GEC Connection

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A/A Fuel GTX

A/A Fuel GTX

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WI & AZ
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Electrician
Is the GEC connection to the main bonding jumper from the CEE considered accessible if it is in the sealed portion of the service entrance equipment?
 
Since you can get to it without damaging the building structure or finish, I would say yes.

See NEC definitions.
 
mivey said:
Since you can get to it without damaging the building structure or finish, I would say yes.
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Even if it were locked, I would still agree.

Accessible (as applied to wiring methods). Capable of being removed or exposed without damaging the building structure or finish or not permanently closed in by the structure or finish of the building.

If you look at the definition of accessible as applied to equipment, consider that you are dealing with the actual wiring and not equipment such as switch and circuit breaker handles. :smile:

Accessible (as applied to equipment). Admitting close approach; not guarded by locked doors, elevation, or other effective means.
 
Agreed.......So, if I have a multi position meter pack with NO tenant mains and NO main breaker, I can land my GEC to the neutral bussing in the exterior service entrance section and not have to run the GEC to each of the interior load centers where my disconnects are?
 
A/A Fuel GTX said:
Agreed.......So, if I have a multi position meter pack with NO tenant mains and NO main breaker, I can land my GEC to the neutral busing in the exterior service entrance section and not have to run the GEC to each of the interior load centers where my disconnects are?
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In my opinion, you are correct. :smile:

250.24 Grounding Service-Supplied Alternating-Current Systems.
(A) System Grounding Connections. A premises wiring system supplied by a grounded ac service shall have a grounding electrode conductor connected to the grounded service conductor, at each service, in accordance with 250.24(A)(1) through (A)(5).
(1) General. The grounding electrode conductor connection shall be made at any accessible point from the load end of the service drop or service lateral to and including the terminal or bus to which the grounded service conductor is connected at the service disconnecting means.

:-? However, I have never understood how this squares with 250.24(D)!?! :confused:​

250.24(D) Grounding Electrode Conductor. A grounding electrode conductor shall be used to connect the equipment grounding conductors, the service-equipment enclosures, and, where the system is grounded, the grounded service conductor to the grounding electrode(s) required by Part III of this article. This conductor shall be sized in accordance with 250.66.
 
boboelectric said:
The reason we can"t connect the g.e.c. in the meter socket is the power company seals it shut,making it inaccessable
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Which is sad, because it's the ideal place to land it.
 
The very definition of "accessible" would pertain to a sealed portion of the service entrance equipment. If you need to get to the GEC connection, clip the seal and there it is.........I'm not talking about the meter socket here but the junction box part of a multi position meter socket where the POCO lands it's lateral to the bussing.
 
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charlie said:
:-? However, I have never understood how this squares with 250.24(D)!?! :confused:

250.24(D) Grounding Electrode Conductor. A grounding electrode conductor shall be used to connect the equipment grounding conductors, the service-equipment enclosures, and, where the system is grounded, the grounded service conductor to the grounding electrode(s) required by Part III of this article. This conductor shall be sized in accordance with 250.66.
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My take is that, in almost all installations, the only way that all of the listed items in 250.24(D) above can be connected to the GEC is that some of them must be connected through others. For example, if you take the GEC to the neutral bar at the service, then the EGCs and enclosure are connected to the GEC through the main boonding jumper.

Something similar would be true of a connection of the GEC to the grounded conductor in the meter can, or at the weatherhead for an overhead service. The grounded conductor would be used to complete the connection to the EGC and enclosures.

Is that what you are referring too?
 
boboelectric said:
The reason we can"t connect the g.e.c. in the meter socket is the power company seals it shut,making it inaccessable
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Around here the POCO explicitly forbids the connection to be within their equipment.
 
infinity said:
Around here the POCO explicitly forbids the connection to be within their equipment.
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I realize they have the power to do that but if I buy the meter base it isn't their equipment. Such bull. What harm does it do. Why would you ever need access to it. If you have to move the service or upgrade we cut the seal anyway. Seems like a power trip to me.
 
I could see their point if the connection was in the meter socket itself as it gets a little crowded in there and a bare GEC could cause a possible short risk. However, in a multi position meter pack, the POCO has a large portion of the enclosure dedicated solely to the connection of their lateral or service entrance conductors to the bussing. It is here that I want to bring in my GEC. What are the other choices? Running my GEC (s) to each load center individually? If we are talking about say 6 condo's under one roof, that is a lot of wire versus landing the GEC on the ouside of the building. I realize that if their were tenant mains in the mix, this scenario wouldn't apply as there is a provision to land the GEC in a service like that. The POCO doesn't seem to have issues in that case.........
 
crossman said:
. . . Is that what you are referring too?
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Yes.

I have always taken this to mean that the GEC had to be used in the service equipment since that is where the equipment grounding conductors and the grounded service conductor split but I see your point. :)
 
Dennis Alwon said:
I realize they have the power to do that but if I buy the meter base it isn't their equipment. Such bull. What harm does it do. Why would you ever need access to it. If you have to move the service or upgrade we cut the seal anyway. Seems like a power trip to me.
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Many of the meter pans here not only have seals but locks as well. I agree the requirement is stupid.
 
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