I am still training to become a home inspector… Electrical is definitely my weakness. I inspected a 1985 house for a friend. This is the main house panel. Double tapping on the neutral should be called out correct?
The shop had 2 small panels in it with tons of issues. But both looked like the ground and neutral bars were bonded. Am I seeing that right? I am trying to be able to understand how the bonding works in different panels and be able to spot it confidently. The stranded copper wire feeding the 100 amps seemed too small to me as well. I will definitely need to carry a wire gauge with me. It was a great learning experience!
It was a common practice 20 years ago, even though it’s not allowed. So as you continue inspecting get used to seeing it a lot. To me it’s not as important as if you had two neutral conductors double-tapped.
Larry; Interesting discussion I had with a licensed master electrician I know: Double tapping of neutral and grounding conductors was allowed in the past. I do see it a lot, including State Board of Electricity inspected service panels. This electrician added that he does not like it when the neutral and ground of the same circuit are in the same lug. That can be a dangerous situation when working on that circuit. With this information, for me, double tapping of neutral and grounding conductors is a recommended safety upgrade on older panels. I don’t know when the change came about.
Stephen; The second and third panels, were they fed direct from the meter, or were they fed through the main panel? You need to ID if they are main panels or sub-panels.
If sub-panels, your small sized copper wire may be protected by an appropriately sized breaker located in the main panel. Besides obtaining the plastic wire gauges, you can sometimes see the wire gauge printed on the wire sheathing.
This is a good diagram about main and sub-panel bonding conditions and conductor locations to keep on a clipboard with you during inspections:
Very commonly done in the past AND approved by code inspectors, electricians, etc … Just like I have one municipality by me that I would find the doorbell in the panel 50% of the time on new construction AND it PASSED code
