shop wiring question

lockedup5 said:
Your talking over my head now. So your saying my system is wrong and I need two ground rods at my garage?

Explain me something. What is the difference between a neutral and a ground? They attach to the same bar in the box.
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http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/alternating-current-in-electronics-hot-neutral-and.html

Neutral wire is the return path for electricity. Because the neutral and ground are tied together, to some extent that is also true for ground - but ONLY if the neural isn't doing its job. However ground also doubles as having the safety of being tied to the earth so that in a worst-case scenario, current can be dissipated around.

Remember current takes the path of least resistance. Relatively speaking, the resistance between the neutral and hot is not that huge, so current will naturally flow between the hot wire and that one. Since the ground is tied to ground, which naturally dissipates current, the native resistance is bigger.So current from the hot will flow to it but only if it cannot take the neutral path first.

Technically you only need 2 wires for current to flow (w/ A/C). As long as the energy potential on one is higher than the other, electrons do their thing.
 
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shawn said:
That is not compliant with NEC. NEC says accessory buildings get their own local ground, and it gets tied back to service ground with an appropriate size conductor. Subpanels are not neutral bonded. You should have four wires from the main panel to the accessory panel for 240V split phase service.
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You are right. I was thinking out of my ass and had my head in a sub panel I just installed IN THE SAME STRUCTURE. Separate structure changes that.

NEC 08 changed the rules here. Before 08 only 3 wires were required and you grounded locally. After 08 you need 4 and tie the ground together.

To further complicate matters of code the 08 is the publish dates and then every state adopts it when they see fit. So you could have a structure built in 2010 that was under 05 law not 08.

[I should probably add for those far outside the realm the 0x refers to year revisions. 2005 2008 etc.]
 
lockedup5 said:
Guess what I was saying is they are both essentially grounds. What Dave posted helped some
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No they are not essentially grounds.
The neutral (white) is known as the grounded conductor, it creates the voltage differential that allows electrons to flow and ties back into the utility.
The "ground" (green) grounding conductor is a safety vale that dumps rogue current into the earth for the protection of people and property in event of a short or other failure.

They serve a very different purpose.

People get confused because for years houses were built without a separate system. But they also insulated with asbestos and painted with lead. Like those things once enough folks died they changed some shit.
 
redneckjeep87 said:
@Ron you live in Raleigh as well, im sure its much like mecklenberg county with their codes....which are f'n strict as hell. I guess i need to look up rowan county. To be honest i really dont care if it passes code or not at the moment, i just want it to be safe and work. Hell theres an addition on my house that was here when i bought it and i KNOW that its probably not perfectly to code. The part that i redid is but the other half who knows
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I never have and the good Lord willing never will live in Raleigh.

Im in SC, we inspect from the truck seat
 
Meck is probably the strictest AHJ in NC.
 
@Ron sorry i was reading things from you and Shawn at the same time and got confused. And yes @shawn meck is terrible. They even want low voltage landscape lighting to be to a certain code depending on how the inspector reads the rules.
 
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