Grounding, Bonding-Meter at the pole

Another grounding/bonding question. Hoping for a licensed electrician’s input based on current code. This is an 11 month warranty inspection and the homeowner has different opinions from the power company and electricians. The power company says a grounding system is only required for the meter. One electrician says that should be fine, another electrician states a grounding system is required at the dwelling panel.

The meter is detached from the dwelling. The meter has a grounding rod and wire. The main disconnect for the home is to the left of the meter. There is a panel on the right of the meter for a future barn.

There is a three wire feed from the meter to the disconnect but there is a 4th wire (connected to the neutral and the enclosure) running to the dwelling. The 4th wire appears to be attached to the ground bus in the dwelling panel. The grounds and neutrals are separated in the dwelling panel but the bond screw appears to be screwed in.

There is also a three wire feed from the meter to the panel for the future barn.

My thought/questions are:

  1. Should the feeds from the meter to the exterior panels be 4 wire feeds?
  2. The dwelling is detached from the meter/disconnect. Should it have it’s own grounding system.
  3. Can the conduit between the meter base and electric panel enclosures provide the bonding to the ground system? If so wouldn’t the dwelling still need its own grounding electrode system and the bond screw removed.





@rmeier2 or @jmilby may see it this time. :wink:

1 Like

This guy is correct the other two opinions are incorrect. The separate structure requires its own GES (grounding electrode system).

The dwelling requires a 4-wire feeder which appears to be correct. Since there is a separate neutral bus and a separate EGC bus at the dwelling the green screw (the MBJ) needs to be removed. A GEC from the electrodes(s) needs to land on the EGC bus.

No, ahead of the service disconnects only 3-conductors are required because all metal parts are bonded to the neutral. The fact that the nipples between the meter and the service disconnects are metal is not relevant. They could be metal or PVC. The metal nipples are required to be bonded by something other than standard locknuts. That may be present within the meter enclosure which cannot be seen in the photos.

There must be a MBJ (main bonding jumper) in the panel to the right of the meter. It could be a green bonding screw. Also each service disconnect is required to be connected by a GEC to the grounding electrode. There is no visible connection on the panel to the right.

3 Likes

Thanks for taking the time to respond, Robert. Your input is valued and respected by me and probably many others on the forum.

2 Likes

Robert covered it well. The service is next to the meter. This is where the bond between neutral and ground takes place. Anything downstream needs a 4 wire feed.

The plastic bushing in the left panel is not installed properly. It also looks like a small white conductor is tapped at the split bolt.

I was trying to figure out what that is.

Just want to correct something I said earlier, the GEC can land at any point from the service disconnect to the service point which includes the meter enclosure. It appears that there is a 1/2" PVC entering the bottom of the meter enclosure, if that contains the GEC then it is not required to bring an additional GEC to each service disconnect.

1 Like

Thanks for responding Jim, I saw the bushing on site but didn’t note the white wire.
I am curious and am trying to get another look at the service next week. This is out in farm county and I wonder if it isn’t a piece of grass or straw.

Thanks Robert,
Does the bond screw still need installed once the panel is in use?

The panel to the right of the meter requires the bond screw because it contains one of the two service disconnects. The panel at the dwelling cannot bond the neutral to the enclosure.

1 Like