Electrical
#1
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Electrical
Is it allowed by NEC to connect a neutral wire to a ground bus bar
in the main service entrance? I do not have anymore connections
on my neutral bus bar in the main service entrance box.
in the main service entrance? I do not have anymore connections
on my neutral bus bar in the main service entrance box.
#2
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he ground and the neutral are connected at one place in your electrical system. This is usually the main panel. If your main panel is this one place then yes, you can put the neutral on the bar that has only ground wires.
Look carefully. How many wires enter from the service? Three or four? If three enter, then the ground and neutral should be already connected, and you are okay. If four wires enter then the bars are hopefully isolated and you cannot do this.
Look carefully. How many wires enter from the service? Three or four? If three enter, then the ground and neutral should be already connected, and you are okay. If four wires enter then the bars are hopefully isolated and you cannot do this.
#3
Yes, It is very important that you know if you TRULY have a main panel or a sub panel when doing what you have asked.
IN fact the best way to determine this without going into alot of inventigation is if you panel already has a seperate bar for both grounds and white neutral wires...if this is the case as Bob has stated you need to make sure of WHICH panel you have.....as asked above.
In most installs on a main panel the whites and grounds will be together on the same bar....so keep an eye for this.
IN fact the best way to determine this without going into alot of inventigation is if you panel already has a seperate bar for both grounds and white neutral wires...if this is the case as Bob has stated you need to make sure of WHICH panel you have.....as asked above.
In most installs on a main panel the whites and grounds will be together on the same bar....so keep an eye for this.
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Originally Posted by racraft
he ground and the neutral are connected at one place in your electrical system. This is usually the main panel. If your main panel is this one place then yes, you can put the neutral on the bar that has only ground wires.
Look carefully. How many wires enter from the service? Three or four? If three enter, then the ground and neutral should be already connected, and you are okay. If four wires enter then the bars are hopefully isolated and you cannot do this.
Look carefully. How many wires enter from the service? Three or four? If three enter, then the ground and neutral should be already connected, and you are okay. If four wires enter then the bars are hopefully isolated and you cannot do this.
Following up on this thought, if three wires enter from the street and the ground and neutral are therefore connected, then is running a four-wire circuit from the panel not possible? (Given that my existing 240 circuits are both 3-prong, I am anticipating this issue.)
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No, a four wires circuit is possible, and necessary for a new dryer or electric range circuit. The circuit consists of four wires, two hots, a ground and a neutral.
#6
Rusty
I'm not sure what your asking. I think your asking about running a 240/110V line (or for that matter 110V or 240V line) form the main panel to a sub-panel. The reason the ground and neutral are connected together in the main panel is to provide a connection for any ground fault current on the ground circuit to return to the source. This is the only place in a house where the ground and neutral are connected together. You can run 4 wire circuits just keep the ground and neutral seperate.
Ollie
I'm not sure what your asking. I think your asking about running a 240/110V line (or for that matter 110V or 240V line) form the main panel to a sub-panel. The reason the ground and neutral are connected together in the main panel is to provide a connection for any ground fault current on the ground circuit to return to the source. This is the only place in a house where the ground and neutral are connected together. You can run 4 wire circuits just keep the ground and neutral seperate.
Ollie