A service panel was converted when a standby generator was added.
The original SEU that you see entering from the top was disconnected from the main breaker. Its two ungrounded conductors were spliced and ran to the service-rated ATS through the bottom left of the panel. The SE neutral was left terminated at this panel. They then ran a 4-conductor feeder from the ATS thru the center bottom of this panel and terminated its neutral at the same bus bar on the right side as the service bare neutral WTH!
Definitely sounds screwy to me. By chance, were you able to open up the transfer switch cover and see with the wiring there looked like? Not that it makes that big a difference since an electrician has to come in and fix this set up anyway.
So what they’ve done is extend the service from the meter to the ATS through the main panel. They used the ATS as the main disconnect and then routed 4 wires back to this panel to supply voltage to the home.
I know you can splice wires in the main panel. I don’t know if you can splice the SEC in the main panel. If they are approved/listed connections, then I simply just don’t know the answer other than turning the panel into a rat’s nest. It may or not be a code issue, I’m not the code guy.
Landing the neutral in the panel first and not running it to disconnect first seems like that should be an issue, but is it? It’s all essentially equipotential, and the if the disconnect is disconnected, then nothing is getting to it anyway. Shrug, I dunno.
Seems like the right thing to do would have been to put the SEC into a separate box, extend it to the ATS and run the 4 wires back. Maybe Robert will chime in and give a good answer.
Good thinking… as HIs we ought to know that this is way wrong. This was inspected before the house purchase by a “decent” HI and it wasn’t called out. Forget the hard stuff, we can start with the simple stuff like where can service neutral terminate? and turning ATS into service caused the old main panel become a subpanel. What rules apply to a subpanel? We ought to also know that a service conductor may not run together with non service conductors as a general rule. Then we go from there BTW, I love the excuse “oh, but we are not code inspectors” My SOP tells me to inspect the inside components of a panel. It does not break it down and specify what to inspect inside and what not to. I found this inside a panel
My suggestion is throw a grenade at this and start over. In all seriousness this needs a complete rewire staring with service conductors that are run without overcurrent protection past their point of entry into the structure, that’s a big issue by itself. The neutral is required at the servcie disconnect (in this case the ATS) to bond the metal cabinet of the ATS. The existing GEC(s) need to be relocated to the service disconnect and the green MBJ screw needs to be removed. The EGC’s and the neutrals need to land on separate buses.
Given the level of this hack work pictured I wouldn’t be surprised if the ATS isn’t even service rated and therefore cannot be use as the service disconnect.
Unfortunately, it isn’t getting corrected because as far as the homeowner is concerned, everything is “working”. Just wanted to post it as educational material. It’s nuts but it is what it is.
I won’t lose an sleep over it unless I lived there. Someone could argue that fire or death are both possibilities the way that thing is wired. I wonder what their insurance company would think about this mess.
WTH!
BTW, I love the excuse “oh, but we are not code inspectors” My SOP tells me to inspect the inside components of a panel. It does not break it down and specify what to inspect inside and what not to. I found this inside a panel