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Neutral and Ground Bonding

J

jklr

Member
Location
Miss
Occupation
Electrician
POCO in county wants #4 GEC to terminate in the meter base and be bonded with the nuetral. They said I can choose to run a insulated ground with the service conductors to the panel or just run 2 hots and the nuetral. Even though the meter base is not the service equipment, but the bonding of the GEC and nuetral will be made there I feel like I should treat the panel on the inside as a subpanel and keep the Nuetral and Grounds separated. Just want to make sure I am not missing anything because we normally just run the GEC to the first means of disco and bond them there.
Thanks
 
infinity

infinity

Moderator
Staff member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Journeyman Electrician
The GEC can terminate any place from the service point to the service disconnect that includes the meter enclosure. The MBJ is still required in the service disconnect and there would only be 3 conductors between the meter and the service disconnect.
 
J

jap

Senior Member
Occupation
Electrician
jklr said:
POCO in county wants #4 GEC to terminate in the meter base and be bonded with the nuetral. They said I can choose to run a insulated ground with the service conductors to the panel or just run 2 hots and the nuetral. Even though the meter base is not the service equipment, but the bonding of the GEC and nuetral will be made there I feel like I should treat the panel on the inside as a subpanel and keep the Nuetral and Grounds separated. Just want to make sure I am not missing anything because we normally just run the GEC to the first means of disco and bond them there.
Thanks
Click to expand...

They steered you wrong on this suggestion.

Jap>
 
J

jklr

Member
Location
Miss
Occupation
Electrician
infinity said:
The GEC can terminate any place from the service point to the service disconnect that includes the meter enclosure. The MBJ is still required in the service disconnect and there would only be 3 conductors between the meter and the service disconnect.
Click to expand...
Thank you.
 
J

jaggedben

Senior Member
Location
Northern California
Occupation
Solar and Energy Storage Installer
jklr said:
POCO in county wants #4 GEC to terminate in the meter base and be bonded with the nuetral. They said I can choose to run a insulated ground with the service conductors to the panel or just run 2 hots and the nuetral. Even though the meter base is not the service equipment, but the bonding of the GEC and nuetral will be made there I feel like I should treat the panel on the inside as a subpanel and keep the Nuetral and Grounds separated. Just want to make sure I am not missing anything because we normally just run the GEC to the first means of disco and bond them there.
Thanks
Click to expand...
They are asking you to ground the neutral at the meter base (okay, that's probably their right) but they are leading you astray on bonding.

The main bonding of neutral/grounded conductor to EGC always happens at the service disconnect. Always. That's where your EGCs start. You do not need a separate ground ahead of this point, you can bond stuff to the neutral. The meter can would normally be bonded to the neutral (lug directly attach to the can) but that is not your Main Bonding Jumper, that's just bonding the meter can.

The building department may or may not accept the POCO required grounding as the NEC required grounding.
 
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