bud-- wrote:
John Ross wrote:

bud-- wrote:
John Ross wrote:
This panel (there is only one at house) has NO ground bar--grounds and
neutrals are on the "neutral" bar. So he is proposing just adding
these new ground connections there as well. Is that OK? If they are
bonded together anyway, I can't see how it could hurt, but as you know
this is all new to me.
That is standard in service panels.

Are you saying it's standard to bond together in service panel

Bonding together is required. It is almost always done in the service panel.

or it's
common to just have the "neutral" bar and put grounds and neutrals on
it? I was thinking that they may have just made them like this all
those years ago, but now have the two bars in newer ones.

Just a neutral bar also used for grounds is common.

I had talked to an electrician on the phone and he said something like
"oh, those old panels just had a neutral bar and they put the grounds
on there too. That is not good, especially for eletronic devices to be
protected." He then went on to say he would install a ground busbar in
panel.

This is what I am dealing with! If it wasn't for you guys, I would
have had some pretty off the wall things done to my electric service.
It seems like I am at a point where I know more than they do about
this. This is truly backwards, but with all the help here, I will know
when I find an electrician who knows what he is doing. Ususally, the
response is "hire a professional", but in my case, it's "go to NG and
THEN be informed enough to hire a professional (if one exists in my
city).

Anyway, thanks to everyone who is participating in this thread. It is
VERY helpful to me.
--
John