3 wire panels w/o GEC

[Jerry Lozier]

A slight drift from '10 gauge run to 100 amp fused subpanel'

yesterdays inspection:

Late 1970's detached shop on slab with it's own meter with overhead feed from the utility.

(2)100 amp panels: one to apartment, one to garage. 3 feeder cables each, with neutrals and grounds bonded as they should be. Both had 100 amp main breakers with tie downs.

Outside of substandard legend and a couple double tabs which needed fixed the only other thing was there was no evidence of GEC at meter base, or in either panel.

I called for fix of double taps and the legend, and adding GEC to current stds. Was there another path to ground I missed??

Did I miss something with GEC??

[Jim Katen]

I don't know if there was a grounding electrode that you missed.

Even in 1970, though, there should have been a connection to the earth at the building. In most cases it would have been a single connection to the water service pipe. Of course, now there should be a grounding electrode system that includes any underground metal water piping as well as a pair of made electrodes.

[Marc]

You described an installation with two main panels. Was there a gutter between the meter and the two mains? One common practice is to run the electrode grounding conductor to the gutter and bond the neutral at that point instead of the meter box or panels.

Were the two panels adjacent to each other in the same location?

Marc

[Jerry Lozier]

You described an installation with two main panels. Was there a gutter between the meter and the two mains? One common practice is to run the electrode grounding conductor to the gutter and bond the neutral at that point instead of the meter box or panels.

Were the two panels adjacent to each other in the same location?

Marc

No gutter, one panel backed up to meter base other panel in garage maybe 20' away.

[Marc]

You described an installation with two main panels. Was there a gutter between the meter and the two mains? One common practice is to run the electrode grounding conductor to the gutter and bond the neutral at that point instead of the meter box or panels.

Were the two panels adjacent to each other in the same location?

Marc

No gutter, one panel backed up to meter base other panel in garage maybe 20' away.

That's more fodder if you decide to 'throw the book' on this finding but the biggest issue IMHO remains the question of whether a grounding electrode conductor exists. No GEC, no bonding of the electrical installation to the earth.

Marc