Gec

Status
Not open for further replies.

solaeros

Member
Location
Beautiful IDAHO
Question; I just roughed in a house without a ufer so I ran my GEC off the rods, into the meter socket can, then I screwed a double lug to the can and ran my GEC into one side and the ground from my 4/0 alum ser into the other. Did I just screw the Pooch here by not taking the gec all the way to the service disconnect enlosure?
 

stickboy1375

Senior Member
Location
Litchfield, CT
solaeros said:
Question; I just roughed in a house without a ufer so I ran my GEC off the rods, into the meter socket can, then I screwed a double lug to the can and ran my GEC into one side and the ground from my 4/0 alum ser into the other. Did I just screw the Pooch here by not taking the gec all the way to the service disconnect enlosure?


IF you ran SER from the meter, the meter should contain the disconnect. Because if the meter does not contain a disconnect sounds like you have a parallel neutral connection...
 

solaeros

Member
Location
Beautiful IDAHO
three wires into the meter can from utility, GEC from ground rods into meter can bonded to ground wire of ser cable in a double lug mounted to meter can enclosure, with the other three wires of the ser terminated at the load side lugs of the meter socket and running through the wall into service panel which houses the service disconnect. The neutral is totally isolated until the termination in the service panel.
 

stickboy1375

Senior Member
Location
Litchfield, CT
solaeros said:
three wires into the meter can from utility, GEC from ground rods into meter can bonded to ground wire of ser cable in a double lug mounted to meter can enclosure, with the other three wires of the ser terminated at the load side lugs of the meter socket and running through the wall into service panel which houses the service disconnect. The neutral is totally isolated until the termination in the service panel.

I've never seen a meter with an isolated neutral...
 
Last edited:

stickboy1375

Senior Member
Location
Litchfield, CT
solaeros said:
Now you guys have me second guessing myself, I assumed and thought I remember seeing the neutral lug insulated from the socket enclosure


If the utility is only supplying 3 wires, why would you assume your meter enclosure has a isolated neutral?
 

mdshunk

Senior Member
Location
Right here.
solaeros said:
Am I mistaken in the idea that The neutral is Grounded at the service disconnect location only
Yeah, it's also bonded at the meter can, the padmount transformer, or at the poletop transformer. It is for this reason that I generally struggle to use nonmetallic raceways between the meter and the panel/gutter.
 

solaeros

Member
Location
Beautiful IDAHO
so I probably should have taken the GEC directly through the wall and up to the service panel instead of routing it through the meter can, and used a metallic conduit between the two in order to ground the meter enclosure.
 

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
solaeros said:
so I probably should have taken the GEC directly through the wall and up to the service panel instead of routing it through the meter can, and used a metallic conduit between the two in order to ground the meter enclosure.
No, and in fact, the meter is an ideal place to land the GEC if your POCO allows it. I wish we could do it.

The meter, being ahead of the disconnect, is bonded to the neutral and does not require a separate EGC.

In my opinion, the simple fix is to ignore (i.e., cut off the ends of) the EGC in the SER, effectively making it SE.

The remaining electrodes should be bonded in the disconnect enclosure as usual.

solaeros said:
Am I mistaken in the idea that The neutral is Grounded at the service disconnect location only
Not quite; it's only never done after the disconnect.

mdshunk said:
Yeah, it's also bonded at the meter can, the padmount transformer, or at the poletop transformer.

All of which are ahead of the disconnect, where the neutral is also the EGC.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top