIRC, The only place the neutral and grounds should be tied together is the main panel, where the earth ground is attached.

I wonder if you have your terms mixed up here. Seems like you are describing an ouside disconnect (such as required in a mobile home installation), with a main (internal) breaker panel.

Reply to
Anthony

Like the other poster I do not believe you have your terms straight.

neutral and ground are connected ONLY at the main service, EVERY where else separate.

Splitting 3 and 5 wire branch circuits ????? Got me on that one. Hot, neutral and ground would be a 3 wire circuit and can not be split. Adding another hot and you would get a 4 wire circuit. I assume you do not have a

3 phase service to your home which would be 5 wire.

I do not have the foggiest idea of what idea your trying to convey with the last paragraph.

Reply to
SQLit

Michael,

This is not meant as derogatory. The facts that you have presented are as follows:

1) You haven't worked with service panels enough to know what needs to be done. 2) An incomplete job was performed by the first electrician (for whatever reason). 3) The second electrician has indicated that a statement or statements made by the first electrician do not make sense.

Now you are asking us, sight unseen, to analyse the situation and tell you what to do. In your shoes, I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. Hire a competent, licensed electrician to straighten out whatever needs to be straightened out. It is impossible to figure out what your situation is based on the description you have provided. The only thing we know for sure is that the panel door was left off.

Ed

Reply to
ehsjr

What about what I have describe seems incomplete or an inaccurate usage of terms? There is a main panel in front of the house tied to the weatherhead with service cables to a subpanel (breaker panel) inside the house that is distributed to all of the circuits. In the (breaker panel) the strap that ties the neutral bus to the ground bus is bolted on one side and not the other. This seems like a fairly straight forward question. I don't understand why it is confusing. Either the strap should be there or not. I understand enough about electricity to know that the ground and neutral should only be tied in one location (the main) but what confuses me is why this strap is even there, albeit not connected on one side! Maybe the guy left it there in case we ever wanted to turn that into the main?? Anyway, sorry for the confusion. If anyone can shed any more light on this, I would appreciate it.

Reply to
Michael Roback

Only one neutral/ground connection may exist per service.

Sometimes the meter base has breakers, sometimes the neutral ground link is made in the meter base. Where is your neutral ground connection.

Unless your house has 3 phase you cannot have a five wire circuit, more comm>What about what I have describe seems incomplete or an inaccurate usage of

Reply to
me

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