Over heated grounding conductor

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Jim W in Tampa

Jim W in Tampa

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Tampa Florida
While installing a 400 amp gen withautomatic transfer swith on a home i noticed that the ground wire (bare #4 stranded) looked rather coroded from being overheated.The home is about 1 year old.After finishing install i checked all voltages.Everything balanced.Ground wire did read about 1/4 amp while home was under small load of about 10 amps one leg 15 other.Should we be concerned ?Why did it overheat ?
 
Could it be that there is a load that has a fault and that it was not on when you checked and found only 1/4 amp on the ground?

You also might ask if they have had any problems over the last year that perhaps some other electrician/contractor had taken care of.

John
 
flick said:
Could it be that there is a load that has a fault and that it was not on when you checked and found only 1/4 amp on the ground?

You also might ask if they have had any problems over the last year that perhaps some other electrician/contractor had taken care of.

John
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The later idea is only one i can think of that would exsplain it.No other serious problems were reported.
 
DaveTap said:
I'd be a little concerned... maybe lightning strike or FPL ground fault? You don't have open neutral connection any where?
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Ground wire is in meter can on same bar as neutral from poco.The idea of open neutral was my first thaught but amp probe says it carring unbalanced load.
 
Could it be that installing electrician used some old wire he had in the van, or laying outside at the shop for the ground?
 
paul said:
Could it be that installing electrician used some old wire he had in the van, or laying outside at the shop for the ground?
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Had it just looked like tarnished from age i might believe it.This wire just simply had that look of having been over heated not old.It at one time was very hot.
 
Jim a couple of questions.First where did this happen?The second would be when was it found?
The reason i ask is simple.2 years ago i found quite the same thing here.The bare ground appeared to be blackened.The grounding conductors within the panel for about 3 maybe 4 ins had the same discoloration.Ok these did not have a gen set on them but it was a cause of concern.Other than discoloration there was no real cause for concern.

But it was puzzling.At first i attributed it to a residual lightning strike.But this occured during a non lightning time of the year also.This was in IVY Lakes off of SR 54.I did meet with Paul C CEI of pasco and what he told me was that they believed that it was due to a chemical reaction within the soil.Since the poco had direct burial and conduit into the meter base.They thought that there was a chemical reaction within the soil that sent a chemical cloud into the meter can and consequentially into the panel through the nipple and panel.

The rational was that this only occured on homes that had been trimmed out and with a meter blank and panel cover.So the possible chemical fumes permiated the enclosures and discolored the wires.

I disputed this since the actual bare #4 running down the exterior wall was also discolored.He took a wire sample but never heard anything of it again.You might want to contact him in RE: to what they found.Just a thought.
 
allenwayne said:
Jim a couple of questions.First where did this happen?The second would be when was it found?
The reason i ask is simple.2 years ago i found quite the same thing here.The bare ground appeared to be blackened.The grounding conductors within the panel for about 3 maybe 4 ins had the same discoloration.Ok these did not have a gen set on them but it was a cause of concern.Other than discoloration there was no real cause for concern.

But it was puzzling.At first i attributed it to a residual lightning strike.But this occured during a non lightning time of the year also.This was in IVY Lakes off of SR 54.I did meet with Paul C CEI of pasco and what he told me was that they believed that it was due to a chemical reaction within the soil.Since the poco had direct burial and conduit into the meter base.They thought that there was a chemical reaction within the soil that sent a chemical cloud into the meter can and consequentially into the panel through the nipple and panel.

The rational was that this only occured on homes that had been trimmed out and with a meter blank and panel cover.So the possible chemical fumes permiated the enclosures and discolored the wires.

I disputed this since the actual bare #4 running down the exterior wall was also discolored.He took a wire sample but never heard anything of it again.You might want to contact him in RE: to what they found.Just a thought.
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Job was in Still Waters off lutz lake fern.It is the wire from meter too the rods.Home was wired by JN about 1 year ago.The owner is complaing about a lot of gfci receptacles going bad.They are the ones on outside .Some have in use covers some not.That i simply chaulk up to our weather conditions and leaky gaskets.This was an over kill install but he can afford it.Why would anyone need 400 amps to keep a house going for the few outages we likely would have.

It was getting cold thursday and really out of time to worry about it.With rain being likely and having a live meter can open i simply needed to get finished.Only had him shut down for 2 1/2 hours.Was one time that using 3 men was a smart idea.
 
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Jim that EC has the habit of using helpers to run jobs. I know we spent several years together that reason and money was the reason I went where I did.If the job was done 1 year ago i woud say that the probable cause is residual ightning strikes.That Ec likes to line side gfci devices from an available circuit instead of looping.As we know gfci devices and weather don`t go well together.Replace them make sure they are caulked and be done with it.As far as the gen set goes that was a sales pitch that`s all plain and simple.HO what size gen set do I need? The EC the most expensive one I can sell you.Get it all in working order and get out of there.I`ve dealt with the people in Stillwater they have more money than sensce.
 
allenwayne said:
Jim that EC has the habit of using helpers to run jobs. I know we spent several years together that reason and money was the reason I went where I did.If the job was done 1 year ago i woud say that the probable cause is residual ightning strikes.That Ec likes to line side gfci devices from an available circuit instead of looping.As we know gfci devices and weather don`t go well together.Replace them make sure they are caulked and be done with it.As far as the gen set goes that was a sales pitch that`s all plain and simple.HO what size gen set do I need? The EC the most expensive one I can sell you.Get it all in working order and get out of there.I`ve dealt with the people in Stillwater they have more money than sensce.
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I worked for JN about 7 years ago.When the owner brought out his set of as builts with the pink highlighted home runs and blue highlited circuits i asked him if it was JN.I must admit some of the guys were not quilified to wire a dog house let alone wire houses but we have that in every company.
As far as to why he picked this one is because of who he is.People with money just like to show it off with a huge green generator in the side yard LOL.
 
Jim W in Tampa said:
It is the wire from meter too the rods.
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In that case, I can't imagine enough current running through the earth to heat the GEC, unless you drove it into a hot conductor underground.

Can you maximize the current and measure it with a clamp-on ammeter?
 
jinglis said:
I would be looking for a poor connection on the neutral right back to the supply the authority.
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I pretty much did that by checking amps on poco neutral and that ground wire.At this time it seems ok.All voltages seemed equal so unless hired to go further did more than required already.
 
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