Neutral to Ground Bonding Jumper

Status
Not open for further replies.
J

John Billig

Member
Location
Wellington, Colorado
I am building a home in Colorado. The power company has installed a transformer and a breaker/meter box next to it. I will be supplying the 200amp breaker at the meter box. I will also run my feeder conduit and wire underground to my 200 amp panel at the home. The panel has a 200 amp breaker. Would the bond from neutral to ground go at the breaker/meter box or in the electrical panel at my home? Assume I would bond the neutral and ground at the panel in my home, but am now questioning if it should go in the Meter/breaker box at the utility transformer which is about 300 ft from my home.

thanks in advance.
John
 
ince you are supplying the breaker and running the wire (which you correctly identify as "feeder") you need that feeder to be 4 wire, bond the neutral-grounding at the meter. Do not bond at the house and connect your grounding electrode to the grounding bar at the house.
 
Thanks for your response. I will bond the neutral and #4 ground that is running in the feeder conduit at the meter/breaker enclosure. I am assuming I will connect the neutral wire coming from the transformer with the neutral within my feeder conduit as well as the #4 copper ground wire within the feeder conduit. Since my electrode ground will be attached to the ground bus in the panel locate at my home, don't I still need to bond the meter/breaker enclosure to the neutral/ground lug as well? I've found video from Mike Holt suggesting that the electrode ground will terminate in the meter or service disconnect enclosure. See screen shot of Mike's diagram below.



Eletrode Conductor.jpg
 
Here is a drawing of my system and how I propose to connect everything. Question is do I need to run an additional wire from neutral/ground lug at meter and bond to the Meter/breaker enclosure? Does everything else look correct? In the house next door, the inspector made the home owner run two ground rods, 6ft apart and tie this electrode to the phone system grounds. Possibly for surge and lightning protection.
Home Feeder and Grounding.jpg
 

Attachments

  • Home Feeder and Grounding.jpg
    Home Feeder and Grounding.jpg
    72.3 KB · Views: 7
Last edited:
I understand, but the enclosure the power company supplied doesn't provide for any lugs to connect the neutral and ground. I have to supply this connection and also the 200 amp breaker that goes in the meter enclosure. Assuming I just purchase a 3 hole lug and connect both neutrals and ground wire in conduit then bolt to enclosure after sanding paint where lug attaches.

thanks
John
 
John Billig said:
I am building a home in Colorado. The power company has installed a transformer and a breaker/meter box next to it. I will be supplying the 200amp breaker at the meter box. I will also run my feeder conduit and wire underground to my 200 amp panel at the home. The panel has a 200 amp breaker. Would the bond from neutral to ground go at the breaker/meter box or in the electrical panel at my home? Assume I would bond the neutral and ground at the panel in my home, but am now questioning if it should go in the Meter/breaker box at the utility transformer which is about 300 ft from my home.

thanks in advance.
John
Click to expand...

John Billig said:
I understand, but the enclosure the power company supplied doesn't provide for any lugs to connect the neutral and ground. I have to supply this connection and also the 200 amp breaker that goes in the meter enclosure. Assuming I just purchase a 3 hole lug and connect both neutrals and ground wire in conduit then bolt to enclosure after sanding paint where lug attaches.

thanks
John
Click to expand...
As mentioned the meter/breaker combo unit usually has permanent bonding - no separate grounding bus is needed. If there isn't enough lugs on the grounded bus assembly you can bolt additional EGC's or a EGC bus to the enclosure. You can't use the enclosure to carry neutral current therefore you can't bolt any additional bus/lugs to the enclosure to use for grounded (neutral) conductors.

Whether or not you must call that utility supplied meter/disconnect the service disconnecting means can vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Some AHJ's want additional service disconnecting means because the POCO can if they want change that out to one that doesn't have a qualifying service disconnecting means in it. Around here I could still run three wires from that meter to the house and call the main at the house the service disconnecting means for this reason. But if I supplied and installed the meter/main instead of POCO it is then the service disconnect and I must run separate neutral and EGC from that point on. If I run an EGC to the house in your situation the inspector may say I didn't have to but he won't reject it either, though the bonding jumper must be removed and keep neutral and EGC separated at the house, mostly because I would otherwise have parallel grounded conductor but the parallel elements are not same size, type, etc.
 
The meter/breaker enclosure doesn't have any neutral or ground lugs installed. I need to provide. So I am understanding that I need to purchase a bus bar that is isolated from the enclosure, then connect both neutrals and the ground wire from the feeder conduit all together. Can I then run a separate ground wire from this bus to the enclosure? Or possibly the enclosure is already grounded from the line side feeding the meter. Will have to look and see if I can see a ground coming from the transformer to the enclosure.
 
Last edited:
John Billig said:
The meter/breaker enclosure doesn't have any neutral or ground lugs installed. I need to provide. So I am understanding that I need to purchase a bus bar that is isolated from the enclosure, then connect both neutrals and the ground wire from the feeder conduit all together. Can I then run a separate ground wire from this bus to the enclosure? Or possibly the enclosure is already grounded from the line side feeding the meter. Will have to look and see if I can see a ground coming from the transformer to the enclosure.
Click to expand...
It certainly has at least one lug or at least a stud to attach a lug for the outgoing neutral conductor and is likely on a bus bar with incoming neutral conductor somehow landed on it - and most likely already bolted (bonded) to the cabinet. I can't ever recall needing to install a bonding jumper in a meter-main assembly as the incoming grounded conductor is somehow already bonded to the enclosure.

Make and model number or pictures of what you have?
 
kwired said:
It certainly has at least one lug or at least a stud to attach a lug for the outgoing neutral conductor and is likely on a bus bar with incoming neutral conductor somehow landed on it - and most likely already bolted (bonded) to the cabinet. I can't ever recall needing to install a bonding jumper in a meter-main assembly as the incoming grounded conductor is somehow already bonded to the enclosure.

Make and model number or pictures of what you have?
Click to expand...


Yes, will take a picture of the meter/breaker enclosure next weekend when I am on the property. New home being built here in Colorado. I will also look for model number and take a picture of interior. I have a call into the power company IREA to get information on what breaker I need to purchase for the enclosure. Inspector is requiring I install Arc Fault breakers to feed all circuits except bathroom GFI, outdoor and garage GFi's. There not cheap. Haven't seen Arc Fault breakers being used at my home in California. Must be a Colorado thing, unless the code is going to state this at some point in the code book for all states.

thanks
John
 
John Billig said:
Yes, will take a picture of the meter/breaker enclosure next weekend when I am on the property. New home being built here in Colorado. I will also look for model number and take a picture of interior. I have a call into the power company IREA to get information on what breaker I need to purchase for the enclosure. Inspector is requiring I install Arc Fault breakers to feed all circuits except bathroom GFI, outdoor and garage GFi's. There not cheap. Haven't seen Arc Fault breakers being used at my home in California. Must be a Colorado thing, unless the code is going to state this at some point in the code book for all states.

thanks
John
Click to expand...

California has their own code, it is mostly same as NEC but does have differences. IDK what their AFCI requirements are at this point.

If you are strictly going off NEC you have needed AFCI for most things in the house since 2008 edition.

NEC doesn't specify different requirements for different states, but a jurisdiction can amend what is written in the NEC and make it their law.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top