Service meter combo panel connection to main house breaker panel
Hello to all.
Background: I’m rehabbing a house on a rural property in a small (population) county in Washington State which doesn’t have a mechanism to ask the code inspector. I’m looking for clarification on running wires from a service meter combo panel with a main disconnect to a main panel in the house.
The meter / combo panel is about 50 feet from the house on a pole.
The panel has a main disconnect, a area for some breakers, and then two lugs and a lug 0n the ground / neutral bar. These are bonded with grounds running off the pole to double ground rods.
The house has a new 40/80 panel. 6′ from the entrance of underground conduit that runs in a crawl space to the panel.
These two are connected with 2″ PVC conduit, 24 inches in the ground.
I am getting ready to run the feeder / service wire between them. It is sized for 200 amp service. 00 awg copper for the 3 conductors and I have 1 awg for the ground, if I need the ground which comes to the question.
The code has a reference, if the house is the main load, I can run the wires from the combo panel to the house panel with or without a ground.
Do I need to keep the neutral and ground separate in the house main panel, or should I bond that panel? The code just states I can treat this as a main service panel, to me that says it can and should be bonded.
Replies
you need a separate ground wire. The ground and the neutral need to be separate at the main panel, In small counties in Washington the electrical code is probably enforce by the state.
Thanks, code in WA is by the state for electrical. The nearest inspector is over an hour drive from my property. My permit is with the state.
There is a provision in the NEC that allows for this to be a main panel as well if it is the primary residence panel. Was looking to avoid adding grounding bars just to keep the inside of the panel cleaner. I'll be adding the ground bars.
Pulled my service wires yesterday.
My rule of thumb is that wherever the main breaker is that is the main panel and any panels downstream from it are subpanels where neutral is isolated from panel.
Thanks, I pulled my wires yesterday and decided to go with the house panel being a sub-panel so I will add ground bars to the panel in the house to separate the gound and neutrals.
After looking at the meter combo panel the electrician that put that in for me a few years ago has it setup for this with lugs for both ground and neutral already in the panel.