Ground bar and neutral bar

Hello wizards,

I am putting in an additional circuit. In my breaker panel I am running into a problem. The neutral bar is full. However the ground bar still has several slots available.

The guy at home depot said I could connect neutral and ground to the same bar. That would save me plenty of work and sweat if that is correct.

So, my question is:

Can I hook up the white wire (neutral) and the ground to the same bar in my breaker panel?

Thanks for your advise?

Chris

 

There could be a difference depending on where the panel is. Is this a main disconnect/main service panel? On a sub panel NO!!! They do not terminate in the same place. I would want to see it on the neutral bar where it goes. It may work if it was a main panel, but I am sure the inspector would have a fit if he saw that. Some panels you can marry another terminal strip to the neutral bar. Are there now grounds on it you could move to the equipment ground bar to make space. On those you can put 2 under a screw,, but the whites only one. Home depot does have some qualified people,, but you need to be wary of the info there.

 

It's a GE panel and it is the main panel. I do not have any sub panels. Here are the pictures. Ground bar is on the first picture and neutral on the second (left side).





What is your opinion with the inspector? Is it better to remove the current neutral bar and put a bigger one in?

Thanks!

Chris

Edit: Looks like we cannot show images. Here are the links:

http://www.nsusadenver.com/images/neutralleft.jpg

http://www.nsusadenver.com/images/groundright.jpg

Edit II: Urls are not allowed either. Please copy and paste the link into a new browser window.

 

Ok, I think I got it.

The ground bar had two parts attached to it to hold the ground wires. I was able to move all ground wires onto the first part so that the second one is completely empty. I used that empty part now to hold the neutral (just the neutral - nothing else).

If you look at this picture

http://www.nsusadenver.com/images/groundright.jpg (please copy and paste the URL into new browser window)

See that lower part just underneath the red (there is a black wire that "marks" the middle - that's where the 2 separate pieces end/start that sit on the ground bar.

So, now neutral and ground are separated.

Does that make sense? What do you think?

Thanks!

Chris

 

If you look just below your main breaker you will see a bus bar that connects the neutral/ground bars together on each side of the panel.Since this a main panel and not a sub panel,it doesnt make any difference which side you connect to because they are one and the same.

 

Yes,, Tex is right,, there is a strap that connects both of them,, you can put the wires wherever you want. There is no additional bar that was added to that can for equipment grounds. If it was it would have been screwed to the can itself. If you notice the big black wire with white tape on it comes in on the right where all the equip grds are and the ground there is a ground wire connected to the lug on the left. The neutral and the grounds should NOT be seperated in this panel.

 

Excellent! - that makes me feel much better now getting more opinions about this! Thanks for all your help! I really appreciate it!!!!!

You guys have a great weekend!!!!!!

Chris