• Welcome to The Building Code Forum

    Your premier resource for building code knowledge.

    This forum remains free to the public thanks to the generous support of our Sawhorse Members and Corporate Sponsors. Their contributions help keep this community thriving and accessible.

    Want enhanced access to expert discussions and exclusive features? Learn more about the benefits here.

    Ready to upgrade? Log in and upgrade now.

Sub Panel for 240V Only in Residence

The only thing I see is an open knockout on the right side, but I'm not an electrician. Is it a subpanel for electric heat strips in a nearby air handler?
 
Similarly, not an electrical inspector... but there is (3) circuits and only (1) ground wire.
 
jar546 said:
There is no neutral in this panel.
Click to expand...
So, if the neutral lugs are part of the grounding bar which is bonded to the grounding electrode system, then what is this conductor doing ? first impression is that the tape should be white indicating a neutral (grounded conductor), but I can't trace anything back to the equipment and only go on the assumption of what is being revealed.

When you said water heater it made me think about another setup whereas the two conductors hitting the neutral lug are actually hot conductors and the grounding (green tape) are neutral carrying conductors. As an example baseboard electrical heating elements whereas there are 2 conductors and a bare conductor, both the white and black conductors (romax) are actually two ungrounded conductors and the bare conductor acts as a neutral.
Is that what's going on here in this example?
Also how is a simultaneously disconnect achieved with 3 sets of 2 poled 40 amp breakers?
I also am not an electrical inspector, but am curious.
thanks
 
Bryant said:
So, if the neutral lugs are part of the grounding bar which is bonded to the grounding electrode system, then what is this conductor doing ? first impression is that the tape should be white indicating a neutral (grounded conductor), but I can't trace anything back to the equipment and only go on the assumption of what is being revealed.

When you said water heater it made me think about another setup whereas the two conductors hitting the neutral lug are actually hot conductors and the grounding (green tape) are neutral carrying conductors. As an example baseboard electrical heating elements whereas there are 2 conductors and a bare conductor, both the white and black conductors (romax) are actually two ungrounded conductors and the bare conductor acts as a neutral.
Is that what's going on here in this example?
Also how is a simultaneously disconnect achieved with 3 sets of 2 poled 40 amp breakers?
I also am not an electrical inspector, but am curious.
thanks
Click to expand...

Well, let me break this down. There is no neutral because there are only 240V loads. There is no requirement to turn off all 3 circuits at the same time. No white tape is needed because there is no neutral and none of the circuits require a neutral. Also with the smaller size of the wire, white tape would have been non-compliant anyway as the smaller size wire requires full length white insulation.

The problem that no on sees is the fact that they are using the neutral bar as a point of connection for the equipment grounding conductors (EGCs) and the neutral bar is not bonded to the panel, therefore a violation. FMC is the conduit used to feed this panel which is not good above 20A for an EGC so essentially the panel is not bonded.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top