To bond or not to bond neutral and ground in new electric service panel?

[Jcoon]

I’m in all plastic electrical conduit, so what exactly is the danger of running two grounds vs one really long ground wire?

 

[STx]

I’m in all plastic electrical conduit, so what exactly is the danger of running two grounds vs one really long ground wire?

Are you talking about splicing 2 wires together and then running them through the conduit? What if the splice fails? How will you know or make a repair?

All splices ares supposed to be made in boxes that are accessible. The box is to protect from fire from arcing in a structure and to provide access at a later date.

 

[Jcoon]

Are you talking about splicing 2 wires together and then running them through the conduit? What if the splice fails? How will you know or make a repair?

All splices ares supposed to be made in boxes that are accessible. The box is to protect from fire from arcing in a structure and to provide access at a later date.

I said nothing about splicing anything?!!!

I have a 3 wire power supply with 2 ground rods at each panel, neutral and ground bonded at each panel, everyone here just said that’s against code even though it all just passed inspection this summer of 17, so what is wrong with it compared to running the 4 th ground wire???

 

[MossRoad]

I said nothing about slicing anything?!!!

I have a 3 wire power supply with 2 ground rods at each panel, neutral and ground bonded at each panel, everyone here just said that’s against code even though it all just passed inspection this summer of 17, so what is wrong with it compared to running the 4 th ground wire???

Probably something to do with different ground potentials at each location. But that's just a guess.

 

[Jcoon]

Wouldnt u want the ground to be at each building? Not travel 400-500 feet back to the original ground?

 

[STx]

I said nothing about splicing anything?!!!

I have a 3 wire power supply with 2 ground rods at each panel, neutral and ground bonded at each panel, everyone here just said that’s against code even though it all just passed inspection this summer of 17, so what is wrong with it compared to running the 4 th ground wire???

Both panels are bonded? If so, you're fine. That was allowed in NEC2008, it's not any more. I'm not sure why the change, I think it has to do with interference with sensitive electronics, not a personal safety issue but, I'm just guessing.

As long as you AHJ is ok with it, I wouldn't worry. I actually have a building that's setup that way, the other 3 are 4 wire sub -panels.

 

[STx]

Wouldnt u want the ground to be at each building? Not travel 400-500 feet back to the original ground?

No, the power wants to go back to.the transformer, not the ground. If the panels aren't bonded, you're relying on the conductivity of the Earth to carry your fault current back. That's not a smart bet.

 

[Jcoon]

My panels are all bonded, and are all 3 wire setup.

 

[buickanddeere]

MossRoad has it covered. Give the AC dude a cussing for connecting the ground to the neutral bar. Did you purchase the QO panel with the built in generator transfer switch ?

 

[buickanddeere]

The smart way is ground rods at every building and service. All connected together with dedicated ground cable, without connections to neutral bars. Now the entire serviced area is on an interconnected ground plane with a much lower overall resistance vs if each service was individually grounded only.