Ground Wire to panel

gkaro

Hi all,
A little confused and wondering if anyone will be able to shed some light on this.
-Have a 100 amp service panel.
-Ground wire from the water line is connected to the neutral bus.

As you know, all line grounds for the house wiring are connectd to the ground connectors (on the metal body of the panel)

The question is this....If the main ground wire is on the neutral bus, and the neutral bus bar in not connected to the metal body of the panel (I assume...), how are all the house wires grounded...?

thanks,
confused...

nap

if it's the main service disconnect, the neutral and grounding systems are bonded at that panel, or should be. There is often a screw that runs through the neutral bar and into the panel tub to bond the neutral to the grounding systems. Look for a green headed screw somewhere in the neutral bar.

secutanudu

Your "house wires" are not grounded via the water pipe anyway, that seems to be a common misconception. If you have a ground fault, the electricity is dumped via the ground wire to your neutral bus, back towards the meter.

Your water pipes are "bonded" to your panel. For other reasons (lightning, and ground faults to your water line from a dishwasher, etc).


I think I got that right...

__________________
Andrew

brric

The water pipe, if it is metallic and extends outside the foundation is part of the grounding electrode system, not just an electical bond.