Except in three phase, in three phase the neutral may or may not have much current on it. Sometimes it may not even exist.
From: Chuck McCown Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2017 11:03 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] APC Site Wiring Fault The neutral and ground have totally different jobs to do. The neutral is the return path and has the exact same (should be exact same) current at the hot. It works. The ground should not have any current. It does not work. It is a storm drain. If there is a fault it conducts the fault current and helps the circuit breaker blow. The only place you can treat them the same is at the service entrance where there is a ground rod. From: That One Guy /sarcasm Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2017 10:46 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] APC Site Wiring Fault I did not know this about sub panels I see alot of times where the electricians run the ground and neutral into the same hole Im guessing in this case calling in that electrician to investigate wouldnt do alot of good but since theyre bonded at the service panel if they do that is it OK? On Thu, Feb 16, 2017 at 10:49 AM, Seth Mattinen <[email protected]> wrote: On 2/16/17 08:38, Chuck McCown wrote: But they run back to two different bars. The neutral bar and the ground bar. Then normally those two are bonded and the ground bar goes to the building entrance ground rod. Any bad connection coupled with decent amount of current causes voltage differences. Bonded only at the service entrance and separate at sub-panels; that's important. Also worth considering: there was a time when separate ground conductors wasn't required and it was OK to use the metal conduit itself as the ground path. This is no longer allowed because over time conduit fittings can loosen and make the ground bad, possibly intermittently. ~Seth -- If you only see yourself as part of the team but you don't see your team as part of yourself you have already failed as part of the team.
