Electricians here? Need advice

[marlboro man]

:tits:

[Simplysix]

:tits:

This^

[Gump]

:tits:

lol...thanks bro

[bmwnut]

Thank you. I can't seperate neutrals and grounds in the house sub-panel. there's no way and the bars are connected to eachother but I will add the ground rods. What do you mean add a number 6 to the sub-panel? House or garage and #6 ground wire?

Add a new ground bar to the house sub and run a #6 wire from it to the ground bar in the main panel seprate netural and grounds in sub

garage should be the same also ground rod at garage and house---each building not panel

all sub panels should have four wires hot-hot-netural-ground

some panels you need to add the ground bar

not tryin to be a rag just want you to have a safe job

Edited December 22, 2011 by bmwnut

[electrode]

What BMWNUT said. Make sure you separate the ground (green) from the Neutral (white) in the garage panel and install a ground rod with a #4 copper wire to the ground block in the panel. I would use a breaker to feed the garage instead of the power block though.

good luck.

[flounder]

Your wiring issue was way more complicated than mine. I recently just wired my house for a generator using the existing hot tub box outside. The house doesnt have a hot tub anymore so the box worked out perfect other than a few modifications..

[ohiomike]

Wow, hope you have a reliable fire station nearby and have some escape procedures in order for the day when you burn everything down.

I started reading this all and man, you have created a real mess. Yours is a prime reason why trained educated electricians are needed. Screw the code violations, you should be more concerned with all the fire safety issues you have created.

So you have a properly wired and installed 200A main breaker panel in your house feeding a 100A sub panel in the same house. Because of voltage potential it is required that the sub panel be fed with 4 wires. 2 hots, 1 neutral and 1 ground. But thats not the worst of it. You then ran wire sized for a 200A panel out to another 200A panel you are also using as a sub panel, and only ran 3 wires out to it too? That is a total waste of money and very illegal and very unsafe. If both sub panels are utilized to 80% of their capacity you are looking at a total failure of the main panel which could turn into an instant fire.

The only way I can think of for you to make this even halfway safe is to take a #6 stranded wire with green insulation and run it from the main panel to the 100A sub. Add another ground bar to the sub and move all the ground wires along with the green #6 to the new ground bar. Then take out the bonding screw in the sub panel.

Is the wire going to the 200A sub panel copper or aluminum? For the aluminum to be rated at the same amperage as the copper wire, the aluminum wire has to be 2 sizes larger.

Feed the 200A sub with wire that is terminated onto a 100A breaker in the 200A main panel. You must also run 4 wires to the 200A sub panel. 2 hots, 1 neutral and 1 ground. If you have only run 3 out there, once again, run a #4 stranded copper wire with green insulation out there and do the same with the ground bar setup as you did in the 100A sub.

Do not set any ground rods at any of the sub panels. Set at least one at the main panel and run a #4 bare copper wire from the main panel to the ground rod.

I doubt if any electrical inspector would pass your wiring setup even the way I explained, but at the least it would be safe.

There is a reason why the NFPA (National Fire Protection Assn) is so involved with writing and updating the National Electrical Code. Guess why? Fuk up electrical installations and you create extreme fire hazards. And people die. Dying in a fire has got to be one of the worst ways to go. Hope its not you.

[Gump]

What BMWNUT said. Make sure you separate the ground (green) from the Neutral (white) in the garage panel and install a ground rod with a #4 copper wire to the ground block in the panel. I would use a breaker to feed the garage instead of the power block though.

good luck.

Thanks. I can do this.

BMW-thanks. I cant seperate neutral and grounds in the house sub panel though way too many of them and the wires would be too short.

[Gump]

If both sub panels are utilized to 80% of their capacity you are looking at a total failure of the main panel which could turn into an instant fire.

How could that even happen when everything is ran thru 1, 200 amp breaker to begin with? The house sub panel breaker would blow at 100 amps before the 200 amp breaker even got close. The 200 amp panel in the garage is only 200 amp because the wires were too big, 4/0, and requested by the electric company to control voltage drop because of the distance. I gutted and wired the entire house ten years ago. Got rid of the tube and wire gunk. I don't want to do anything unsafe, but feel it is currently safe, (minus this garage mess) knock on wood, there's 2 different wires connected to two different breakers feeding each room for seperate outlets and lights. Then all the 3way switches, furnace, oven, water heater, GFCI's, DRyer, Overkill, compared to some of the stuff i've seen. Now the garage thing which I didn't finish, Ya'll are making me worried.

I appreciate your comments.

"Is the wire going to the 200A sub panel copper or aluminum?" The wire from the 200 amp main panel in the house to the sub panel, a foot over, is the the same wire that the original panel(the now sub panel) used to tie into the meter on the house.

Edited December 23, 2011 by Gump