Corrosion in Electric Panel ... What to Do?

GPintheMitten · Dec 16, 2012

kennyd said:
He can only do that IF he has or can run a 4th conductor between the two panels. It may not be possible/feasible.

Upon closer inspection, the sub panel does in fact have the 4th conductor run from the main.

kennyd · Dec 16, 2012

That's good news GP.

grsthegreat · Dec 16, 2012

if you have 4 feeders from main, it should be a piece of cake to replace. one suggestion, get a weatherproof NEMA 3R rated panel. these are designed for outdoor use. also, as stated before, dont attach directly to the wall. install a spacer. I generally install deep unistrut to the concrete wall, then install the panel to the unistrut with 1/4" bolts and unistrut spring nuts (they lock themselves into the unistrut).

Silicone the heads of all attachment screws/bolts that you use. get a larger panel ... like either a 30/40 space or a full 40 space to eliminate the doubled up circuits.

good luck

Jenkins003 · Dec 17, 2012

hosspuller said:
A question to the forum ... Since this is now a sub-panel. Should the neutrals be separated from grounds ? I noticed the panel grounding lug is connected to the neutral...

I was wondering the same thing.

GPintheMitten · Dec 20, 2012

Just to let you all know, I took your advice and replaced the panel and breakers. I also floated the neutral, and eliminated the 1/2 space cheaters, and all breakers have only one wire. The local inspector approved it this morning.

Thanks for your support and advice.

GP.

k0ua · Dec 20, 2012

GPintheMitten said:
Just to let you all know, I took your advice and replaced the panel and breakers. I also floated the neutral, and eliminated the 1/2 space cheaters, and all breakers have only one wire. The local inspector approved it this morning.

Thanks for your support and advice.

GP.

Good deal, now you can sleep better without worry.:thumbsup:

schmism · Dec 20, 2012

GPintheMitten said:
Upon closer inspection, the sub panel does in fact have the 4th conductor run from the main.

per code the sub panel should also have its own dedicated path to ground. eg its own ground rod.

chad22 · Dec 20, 2012

Good to hear you replaced it. I agree it didn't look very good. Not something I'd be willing to live with.

Chad

GPintheMitten · Dec 21, 2012

schmism said:
per code the sub panel should also have its own dedicated path to ground. eg its own ground rod.

Hmm. I pointed out to the inspector that, in this subpanel in the house, I did not ground the neutral and kept the grounds separate from the neutral. The main panel has two ground rods and the ground is run to this subpanel ( 4 wires to subpanel, two hots, one neutral and one ground). He said that is the correct way to run it.

I admit, I'm not an electrician and am no expert on code, but this is the way he said to wire it.

He also said that when I run to another subpanel to the barn, to bring 4 wires to the barn sub, float the neutral and that I won't need to keep the ground rod there that I recently put in.

wrooster · Dec 22, 2012

schmism said:
per code the sub panel should also have its own dedicated path to ground. eg its own ground rod.

This is the case with a feeder to a subpanel in a detached structure, such as a detached garage.

When the sub panel is in the same structure and is wired with a 4 wire feeder (L1/L2/N/Gnd), the sub panel does not require a supplementary ground rod.

Wrooster