Electrical panel wiring?

[hanau]

Started running my electric in my building.

Little confused on the neutral and ground.

If you look at the neutral bars they attached through a jumper ,(black thing)
Does the neutral and ground connect to the bars neutral on one side and ground on the opposite?
or do i buy a ground bar and install it in the panel?

I seen both ways on line.

Breaker box is not installed sideways, the picture turned on me when i uploaded it.

 

[Barnmb7117]

Doesn't code require a license to do electrical work?

 

[Gregf]

If you have to ask, you probably shouldn't.
You are going to put cable clamps on the cables?

 

[TurtleTom]

They changed breaker boxes couple decades ago with new code. Yes, the ground and common buses do connect. Ground to the copper bus, common to silver bus. Black to the breaker. Don't take my word for it though, run the query through google as this is too important to risk screwing up.
They used to sell do it yourself electrical books at hardware stores but I believe they quit doing that.

 

[eharri446]

Just for general education, the ground is the bare copper wire, the common is the white wire, and the hot is the black.

Unless you are wiring for 220 you place the black into the lug on the breaker, and the common and ground go into one of the two metal bars on the side of the breaker box.

Having said that, unless you know what you are doing and feeling good about you ability, it would be smarter to get an electrician to connect everything in the breaker box.

You can run the wires yourself to save money, and get the electrician to show you how to wire the outlets into the box to save money.

DO NOT try to connect any wiring with it hot, powered on, unless you like getting shocked.

 

[hanau]

Thanks for the replies.

It just confused me some always thought there was a separate neutral and a separate ground.

When we looked it up we found it both ways.
Neutral and grounds on the same bar and then another both on there own bars not connected.

We did get temporary power on in the building.
All outlets work and the lights work.

 

[KenV]

Earth Ground (ground rod) and the Neutral are bonded at the main breaker/disconnect panel only. They are separate into the building.

It appears you are inatalling a branch panel. NEC now requires 4 wire 220 volt wiring.

The code is a moving target and what was good 5 years ago will fail inspection today.

 

[tomas]

You should consult your local Zoning and Permits office. They were very helpful for me. When I built my shop a few years ago, I had to switch my house from a 100 AMP panel to a 200 AMP. They had all kinds of things I had to do to complete the upgrade. 2 new 8' ground rods, 6 gauge solid copper wire from panel to where water service enters the house, Carbon-mon-Oxide detectors, GFCI receptacles at the end of each circuit, among other things. You should go to Amazon and order a good electrical wiring book.

Tomas

 

[alankulwicki7]

Doesn't code require a license to do electrical work?

Not necessarily. Not sure what it is everywhere else but in Minnesota you can perform electrical work on your own home. Over the years I did all the electrical in our house addition, detached garage and basement remodel. I did make sure to cover my butt and had everything inspected :biggrin: