stoneburner
Member
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- Location
- Athens, Ohio
I had posted several months ago about my MEP016D wiring. I have a setup now that maybe others would want to use, so this question might concern any generator, not just MEP016D.
So...my MEP is located in my detached garage. Garage has separate electric service from house. I have established that L1 is hot, L2 is neutral on the genset.
I have installed a main lug load center in my detached garage, with L1 to the lug, L2 to the neutral bar. L2 (neutral) travels to the manual transfer switch neutral bar, and then to the house main load center, where it is bonded to ground.
In the separate garage (in the new main lug load center) I have a 20A single pole breaker serving a single duplex outlet in the garage (12/2 w ground) so that I can run some lights and a freezer during an outage (I will have to manually move the freezer plug to the generator-only receptacle), useable only when the genset is connected and running. I have also installed a 30A single pole breaker with 6 AWG wire (for voltage drop) to the house's manual transfer switch to serve house critical loads.
Now, the question: I have ground originating in the main lug load center cabinet in the garage, with green wire going from there, to the transfer switch cabinet, and then to the common neutral/ground in the main load center. (Neutral/ground bonded in the main load center as stated above, neutral is not switched anywhere). The three generator grounding options as I see it:
1. Should I run the genset frame ground for the 016D into the main lug load center and connect to the cabinet (where it is then travels to the trans switch cabinet and then bonded to neutral/ground rod at the house main load center)?
2. Should I ground the genset frame to a separate ground rod located at the garage?
or
3. Should I ground the genset frame to a separate ground rod AND to the main lug load center cabinet as described in 1?
I am leaning toward #3 - I can't seem to decipher the correct answer from NEC Article 250.
Anyone able to help with this?
Thanks,
Mike
So...my MEP is located in my detached garage. Garage has separate electric service from house. I have established that L1 is hot, L2 is neutral on the genset.
I have installed a main lug load center in my detached garage, with L1 to the lug, L2 to the neutral bar. L2 (neutral) travels to the manual transfer switch neutral bar, and then to the house main load center, where it is bonded to ground.
In the separate garage (in the new main lug load center) I have a 20A single pole breaker serving a single duplex outlet in the garage (12/2 w ground) so that I can run some lights and a freezer during an outage (I will have to manually move the freezer plug to the generator-only receptacle), useable only when the genset is connected and running. I have also installed a 30A single pole breaker with 6 AWG wire (for voltage drop) to the house's manual transfer switch to serve house critical loads.
Now, the question: I have ground originating in the main lug load center cabinet in the garage, with green wire going from there, to the transfer switch cabinet, and then to the common neutral/ground in the main load center. (Neutral/ground bonded in the main load center as stated above, neutral is not switched anywhere). The three generator grounding options as I see it:
1. Should I run the genset frame ground for the 016D into the main lug load center and connect to the cabinet (where it is then travels to the trans switch cabinet and then bonded to neutral/ground rod at the house main load center)?
2. Should I ground the genset frame to a separate ground rod located at the garage?
or
3. Should I ground the genset frame to a separate ground rod AND to the main lug load center cabinet as described in 1?
I am leaning toward #3 - I can't seem to decipher the correct answer from NEC Article 250.
Anyone able to help with this?
Thanks,
Mike