On 2009-09-09, stryped wrote:
On Sep 8, 7:22*pm, (Doug Miller) wrote:
In article , stryped wrote:
I will move them. Thanks!
If you move them, be sure you *also* remove the green bonding screw from the
bar where you have them connected now. That screw connects that bar to the
case, and is what enables you to use that bar as a grounding bar -- and,
conversely, prohibits it from being used as a neutral bar. Someone may later
see what is apparently an unused neutral bar, not notice the bonding screw,
and connect a neutral wire to that bar -- creating a shock hazard.
Thanks for all of the advice. That is why I post on here. You guys
came up with that when no on ein the electrical enginnering forum did.
I will move the wires but I did verify with a continuity meter that
the left bank has continuity to the enclsure. It even says "ground
strap" on it. The left bank says "neutral strap" and doe not have
continuity to the cabinet.
So -- as long as the green bonding screw (I did not notice that
in the photos) is in place -- it can be used as a grounding buss, but
allows for someone making a mistake sometime later -- whether it is
grounded or not, depending on what they *expect* to see. (You know how
what you see can differ from what is really there when you have strong
expectations? :-)
Now -- IIRC, you are feeding this from a breaker box in the main
house, rather than through a different meter entrance from the power
company's pole or subterranean feed. Under those circumstances, neutral
and ground must *not* be bonded together (only can be so at the main
box where the service comes in from the meter). So I would consider it
safer to pull the green bonding screw, which will float the bus above
ground, connect all grounds to the separate strip which is mounted
directly on the metal of the box, and use those inner buss strips as
neutral busses only. That way, they are convenient to the breakers on
that side of the box, and you only have to route the ground wires the
long way around to the real ground buss.
Someone said I need to remove the screw to isolate where I have the
grounds now to the cabinet. Will the inspector be ok with this?
He probably will -- if those are used as neutrals only. He
won't be happy with the screw removed if you are using it for grounds
(as you are now), or the screw present with it used as neutrals, since
this is not a *primary* service entrance.
Also, I plan on using 10-3 wire and installing a 30 amp recepticle for
a futre air compressor. Also a 50 amp wire for my lincoln buzz box. Is
it ok to put both those double pole breakers on the same side of the
panel as my 100 amp main? Or will that be some type of "imbalance"?
More questions.
1) Are you feeding 240 VAC to the box from your main service
entrance? If so, then every other blade in the box is from one
of the two feeds, and the ones between them are from the other.
Your feed will be through an appropriately rated 240 VAC
breaker so you are feeding both internal busses no matter which
side the feed breaker is on.
2) Are your air compressor and buzz box 120 VAC or 240 VAC
devices? If they are 240 VAC devices, using dual breakers, then
no matter where in the box you put them, they will be drawing
half from each buss.
If the devices are both 120 VAC devices, then if you put two
breakers adjacent to each other, they will be drawing from
two different busses, so no problem.
However -- if both are 120 VAC devices, and you have a gap
between the two breakers, then both will be loading only one
side of the buss, so you could get enough of an imbalance so
they could pop the main breaker just from the total current on
one side.
I also plan on putting those two outlets near my overhead garage door
so I can get my welder and things outside if I need to weld on
somethign there. Is there a certain distance it needs to be away from
he door? To be hones, I will probably leave the breaks for these two
off most of the time until I need to use them.
I have no idea on this one. If they are close to garage doors
which may be open during a rainstorm, I would suggest that you put
outdoor outlets in place (the ones with a spring-loaded cap to keep
water out of the outlet during strong rain.
And code *might* want you to put GFIs on those outlets in any
case, which might be a problem with the compressor, and which I'll bet
would trip from leakages in the buzz-box.
What I might consider doing for those outlets is to mount them
in the ceiling beside the garage door, so rain can't get into them. Go
for the twist-lock connectors so the weight of the cord won't pull it
out of the outlet.
Note that I am not a licensed electrician. I've done lots of
electronics work, but that is different, since it does not have the
massive amount of regulation that power wiring has for safety reasons.
Good Luck,
DoN.
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