If I see the bonding screw on the ground bar and do not see the ground bar bonded to the cabinet at all is it safe to assume the bonding screw needs to be removed from this distrubution panel? This one always trips me up. I understand they need to be separated, but always have to double check to make sure it is not separated.
This sub-panel is set up so that the left bus is for the EGC’s and the right bus is for the neutrals. Three things need to happen with this arrangement, one the EGC bus must be bonded to the panel enclosure, two there must be no connection between the EGC bus and the neutral bus and three the neutral bus must not be bonded to the enclosure. Are these three conditions met in this panel?
Thanks for your reply. I did not see the egc bus bonded to the panel. I saw the green bonding screw installed on the egc bus bar. I did not see the neutral bud bar bonded to the enclosure.
Having just the green bonding screw in place is enough to call this panel out for bonding neutrals and grounds correct?
There is a green screw on the left EGC bus. That is required to connect the EGC’s to the enclosure when the panel is set up for two separate buses (EGC and neutral). However this is a Square D Homeline panel and you cannot separate the EGC bus on the left from the neutral bus on the right. Therefore the EGC’s need to be removed and placed on a bus that is solely connected to the enclosure and the green screw need to be removed.
That is good info to know. Thanks Robert!
This is how I typically see this panel installed. Thanks so much for your help
Robert, for others that see this post can you explain further why this particular panel can’t be separated, as it may help further clarify.
Sure, some panel manufacturers design their panels with a tie bar between two neutral buses. This bar can be removed to make two separate buses, one for the EGC’s, the other for the neutrals. If you look at this blurry photo of a GE panel you can see a metal bar that is connecting the neutral bus on each side together on the bottom. This can be removed to create two separate bus sections. I would guess that maybe Square D wants you to buy a separate EGC bus.
