Is the wiring in this subpanel correct?

Question

Just want to make sure the wiring is correct. I have seen examples of the of the black and red switched in the sub-panel. This is a temporary connection to the subpanel using double 60 amp breaker with 6 gauge wire. New 200 amp service will connect the new box and the old box will come out.

Did I wire this correctly?

Plus one for a useful question, but geez. You're playing with fire, friend! — isherwood, Jan 27 '16 at 20:52
Am I reading this right...? The top, old panel is currently your main, but will be removed soon. The bottom, new panel is your "subpanel" that will soon be reconnected as the main? So you're just trying to move over all of the wiring to the new panel, while staying connected to power? — TFK, Jan 28 '16 at 14:06
yes thats the plan. the old wiring is a mess and has junction box connections going in all different directions. the plan is to rewire to the new box. — Nikisal, Jan 28 '16 at 15:19

score 14 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 16 '20 at 10:07

14

If you're in the US, this is NOT correct.

Enclosure not bonded

The bonding strap on the right side of the panel (when looking at the panel), should be moved to the left side. It should be connected to the enclosure using the green screw, and the tab should be connected to one of the grounding bar's terminals.

Double tapped neutral bar

On the neutral bar, only a single conductor can terminate per screw terminal. You've got two wires per terminal, which is not allowed.

Neutral and grounding conductors not separated

In a secondary panel, the grounding conductors and "neutral" conductors must be kept separate.

You should move the grounding conductors, and terminate them at the grounding bar instead.

Neutral and grounding bars not separated

You should also remove the bonding conductor that is connecting the grounding and neutral bars together. (Thanks @ArchonOSX).

Unprotected wiring

I'm not sure what's going on at the top of the enclosure, but it looks like you've got some conduit work to finish up.

NOTES:

The main panel photo is fuzzy, so I can't tell what size breaker is feeding the second panel. You also didn't mention the size of the conductors between the panels. So I can't say for sure if you used the proper size conductors.
It also looks like you connected the ground to the neutral bar in the main panel, and the neutral to the ground bar. Not such a big deal, since they're bonded in the main panel.
This answer is based on National Electrical Code 2014.

edited Jun 16 '20 at 10:07

Community

1

answered Jan 27 '16 at 20:10

Tester101

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I can't paste a picture, but what the heck is going on in the poster's first picture -- there is a white wire connected to a breaker and a red wire connected to the neutral bus? Right hand side, fourth breaker down. – rrauenza Jan 27 '16 at 23:51
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@rrauenza It looks like it's paralleled with the white wire, and connected to the service neutral (but I it's not a clear enough photo to tell). Probably didn't have a large enough piece of white wire, so added in the red to meet the service neutrals ampacity. – Tester101 Jan 28 '16 at 00:03
1

Could you mention what countries codes you are basing your answer on? – PlasmaHH Jan 28 '16 at 09:26
ok, the exposed wires will be covered in tubing and the ground and white can be seperated. what im not clear on are the first two parts. – Nikisal Jan 28 '16 at 15:22
@Nikisal Once you move the grounding conductors to the grounding bar, you won't have to worry about the double tapped terminals anymore. Terminals are not allowed to have more than one wire connected to them, unless they are listed and labeled for it. However, neutral bars can never have multiple conductors connected to a single screw terminal. – Tester101 Jan 28 '16 at 16:52
@Nikisal As for bonding the enclosure. The big metal box containing the panel (enclosure), must be connected to the grounding conductor. That way the enclosure can safely carry any fault currents along a safe path to ground. – Tester101 Jan 28 '16 at 16:53
2

Keep in mind he's going to convert it from a sub-panel to a main panel soon, so he will want to save that neutral-ground bonding bar and put it back in when it becomes a main panel. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Jan 28 '16 at 22:21

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 27 '16 at 20:41

This does not look correct to me, assuming this sub panel is in the same building as the main panel.

First of all, the neutral and ground should be separated, but it does not look like you have removed the bonding strap.

Similarly, the few circuits you have wired do not have their grounds going to the grounding bus.

If you are not comfortable installing a sub panel it might be a good idea to hire an electrician.

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 29 '16 at 14:44

I'll give you a general answer, based on the previous answers, but oriented towards your final goal (to only have this as a sub temporarily.)

First off, you need to convert this panel so that it is only a sub panel while doing your conversion.

Bond the panel. Move the screw over and reconnect it into your ground bar.

Remove the conductor between the neutral and ground bars. This step is specifically to make this a sub-panel. Do know though, this will need to be reconnected when you convert back to a main - so don't misplace it.

You've now gotten yourself a sub panel. The last step, while wiring a sub, is to ensure that your ground and neutral wires are separated to their respective bars. It's not like a main where they're basically one and the same - in a sub the grounds go to the ground bar and the neutrals to the neutral bar. Since you're trying to keep power to your main while doing this work, it'll take some more time and work to separate everything vs being able to wire to either side if it were the actual main.

Last thing worth mentioning here, is that you do have only a 60A breaker with appropriate sized wires leading to this sub. Although that is correct, make sure that you don't add too much load to your second panel and then blow the wires or breaker trying to use this panel while waiting for your service to switch over. Since you're upgrading your service size, I'd guess that you're needing more power. Do know though that this 60A breaker will basically be a bottleneck if you try to press it. Since your current main is 100A, you probably should have used a 100A breaker if you were already near the limit. Shouldn't be an issue, but just don't try to run everything on the sub just yet.

At this point you would connect all of your circuits and everything will be usable. Next, when it comes time to switch over mains, there are a few things that will have to be done.

Disconnect and remove the feeders from the existing main to your sub panel - the #6 wire (black, red, white, and bare ground) - and remove the 60A breaker from the old panel.
Reconnect the conductor between the neutral and ground bars that was removed in step 2 above.
Finish the panel off by connecting the new main lines and reconnect the ground back to your grounding system.