subpanels


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Old 07-27-03, 11:19 AM
P
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subpanels

I am planning out a new electrical system for my newly contrusted storage building. I was reading in a book about subpanels and i noticed that the ground and nuetral were connected to two differnent bus bars. In a main box the wires are connected together. However, at my local home depot all of thier subpanels only have one bus for the ground. Can anyone explain to me why there is a difference between main panels and subs. Also, what do i do with the neutral on the sub. Thankyou
 
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Old 07-27-03, 01:01 PM
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Most panels sold at the hardware stores have only one termination bar bonded with a screw to the enclosure. This is for main panels. If yours is a sub panel, then purchase a second termination bar, and mount it directly to the enclosure, and backout the bonding screw from the bar that was previously installed, making it electrically isolated from the enclosure..
 
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Old 07-27-03, 01:28 PM
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It is essential that neutral and ground be bonded at one and exactly one point in your house. Otherwise, you'll get current on grounding wires, which you definitely do not want.

Some panels are sold with both grounding and neutral bars, and as Ron said, on others you have to buy the grounding bar separately. In Square D panels, the panel identification tells you whether it comes with a factory installed ground bar or whether you have to buy it separately. A "T" immediately following the amperage rating means that the grounding bar is factory installed. A "G" means that the grounding bar is included, but not factory installed. If the model number has neither, it means that you have to purchase the grounding bar separately.
 
 

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