Hello everyone. Sorry this is kinda long, I have a lot to say :-). We are finishing up an addition we had put on to our house. This house was built in late 60's- early 70's, and had a wadsworth breaker box (complete with space-hogging cartridge main fuses). Outside was the meter, being fed with 3 wires from the pole, which I see has the neutral connected to the ground rod below.
The location of our addition required that our meter be moved, and therefore the mains coming from the meter to the main panel be moved as well. Our contractor hired a company to do this, and I observed . Outside, they installed a new meter base, and a 200A disconnect switch. They are wired as follows:
Hots and neutral run from meter base to disconnect switch, through metal hub (which bonds them together, correct?). In disconnect box, the hots connect to the switch and proceed on. The neutral connects to an insulated lug, and proceeds on. There is a separate ground lug, which connects to the case of the disconnect box, the copper wire going to the ground rod, and a separate ground wire going into the house. So the wire going to our main panel is 4/0 - 4/0 - 4/0 - 2/0.
He (The electrician hired to do this work) connected the mains to our main panel, and connected the neutral and bare ground wires to the only ground/neutral buss in our main panel box.
Because of the size of our addition, we had to install a 100A sub-panel. The same electrian ran the wire to that. Now I know that subpanels must be 4-wire, yet they ran 2-2-4 SEU I believe it is, with two insulated wires and a twisted grounding wire.
Not long after that, we (my dad and I) replaced our wadsworth box with a new GE box. We were told by someone from Lowes, that the new 4-wire services are starting to gain popularity; and since they have the neutral and ground completely separated, we need to keep them separate throughout the rest of our electrical system.
So we wired our new GE box as follows: The hots to the mains (obviously). The GE boxes have a neutral/ground bar on each side, with a jumper bar connecting them together at the bottom. The instructions to this panel were pretty confusing. So we removed that jumper bar, and connected the neutral to one bar (the one with the larger lug) and the ground to the other bar. We put the green bonding screw through the, now, ground bar, into the case.
We then re-wired almost our entire house, and ran all the grounds to the ground bar, and the neutrals to the other. We also re-wired the sub-panel feed, using 4-wire 2-2-2-4.
Now my questions. (I know, finally [B)])
Now, I know the neutral is grounded out on the transformer, but, as I see it, on our property, our neutral and ground are completely separate. I can, however measure about one ohm between the neutral and ground in the outlets I have checked.
Also, we're putting another sub-panel out in our barn ~150' away from the panel. This needs separate neutral and ground, correct? We've already run 2-2-2 underground to it. 2 hots, and neutral. The ground is created out there with a ground rod, correct? Or do we need a 4th wire for ground out there too? If so, what guage would it need to be?
Thank you for reading all this, and I hope to hear some replies.
And if you would, explain all the reasoning behind the need for separation and such.
Thanks again,
Jonathon Reinhart
~Jonathon Reinhart
The location of our addition required that our meter be moved, and therefore the mains coming from the meter to the main panel be moved as well. Our contractor hired a company to do this, and I observed . Outside, they installed a new meter base, and a 200A disconnect switch. They are wired as follows:
Hots and neutral run from meter base to disconnect switch, through metal hub (which bonds them together, correct?). In disconnect box, the hots connect to the switch and proceed on. The neutral connects to an insulated lug, and proceeds on. There is a separate ground lug, which connects to the case of the disconnect box, the copper wire going to the ground rod, and a separate ground wire going into the house. So the wire going to our main panel is 4/0 - 4/0 - 4/0 - 2/0.
He (The electrician hired to do this work) connected the mains to our main panel, and connected the neutral and bare ground wires to the only ground/neutral buss in our main panel box.
Because of the size of our addition, we had to install a 100A sub-panel. The same electrian ran the wire to that. Now I know that subpanels must be 4-wire, yet they ran 2-2-4 SEU I believe it is, with two insulated wires and a twisted grounding wire.
Not long after that, we (my dad and I) replaced our wadsworth box with a new GE box. We were told by someone from Lowes, that the new 4-wire services are starting to gain popularity; and since they have the neutral and ground completely separated, we need to keep them separate throughout the rest of our electrical system.
So we wired our new GE box as follows: The hots to the mains (obviously). The GE boxes have a neutral/ground bar on each side, with a jumper bar connecting them together at the bottom. The instructions to this panel were pretty confusing. So we removed that jumper bar, and connected the neutral to one bar (the one with the larger lug) and the ground to the other bar. We put the green bonding screw through the, now, ground bar, into the case.
We then re-wired almost our entire house, and ran all the grounds to the ground bar, and the neutrals to the other. We also re-wired the sub-panel feed, using 4-wire 2-2-2-4.
Now my questions. (I know, finally [B)])
- Is this installation correct?
- Does the line comming from the outside disconnect box to the main panel need to be 4-wire? (even though we're not about to change it now)
- Should our neutrals and grounds be separated like they are, (in both the main and sub-panels)
- Should we re-install that jumper bar between the main and neutral busses
- Did that electrician really screw up by running 3-wire originally to the sub-panel?
Now, I know the neutral is grounded out on the transformer, but, as I see it, on our property, our neutral and ground are completely separate. I can, however measure about one ohm between the neutral and ground in the outlets I have checked.
Also, we're putting another sub-panel out in our barn ~150' away from the panel. This needs separate neutral and ground, correct? We've already run 2-2-2 underground to it. 2 hots, and neutral. The ground is created out there with a ground rod, correct? Or do we need a 4th wire for ground out there too? If so, what guage would it need to be?
Thank you for reading all this, and I hope to hear some replies.
And if you would, explain all the reasoning behind the need for separation and such.
Thanks again,
Jonathon Reinhart
~Jonathon Reinhart
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