Adding a Equipment Grounding Conductor

[Bcornell377]

Hey Every One,
I am wondering what the issue would be if there are branch circuit wires 250kcmil direct buried in the ground. If I wanted to add an EGC next to those ungrounded conductors near them in the ground would there be any problems also everything is Aluminum. Thanks. The only rule I see is under 250.130C and that does not apply to this application.

 

[Fred B]

That is an awfully big branch circuit.

 

[don_resqcapt19]

Take a look at 300.3(B) including the four list items that are part of the section.

 

[petersonra]

Hey Every One,
I am wondering what the issue would be if there are branch circuit wires 250kcmil direct buried in the ground. If I wanted to add an EGC next to those ungrounded conductors near them in the ground would there be any problems also everything is Aluminum. Thanks. The only rule I see is under 250.130C and that does not apply to this application.

The code requires you to have an equipment grounding conductor run with the circuit conductors.

Is this an existing installation that someone didn't run an EGC? If so I don't see how you can just go in and add an EGC as a practical matter.

I don't recall the exact wording but I seem to recall that the requirement is that the EGC be in the same trench with the circuit conductors. So I don't see any way they can be in the same trench if you dig another trench for the EGC. I think you would have to dig the existing conductors up and rebury them in the same trench.

There is a procedure in most places to get special permission to do something that is not code compliant that you might want to investigate. It's hard to know whether it's worth the effort though in your situation.

I don't think it matters whether the existing conductors are aluminum or not.

Depending on your situation it might be simpler to just abandon in place the existing conductors and run new.