bonding and insulatying the neutral

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gottabewired

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dyersburg tn
i recently built a 600amp 1 ph service, the inspector told me i had to insulate my neutral block in the trough, then told me i had to bond it to the trough,, duh
i'm starting to wonder about my inspectors credibility. i realize that the neutral is a current carrier, but since it is bonded to the trough, whats the use in insulating it? (it is also grounded to the main service ground.)
 
Then this is where the main service disconnect is as in 3 200A panels all tied to the through then this is where your main bonding jumper is to be installed it is the same point on all services if you think about it it is at your service disconnect. People sometimes get confused when they have to think on a larger scale but it is the same with all services.
 
Just something to think about and possibly relate to the inspector for his thought pattern.

When installing a bare neutral conductor installed with SE conductors, and it is terminated to the neutral bar in a panel, is that neutral bar insulated?
 
gottabewired said:
i recently built a 600amp 1 ph service, the inspector told me i had to insulate my neutral block in the trough, then told me i had to bond it to the trough,, duh
i'm starting to wonder about my inspectors credibility. i realize that the neutral is a current carrier, but since it is bonded to the trough, whats the use in insulating it? (it is also grounded to the main service ground.)
Click to expand...

Perhaps he is getting confused with art. 376.56(B)(4), 2005 nec
 
gottabewired said:
i recently built a 600amp 1 ph service, the inspector told me i had to insulate my neutral block in the trough, then told me i had to bond it to the trough,, duh
i'm starting to wonder about my inspectors credibility. i realize that the neutral is a current carrier, but since it is bonded to the trough, whats the use in insulating it? (it is also grounded to the main service ground.)
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

If I understand your post correctly, the inspector is right.

If you're saying that he wouldn't allow you to bond the grounded conductor to the trough (inside the trough) and made you keep it isolated (insulated) all the way back and bond to the grounded service conductor in the main breaker panel, he is right.
Even though the trough is bonded to the service ground anyway, by bonding the grounded (neutral) conductor to the trough, you created a parallel path for the return (neutral) current....if even for the short(?) distance from the trough to the service ground in the main breaker enclosure.

With the way you did it, there would be (return) current flowing through the trough back to the main.

Just my opinion.
I hope that I understood your post correctly.
steve
 
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