Panel Change out Question

[Gary Dagley]

I went to a friends house they are buying
Someone had changed out there panel
it was in a closet but now is outside
the funny thing to me was they only ran one 1/0 neutral from old panel to new panel
thru a 2'' nipple along with all the un-grounded conductors is this a code violation?

 

[Wire-Smith]

I went to a friends house they are buying
Someone had changed out there panel
it was in a closet but now is outside
the funny thing to me was they only ran one 1/0 neutral from old panel to new panel
thru a 2'' nipple along with all the un-grounded conductors is this a code violation?

sounds like it, sounds like neutral is being shared downstream of ocpd

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Here is the section that applies

200.4 Neutral Conductors. Neutral conductors shall be installed
in accordance with 200.4(A) and (B).
(A) Installation. Neutral conductors shall not be used for
more than one branch circuit, for more than one multiwire
branch circuit, or for more than one set of ungrounded feeder
conductors unless specifically permitted elsewhere in this Code.

 

[GerryB]

I went to a friends house they are buying
Someone had changed out there panel
it was in a closet but now is outside
the funny thing to me was they only ran one 1/0 neutral from old panel to new panel
thru a 2'' nipple along with all the un-grounded conductors is this a code violation?

How did they do it? I had that on a job where some one did a service upgrade in a new location and spliced everything in the old panel turning it into a junction box. Same thing they ran the un-grounded conductors to the breakers and spliced about 10 neutrals together with just a #6 to the panel. It was funny because I ran a new circuit to the panel and was terminating it when it dawned on me "where are all the neutrals for these circuits"? A definite violation as Dennis pointed out. The only thing that comes to mind is those generac panels with the whips on them for transferring some circuits. They give you one neutral but the individual neutrals are still in the main panel.
Is the new panel back to back with the old and did they leave the old neutral bar alone? Might still be a violation but I was curious as to what they did.

 

[Gary Dagley]

Back to Back

Back to Back

Yes the new panel is back to back

 

[JFletcher]

Yes the new panel is back to back

So they used bolt on lugs on the neutral bars to accommodate the larger neutral wire, and used one neutral from bar to bar.

Aside from being a code violation, it was probably more work to get that piece of neutral wire in and find the right size bolt on lugs then it would have been to simply wire nut all the neutrals in the old panel / junction box.

I'm guessing that whoever did this was told that wire nuts and splices are not allowed in panels, which is completely untrue.

Eta : the conductors all appear to be grouped together and going through the same holes, so inductive Heating would probably not be an issue. Will take about 20 or 30 minutes to fix what you have pictured

 

[kwired]

sounds like it, sounds like neutral is being shared downstream of ocpd

I guess a welcome is in order since that was your first post.

I think you have the right idea but not exactly the right description as we don't put OCPD in the neutral as a general rule.

As says in the section Dennis quoted neutral conductors can't be used for more then one branch circuit. A mutiwire branch circuit is considered one branch circuit so sharing in that situation is allowed. One common neutral for all the overcurent devices involved in OP situation panel is not a proper multiwire branch circuit per NEC.

 

[Coppersmith]

When you fix it, keep in mind that neutrals and the matching ungrounded conductors have to be grouped together in the new panel using labels, tie wraps or similar.

 

[mbrooke]

This was not a code violation all that long ago. In fact in some areas it was somewhat common. Either the guy was an old timer not knowing better or that panel change out was done at a time when it was legal.