Ground rods required at small manufacture home

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Strombea

Strombea

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Prescott, Arizona, USA
Sorry for opening this can of worms again, but I have a situation with a small manufactured home acting as a guest house being fed from a 200 amp main panel at the house so this really is just a branch circuit feeder not a service. I'm feeding it with 80 amps. It's 100 ft away from the house, wheels taken off and tied down to a footing system. Is this considered a structure? Is it mobile? If it's not a service then the grounds are not required correct? And if they are, when would a 2nd supplemental rod be required?
 
Strombea said:
Sorry for opening this can of worms again, but I have a situation with a small manufactured home acting as a guest house being fed from a 200 amp main panel at the house so this really is just a branch circuit feeder not a service. I'm feeding it with 80 amps. It's 100 ft away from the house, wheels taken off and tied down to a footing system. Is this considered a structure? Is it mobile? If it's not a service then the grounds are not required correct? And if they are, when would a 2nd supplemental rod be required?
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You have a feeder, which is not a code term, and not a branch ckt, which is.
It would be considered a separate building so a grounding electrode system is required, water pipes, supplemented by typically 2 ground rods, or ufer ground with no ground rods.
Is this building prewired and inspected?
In my state it would be a mobile if it was permitted as a factory assembled structure.
I can not advise you on what it is
A GES is always required at a separate building supplied by a feeder but not a branch circuit
 
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I have taken plenty of classes but 550 doesn't specify and 550.32 is for service entrance not just a branch circuit. If it's a structure it's required. If it's mobile or manufacture unit it's not required. It's not clear cut. 550.16 makes it seam that the ground from the branch circuit is enough.
 
tom baker said:
You have a feeder, which is not a code term, and not a branch ckt, which is.
It would be considered a separate building so a grounding electrode system is required, water pipes, supplemented by typically 2 ground rods, or ufer ground with no ground rods.
Is this building prewired and inspected?
In my state it would be a mobile if it was permitted as a factory assembled structure.
I can not advise you on what it is
A GES is always required at a separate building supplied by a feeder but not a branch circuit
Click to expand...
550.33 is Feeder for this section so Feeder is code term right?
 
Strombea said:
I have taken plenty of classes but 550 doesn't specify and 550.32 is for service entrance not just a branch circuit. If it's a structure it's required. If it's mobile or manufacture unit it's not required. It's not clear cut. 550.16 makes it seam that the ground from the branch circuit is enough.
Click to expand...
 
I see your confusion. It’s not on grounding and bonding but what your small building is considered. Typically, a mobile home has a HUD label. In WA, school portables, espresso stands, etc are wired as a factory assembled structure, all inspected at the factory. They are not mobiles as not a dwelling unit.?You may need to clarify with your AHJ as to what it is. Once you know that, then you know the rules that apply.
 
Strombea said:
I have taken plenty of classes but 550 doesn't specify and 550.32 is for service entrance not just a branch circuit. If it's a structure it's required. If it's mobile or manufacture unit it's not required. It's not clear cut. 550.16 makes it seam that the ground from the branch circuit is enough.
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You say a grounding system is not required for a mobile or mfg home. You are just a tiny bit correct. While the actual mobile home doesn't require a GES, the service at the pole or pedestal does. So any structure with more than a single branch circuit, or a MWBC, requires a GES.
 
Agree with dave. It doesn't meet the parameters for a structure such as covered by Art 550, 551 etc., so drop back to Art 225 and 250.32
 
It is a small manufactured home acting as a guest house. The wiring is from the factory and is NM. It came delivered with a 100 amp panel. The stick built house that is feeding it obviously has GES so this should be the same as if it was delivered to a trailer park and set up to a pedestal. 550 DOES apply here but the inspector is insisting, so once again customers wasting money because the government isn't educated on their own rules. Now there are 2 GES's 40 ft away from each other.
 
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