wrote in message
...
On Aug 1, 12:12 pm, Douglas Johnson wrote:
Wayne Whitney wrote:
On 2008-08-01, Uncle Monster wrote:

I don't believe a separate ground rod is called for or
required. Common practice for sub-panel wiring is to float the
neutral and use the ground at the main disconnect grounding point
where it is connected to a ground rod and usually the cold water
pipe also.

Every structure requires a ground rod (electrode). So since this
subpanel is in a separate structure, it gets its own ground rod, which
is connected to the ground bar on the subpanel.

Are you sure about this? It's my understanding that a separate structure
may
use a separate ground (but is not required to) if and only if there is no
other
conductive path between the buildings, such as a phone line.
-- Doug

Ok, so I spoke to the inspector today and we talked about jumping the
phases and the grounding rod issue. He suggested that I put all my
breakers
on one phase. He said I could jumper them together, but that the
connectors
for the hot leads are not designed to hold two wires. He said that if
I want to
jumper them I would have to use a pigtail and wire cap. But he
strongly
suggested that I use only one phase. So I went and got a new box that
has
three breaker positions for each phase, which is perfect. It has a
convenient
screw spot in the neutral bar for bonding, so I will ask the inspector
when he
comes if I need to bond the neutral. I also bought the extra ground
bar.

So on the ground rod-- he said I probably didn't need a ground rod,
that it is
debatable, but if it were his shed, he'd do the ground rod. The
reason is that
he would use one is because if there is ever a power surge that
originates from
the shed (IE lightning) that the #10 wire wouldn't be able to carry
much. It has
to carry the surge all the way back to the ground rod at the house.
If there is
a ground rod at the shed then it won't have to go all the way back to
the house.

I pointed out to him that if the ground rod is there and is causing RF
problems
or tripping my GFCIs that all I have to do is disconnect it.

I didn't get a chance to ask about the floating neutral, sorry. He
was in a hurry,
so I got cut short.

I'll post some pics tonight.

Oh, also, about the loads I'm going to have on this: I have one
circuit that
will be running some occasional woodworking tools, like bandsaw, chop
saw,
drill press, etc. Occasionally I might run a router on it, but I can
do that up at
the garage if it trips breakers. It would be rare, at any rate. I
have another circuit
that will run some lights-- two flourescent lights over my work bench,
a small ceiling
fan with light and one light outside over the door. The final circuit
only has two
recepticles-- one for a small, window air conditioner and maybe a dorm
fridge on
the other.

Thanks for all the great advice on this!!!

John

It sounds like NEC is not this inspector's strong suit