Basement Wiring?

[hr3]

In the main box (and ONLY in the main box) the neutral and ground should be bonded, so you are right to have them separate in your subpanel


It is fine in the main box (and ONLY in the main box).

Aaron Z

Unless there is a disconect before the main panel..

 

[grsthegreat]

Unless there is a disconect before the main panel..

quite true. I usually relate it like this.

Wherever the FIRST main breaker is located, thats the ONLY place that the ground and neutrals can be bonded together. All other panels downline from this HAVE to have their grounds and neutrals separated.

However, there is one caveat. Prior to code changes instituted back in 2005 or 2008 (forget which) we were allowed to run a 3 wire run (2 hots and 1 neutral to any outbuildings and then add the ground rod at that panel. So in OLDER buildings you may find a panel with in-comming hots and neutrals but the ground isnt carried to the panel from another panel, instead its made right at that panel via the ground rods. In this case you should bond the neutral and grounds together, as this used to be considered a separate service. I hope this doesnt get you confused.

 

[dieselscout80]

quite true. I usually relate it like this.

Wherever the FIRST main breaker is located, thats the ONLY place that the ground and neutrals can be bonded together. All other panels downline from this HAVE to have their grounds and neutrals separated.

However, there is one caveat. Prior to code changes instituted back in 2005 or 2008 (forget which) we were allowed to run a 3 wire run (2 hots and 1 neutral to any outbuildings and then add the ground rod at that panel. So in OLDER buildings you may find a panel with in-comming hots and neutrals but the ground isnt carried to the panel from another panel, instead its made right at that panel via the ground rods. In this case you should bond the neutral and grounds together, as this used to be considered a separate service. I hope this doesnt get you confused.

I think I understand that and it answers a question that was nagging at me.

I was pondering wheter I needed to run a ground wire (say 6 gauge) from the sub panel to my crawl space and drive a ground rod in to connect it to. I gather from what you said this would not be correct.

 

[grsthegreat]

I think I understand that and it answers a question that was nagging at me.

I was pondering wheter I needed to run a ground wire (say 6 gauge) from the sub panel to my crawl space and drive a ground rod in to connect it to. I gather from what you said this would not be correct.

if you run a 4 wire run between panels, and the sub panel is in the same building as the main panel, then NO you dont need to add a ground rod.

If the sub panel is in another outbuilding, your supposed to add an additional ground rod tied into the grounding system even though you ran 4 wires out there.

 

[dieselscout80]

if you run a 4 wire run between panels, and the sub panel is in the same building as the main panel, then NO you dont need to add a ground rod.

If the sub panel is in another outbuilding, your supposed to add an additional ground rod tied into the grounding system even though you ran 4 wires out there.

I used 6/3 wire (3 wires and a ground) for my feed from main box to sub panel.