bonding 3 panels

Status
Not open for further replies.
E

eagle72

Member
I have 3 100 amp panels in one building. The gec from from water meter (street side) is ran to the center panel only. Will the panels be bonded if I ran a wire from the center panel's grounding bar, to the other panels beside it?
 
The GEC must be connected to the grounded conductor at, or ahead of the service disconnecting means. Take a look at 250.24(A).

Chris
 
inspector says panels not bonded

inspector says panels not bonded

Maybe a little more info could help. This is a 100 amp service. Service Entrance Cable was used from meter to panels. Ground rod put into the earth and GEC was connected from rod and bonded at 3 gang meter box. Inside basement the 3 panels have nipples in between for what I thought was bonding purposes only. There is a grounding wire from the water meter (street side) to the center panel only. Two panels have the bonding screws installed (center panel & the one to the right). The left panel only has one bar & no bonding screw.

The inspector says panels are not bonded. What should I do?
 
eagle72 said:
Maybe a little more info could help. This is a 100 amp service. Service Entrance Cable was used from meter to panels. Ground rod put into the earth and GEC was connected from rod and bonded at 3 gang meter box. Inside basement the 3 panels have nipples in between for what I thought was bonding purposes only. There is a grounding wire from the water meter (street side) to the center panel only. Two panels have the bonding screws installed (center panel & the one to the right). The left panel only has one bar & no bonding screw.

The inspector says panels are not bonded. What should I do?
Click to expand...

I would just run a #8 or #6 ( whichever is needed- usually a #8)bare from each of the panels that are not bonded to the water pipes and connect it to the pipes and the neutral bar in the panel. You must also bond that third panels neutral bar to the can.
 
Meter can should not have been grnded - rod grnd should have gone into first panel through lug to second panel through lug onto third panel - remaining unbroken along its entire length

meter socket has floating nuetral and is not to be bonded

at least that is the way it is done here
 
Just tap the water pipe GEC with two split bolts and a piece of #6 to each panel. Install bonding jumper in panel without one.
 
Tori said:
Meter can should not have been grnded - rod grnd should have gone into first panel through lug to second panel through lug onto third panel - remaining unbroken along its entire length

meter socket has floating nuetral and is not to be bonded

at least that is the way it is done here
Click to expand...



Every meter pan that I've seen has the neutral grounded in the can. The GEC from the rod does not have to be unbroken through each panel either and is permitted to terminate within the meter enclosure if the POCO allows it.
 
bonding 3 panels

infinity said:
Just tap the water pipe GEC with two split bolts and a piece of #6 to each panel. Install bonding jumper in panel without one.
Click to expand...

That would be my method also.
 
bonding 3 panels

don_resqcapt19 said:
Tori,

If that is the case in your area, how is the meter can bonded?
Don
Click to expand...
That is what I am wondering.

Also a tap from the gec with split bolts is code compliant
 
the meter may be bonded to neutral - I meant it is not bonded to earth grnd - edit - will not be bonded to earth grnd

and the earth grnd will not be broken, no tap , not terminated to a lug and split off from there- that is broken -

Whew - I had a service fail 3 times (the company did )
and I finally went out and disscussed it with VA inspector and finally that is what I did --
I nailed two grnd rods on either side of sevice and treaded the grnd cond. through two panels and two dissconnects and clamped both ends to a grnd rod
finally service passed :D

this was a few years ago but I do remember as it was rammed in my head and had me fixing this damn service on a sat night
 
Tori said:
I nailed two grnd rods on either side of sevice and treaded the grnd cond. through two panels and two dissconnects and clamped both ends to a grnd rod
finally service passed :D
Click to expand...


If that is how the inspector required it to be done he's misinformed about the NEC.
 
infinity said:
Just tap the water pipe GEC with two split bolts and a piece of #6 to each panel. Install bonding jumper in panel without one.
Click to expand...
this is probably the easiest way to do it. if you dont have the main bonding jumper that came with the panel you could always use a piece of #6 from the neutral bar to a threaded hole using a machine lug to connect it to the enclosure.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top