[scrubby]

all you guys were generous with your knowledge, thankyou. it still isnt done yet, i get anal and try to make a rembrandt out of it. i got this need to know thing hapening. when i ripped it apart i noticed it was grounded incorrect, the previous owner installed the sub panel and i never caught the error. it was wired as a main box, not a sub panel. the neutrals and grounds were not seperated, now i put ground/green to ground bar and white to neutral bar, whats up with this, if you trace it back to the main they are both grounded, some electricians say it dosent amount to anything and others say magnetic fields will give you grief. all codes call for this, i cant seem to find out why, im tired of this i need to get back to my welding thanks scrub

 

[nap]

a neutral carries a current. When things are operating correctly, a ground doesn't. If you bond the two at any place other than the main service, you have now made the ground a current carrying conductor. That means any metal the grounding conductor touches essentially is energized. That means that any electrically continuous pathway (any grounded metal) has the potential for causing a person to get shocked.

It is not simply that code requires it, it is because anything such as bonding the ground and neutral at any place other than the main service has the potential for causing an electrocution. Physics are the reason behind the code.

 

[J. V.]

Whats the issue? You corrected the mistakes in the sub panel, right? There is no consensus that this is a right or wrong approach. If someone tells you it does not matter, then find someone else to ask because they are WRONG.

 

[scrubby]

thanks nap

you gave me the info i asked for, everyone else just spues, i dont quite get it yet, im no electrician, electricity has always been a chalenge for me, i will give this topic some thought now that you gave me a direction to follow

 

[nap]

you gave me the info i asked for, everyone else just spues, i dont quite get it yet, im no electrician, electricity has always been a chalenge for me, i will give this topic some thought now that you gave me a direction to follow

I don't know if I would be so critical as to claim folks spue. This is a free site and those here are simply trying to offer (sans pay I might add) to assist others. Some are extremely knowledgeable as they are pros (myself being an electrician by trade as well as several others that post here) others are well educated laymen and others are simply trying to help.

Take what is offered in the vein it is offered.

Now, I did go and read your other thread. Since this is a seperated building, different rules apply and depending on how many wires were taken to the seperate building, the bonding rules differ.

so, how many individual wires were run from the house to the outbuilding?

Is there a grounding electrode system in place (grounds rods generally).

are there any other metallic pathways from the barn to the house (i.e. phone line, cable tv, metal clothesline connected to each building, anything)

since you are changing out the panel, do you have any required permits? Is this to be inspected? Do you know what elcetrical code you are under?