Another Neutral/Ground/Bonding Question

michael5

Howdy

My current setup is Meter - Cartridge Fused Box that disconnects power when you open it and there was an old Stab-lok breaker panel with no main breaker...............the grounds and neutrals are all terminated on the same buss. All the in-house wiring is two wire

The stab-lok breakers are mostly old and I don't trust them based on what I've been reading about them

I've replaced it with a new sqare D breaker panel with a 100 amp main and 24 breakers - so now I have Meter - Cartridge Fused Disconnect - new Square D Panel with 100 amp main

The Cartridge Fuse Box has a ground wire coming off the neutral that goes to my water main so I'm assuming it was considered the main

I want to make the new panel the main

My question is this - can I disconnect the ground wire from the catridge fuse box and run a new one to the water main from my new breaker panel box - can I leave the old one connected in the catridge fuse box and also have the new one running to the same water main from the new breaker panel so I have two?

The exisiting ground wire is small and it's inside a flexible metal conduit - BX I think - I've run a larger stranded copper wire like I've seen in newer panels from my new panel to the same location on the water main as the other ground wire coming from the cartridge fused box

I've been reading that you shouldn't have more then one ground running from a neutral so I'm concerned that I have two -

The meter the cartridge fused box and the new panel are all mounted side by side on the same interior basement wall

Any info. would be greatly appreciated - thanks

Michael

jwhite

There is no issue ever having redundent grounds. You can run 10 wires if you are so incline and have enough money.

Just moving the ground wire will not make the other panel the main panel. Your main panel is where the first overcurrent protection is as the power comes in from the utility. If you want to make the other panel the main, you will need to call the utility and have them shut off power while you run wire directly from the meter to it.

In addition to the primary ground electrode (the water pipe within five feet of where it leaves the ground, or enters the building) you are also supposed to have a supplementary electrode (ground rod) .. do you have one?

michael5

Thanks for the quick reply - jwhite

The cartridge fused blade type disconnect is in between the meter and the new panel so that means it's the - main panel then I guess

The way I was reading things was then that makes the new panel I installed a sub-panel and thats where I'm getting confused - because everything I read seems to be saying that sub-panels shouldn't have the neutrals and grounds combined and they shouldn't be grounded from the neutral/ground buss seperately because if something shorts or faults you end up having that second ground wire as a live path back to the panel

There is a ground rod within 5 feet of the meter but not within 5 feet of the water main

Thanks again

jwhite

there should be four wires between the fused main panel and your large sub panel. two are hots, one neutral and one ground. (the ground may be alot smaller than the rest)

You can have as many redundent grounds as you want, but they may not be "bonded" to the neutral at any other panel then the main.

The main bond is where the grounds and neutral are actually tied together with a wire, or metal bar. The redundent ground needs to tie to the ground bar, not the neutral bar, if it is in the sub panel.