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Panel paint and quality of ground?
Ignoramus13229 wrote:
I installed a subpanel yesterday (see thread "Installed a subpanel!") and am now having concerns. I attached EMT conduit to the panel and subpanel using proper fittings. But the panel and subpanel are painted with some sort of a grey paint. Does that paint conduct electricity? I rely on my conduit to be the ground and, obviously, it needs to have an excellent electrical bonding to the panel and subpanel. The subpanel is on a 60A breaker. My common sense suggests that the panel paint is probably conductive and that since everything else is attached in the same way as my new conduit, I should not worry. And yet, I would like a clarification. Thanks. i Don't depend on the panel's paint to be conductive because that is not likely to be the case. Take the tip of a large screw driver and scrape away some of the paint before you tighten the locknut. Just back off the locknut to the end of the threads and scape away the paint around the knock out, then tighten the locknut. Put the tip of the screw driver on one of the teeth of the locknut for the connector. Smack the back end of the screw driver a good rap with the side of your lineman's pliers or any similar tool. This will drive the locknut down tight and cause it to bite through any remaining paint on the panel cabinet. If you really want to make it bomb proof you can buy two bonding bushings and apply one to the connector threads at either end of the conduit run. The bonding bushings are fitted with a terminal lug for a bonding wire that goes to the bonded buss bar in each of those cabinets. In the sub panel's cabinet that should be the Equipment Grounding Conductor (EGC) buss bar. In the service equipment cabinet it would be the neutral buss bar. The use of bonding bushings is only required for service raceways and raceways enclosing conductors with a voltage of over 250 volts to ground. Best practice would be to pull a copper EGC with the circuit conductors in the EMT and terminate it at the bonded buss bar in each panel's cabinet. -- Tom H |
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