On 18 Sep 2006 17:57:07 -0700, "volts500" wrote:


Jethro wrote:
Hiya

I have been away and am just now reading the various posts on my
query.

Thanks for your info. I don't know if my panel is a sub-panel of a
main-panel. You see, I live in a manufactured home that has a big
service panel inside the home that services everything within the
home. Then there is a second panel outside the home (on the side,
under the electric meter) that services mainly everything in a
separately built large garage. That box has a 200A main that, when
tripped, cuts off current to the other box in the house. That could
make this outside box a main service box, but if I didn't happen to
have a garage, then I guess the inside box would be the main.

Further, I had an electrician wire a porch addition I had done, and he
connected to the outside box. Further, I had another electrician
install a surge protector to protect my house, and he connected to the
same outside box.

All I wanted to do was add two 15A breakers to the outside box to
handle two new outlets I added - (1) for my porch window A/C and (2)
for my computers/printers. When I added the two breakers to the
outside box, it was then that I discovered the lack of sufficient buss
connections for the ground and neutral wires. I also discovered at
that time that the electricians I mentioned above had doubled up on
the bus connections for their work, and so, I assumed that I could
too. Now I see that is not entirely true, and since not true, I
thought I should add another buss to enable single wire connections on
all the busses. I have bought a buss, and #6 wire to connect it to
the present buss, and am waiting for news group comments before I
proceed.

The outside box with the meter is the main service equipment. There
must be four wires in conduit feeding the inside box....2 hots, 1
neutral, and one equipment ground. The neutral and the equipment
ground must be separated in the inside panel. If you look under the
house where the inside box is located, you should also notice that
there is a solid bare copper wire that is attached to a lug that is
connected to the metal frame. That wire must also be connected to the
equipment grounding bar. Also your range and dryer, if electric, must
be 4-wire.

In the outside box, if you mounted the new equipment grounding busbar
to the metal cabinet via the factory mounting holes with the provided
machine screws, that should be sufficient. No harm in jumping over to
the existing busbar though.


Thanks again everyone. I think I have a clear view now as to what I
have, and what I have to do.

Jethro