[katahdin]

I have a 25 year old house that has a subpanel to a pool shed. The only thing on that panel is the pool pump, but there is room to add other circuits. It is in a great location to add a 50 amp circuit for a 4 way plug to a RV. The only problem is there is only three wires from the main panel to the sub panel, and there is no separate ground bus.

My question is: Can I install a ground bus in the sub panel and connect it to a ground rod in the pool shed without having a ground wire going back to the main panel?

 

[J. V.]

If this panel is detached from the house it should have its own ground rod or rods. Yes, you can use your existing sub panel to feed a 50 amp RV receptacle. You need a ground rod out there at the sub panel. And yes, you can add the ground bar if you need the room. This sub panel (3 wire) has the grounds and neutrals connected together. This is only for a legal three wire feeder.

One more question? Where does the sub panel get its power from?

 

[katahdin]

The subpanel is attached to the outside wall of a garage. A tin roof lean to shed is attached to this wall and incloses a pool pump. The power is from the main panel on the other side of the garage in a shed that is part of the house. Three wires come from the main panel to the subpanel - 2 hots and a neutral. In the main panel the neutral and the ground are the same bar.

The three options I've considered are:

• Attach the ground and the neutral to the same bar in the sub panel
• Put in a ground rod and a ground bar in the sub panel and attach the ground to this.
• Run a new four wire line from the main panel.

I'm not sure the first option is safe. I'm asking about the second option, but I'm not sure it will work without a ground wire run back to the main panel. I'm sure the third option will work, but I'm trying to avoid tearing into the sheet rock wall to run a new line.

Thank you so much for your help. As you can tell - I'm new to this. I've done simple electrical work in a hunting camp, but that's about the limit of my experience.

 

[katahdin]

One other option is to install a 30 amp breaker instead of the 50. The RV will work on this for most things as long as both AC's and the microwave aren't running together. This will only need three wires, one hot, one neutral, and one ground. I still have the same questions about the ground, but it may be safer to do it this way instead of having two hot wires to the RV.

 

[katahdin]

bump -