well grounded in Kansas
Member
- Location
- Overland Park KS
I started a thread last year that is now closed regarding a site with three separate buildings and getting power from one 1600 amp three phase panel feeding the other buildings. (3 phase Wye) The thread was Three Phase Site with Multiple Issues. And the issues still remain.
The site has ballast go out on a regular basis, low voltage lights burn out simultaneously, Arc Fault breakers trip regularly, PTAC (HVAC units) thermostats burn up and regular issues with low voltage systems like the fire alarm. Emergency lights activate when no power failure seems apparent. Last week a worker changing a light fixture was "zapped" when he touched the white neutral.
A EC has said the site meets code so we are not the repair team, but have found things the repair team misses. We found that the spec required all branch circuits to have their own neutral and that was not done. Neutrals are shared in the field. Building 2 has the main disconnect and is feed by the Utility. That building started out only having two ground rods. No Ufer or water pipe. A second GES was installed having three rods bonded and laid in a straight line and added to the existing ground buss. The other buildings, 1 and 3 do not have a GES and that would appear to be a code violation (250.32) and is not to spec/drawings which detail them. The disconnect at 1 and 3 have the ground wires from building 2 only. So there is a ground, just not one of their own. A Entech (382357) clamp on ground resistance tester at building 1 and 3 had to much noise to provide a reliable reading. Building 2 did have a good ground reading, but with five rods that stands to reason.
My questions are:
1) Has anyone seen similar electrical system anomalies when separate buildings are not grounded in accordance with NEC 250.32?
2) The building domestic water is fed by non metallic pipe so no water pipe ground is available (or needed), but the sprinkler riser is 6" metal. Should it be connected to the grounding system? It can't be used as a "ground system", but I believe it should be connected.
3) This site also has a Kohler Generator and we need to have a generator tech look at the connections. It may have ground and neutral bonded at the gen set. The transfer switch is good and no load side bond is inside it. The question is for someone familiar with generator wiring. Is ground and neutral connected together at the generator when the transfer switch only changes the three phases?
Thanks for any feedback.
The site has ballast go out on a regular basis, low voltage lights burn out simultaneously, Arc Fault breakers trip regularly, PTAC (HVAC units) thermostats burn up and regular issues with low voltage systems like the fire alarm. Emergency lights activate when no power failure seems apparent. Last week a worker changing a light fixture was "zapped" when he touched the white neutral.
A EC has said the site meets code so we are not the repair team, but have found things the repair team misses. We found that the spec required all branch circuits to have their own neutral and that was not done. Neutrals are shared in the field. Building 2 has the main disconnect and is feed by the Utility. That building started out only having two ground rods. No Ufer or water pipe. A second GES was installed having three rods bonded and laid in a straight line and added to the existing ground buss. The other buildings, 1 and 3 do not have a GES and that would appear to be a code violation (250.32) and is not to spec/drawings which detail them. The disconnect at 1 and 3 have the ground wires from building 2 only. So there is a ground, just not one of their own. A Entech (382357) clamp on ground resistance tester at building 1 and 3 had to much noise to provide a reliable reading. Building 2 did have a good ground reading, but with five rods that stands to reason.
My questions are:
1) Has anyone seen similar electrical system anomalies when separate buildings are not grounded in accordance with NEC 250.32?
2) The building domestic water is fed by non metallic pipe so no water pipe ground is available (or needed), but the sprinkler riser is 6" metal. Should it be connected to the grounding system? It can't be used as a "ground system", but I believe it should be connected.
3) This site also has a Kohler Generator and we need to have a generator tech look at the connections. It may have ground and neutral bonded at the gen set. The transfer switch is good and no load side bond is inside it. The question is for someone familiar with generator wiring. Is ground and neutral connected together at the generator when the transfer switch only changes the three phases?
Thanks for any feedback.