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In my main panel all neutral wires are connected to one bar and all ground wires are connected to another bar. is this just a personal preference or the proper way to do the job.

isherwood
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    You might mention where in the world you are ... some places may route all neutrals vie the RCDs. –  Sep 27 '17 at 14:17
  • If the whole panel is protected by a single RCD this is the only way to wire it. –  Sep 27 '17 at 14:38
  • Does the bar with all the neutrals connected to it have a green colored screw on it? – Jim Stewart Sep 27 '17 at 14:47
  • Would the standard current US panel wired in the usual way allow the use of a GFCI (RCD) as the main 2-pole breaker? – Jim Stewart Sep 27 '17 at 14:58
  • If you are in the US, and if this is the main panel, then it is entirely fine to connect to either bar. Electrically speaking, there is only one bar as they are both bonded anyway: https://diy.stackexchange.com/a/1708/47336 – TFK Sep 27 '17 at 15:51

2 Answers2

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At a sub-panel, the separation is mandatory.

At a main panel, it's optional because the neutral and ground bars are bonded, and are allowed to be the same bus, so it is legal to blend them together. However... If that panel is ever made a sub-panel, separation makes things a whole lot easier, not least, it assures you left enough wire length to reach the right buses.

Separating neutral and ground also reflects that the person actually understands what they're doing, rather than simply blindly following recipes by rote.

The core concept is that Neutral Is Not Ground. They are completely separate things which must be isolated, except in the one place they are intentionally bonded for a specific purpose.

So when you see Irish spaghetti** on the neutral bar, that tells you the installer doesn't really have the reason for the rule at the front of his mind.

** Irish flag being white, green and orange(copper)

Harper - Reinstate Monica
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  • I have to disagree with this. In modern residential work (in ~120v countries), more and more GF and AF breakers are being installed, which takes a different wiring approach. Subpanels may have few enough breakers and enough bus holes to be able to partition things according to color, but large main panels typically do not. – aghast Sep 27 '17 at 21:05
  • @AustinHastings -- you can always install more ground bars, or go to a plug-on neutral panel for that matter – ThreePhaseEel Sep 27 '17 at 22:15
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In the Main service panel it is personal preference as that is the location where the neutral and ground are bonded anyway.

At a sub-panel separation of the neutral and ground is required by the National Electrical Code.

ArchonOSX
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