[Leo55]

Hey everyone. I've got a Square D QO 200 amp plug on neutral panel and would like to put a surge protector in it.

I see that Square D makes a QO surge protector that simply plugs in with no pigtail.

Here is my question: my panel is technically a sub panel, as the main shutoff for the house is on the back of the house by the meter. Therefore my ground and neutral are separated in the panel. Do any of you happen to know if that plug on neutral surge protector would function properly if used in this situation? My concern is that the surge protector needs to go to ground, and I'm not sure it would function properly in a panel where the ground and neutral are separated in the panel.

The ground and neutral are bonded at the main shutoff on the back of the house, with a ground wire that comes inside to the ground bar in the panel. There is another ground wire where the power comes up out of the ground just before the meter, and that ground wire goes to the ground rod. The house is a duplex where the power comes up from the ground splits to left and right, with a ground wire and rod basically in the middle.

Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[CodeMatters]

Good question. Have you tried asking Square D ?

 

[Leo55]

I have, this morning, but thought that maybe one of you guys might know, so I posted here. Their website says they respond in 1 day, so we'll see what they say. I kind of wonder if you might need a different surge protector with a pigtail that you connect to the ground bar. Not the plug on neutral.

 

[Oso954]

Remember that the neutral is the grounded conductor.
The neutral ground bond just happens to be located at the main.

I don’t see a big difference between the surge returning to the main panel on a equipment grounding conductor (EGC) or the grounded conductor (neutral). They both have Basically the same distance to go before reaching the grounding electrode conductor (GEC).

The above assumes you have a just a main breaker or disconnect by the meter. I would assume that if there are additional breaker slots in that main shutoff panel, that would be the best location for a whole house surge protector.

 

[circuitman]

i agree with oso ,it should work fine as the neutral & the ground return to the same place.thus the "no pigtail".:biggrin2::biggrin2::biggrin2:

 

[Leo55]

Hey guys, thanks for the thoughts. Square D got back to me---here is what they said:

"The panel neutral and ground do not need to be bonded together for the QO250 plug on neutral SPD so function properly AS LONG AS that electric service entrance point has the neutral and ground bonded there."

Incidentally, I came across a video of a guy installing a panel almost the same as mine, only not plug on neutral. But also configured as a sub panel. He mentions in his video that Square D told him to connect the pigtail of his surge protector to the ground bar. Here is the video if anyone cares to see. He talks about the surge protector at about 27:30.