Bonding of neutral & ground in detached subpanel along utility mains

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relicpmg

Banned
Location
Livonia
Hi,

The issue at my house, turn the microwave on and something is dimming, same with dryer, washer etc... and all outlets in house are reading ungrounded.

-House is fed with 2 120's to a 100 amp main service panel.
-Off the main panel the detatched garage approx 30 feet away is supplied with a 15 amp 3 wire (hot,neutral,ground) romex, branch circuit with metallic conduit leading into a rated 60 amp old school screw in sub panel.
-The sub panel has no grounding electrode
-Between house and garage is a steel gas line that leads to main, and steel/pvc sewer lateral after a break last year.

Garage outlets say grounded and I am experiencing voltage spikes anywhere from 3 to 110 v and everything in between. It seems when electricity is being used on one side of the 110 like in the garage for instance, on the other side it needs to make up for the voltage loss so the furnace for example kicks on or the hot water tank fires up, and thats without using the water or touching the thermostat.

***Garage subpanel has neutral and ground bonded

By no means am I an electrician but from what I understood, in the sub-panel the ground and neutral are supposed to be kept seperate when another metallic raceway is present? The hot water tank is not bonded from hot to cold and there is also no jumper from one side of water meter to the other.

For the past couple years the whole area has seem to be enegized

With having a step down transformer 2 miles away, substation half mile away and petroleum pipeline, water main, and sewer main all in the proximity of 150ft from my house, could my house alone be causing issues to thousands of people by the neutral & ground bonding in the garage. My theory was that in the event of a fault, this voltage isnt making its way back to the substation but everywhere else. It has just snowed about five inches last night and the problems drastically went away but are still present.

There are other issues present as well such as electrolysis of the copper piping and what seems to be arcing but I dont want to throw to much of it at you all at one time.

Thanks








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iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
I am closing this thread, in accordance with the Forum Rules.

This site is designed for:


  • Contractors
  • Electricians
  • Engineers
  • Inspectors
  • Instructors
  • Other electrically related individuals

* This NEC? Forum is for those in the electrical and related industries. Questions of a "How-To" nature by persons not involved in the electrical industry will be removed without notice.
 

charlie b

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Lockport, IL
Occupation
Retired Electrical Engineer
I am reopening this thread only long enough to provide the following observations.

  1. It is clear that you do not understand how electricity works.
  2. Nothing in your house can cause problems throughout the city.
  3. You may have an unsafe situation in the way your house and garage are wired.
  4. We are not allowed, by forum rules, to help you troubleshoot the problem.
  5. Please hire an electrician.
  6. You have attempted to post this question three times, and each was closed by a moderator. I am reclosing this one. Please do not post it again.
 
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