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I am doing an almost complete remodel on my house. Leaving the kitchen as the cabinets are in decent shape, and they cost too much to replace at this time.
Anyway, I bought a QO SquareD 200 amp 40 slot breaker box. The box said it didn't include a ground bar and gave me the part number to buy one. So I bought them both and brought them home. When i open the box and look at it there are 4 ground bars, 2 on each side. Is one specifically for the neutral and one for ground? or does it not matter?
Also, how do I ground the whole box? I am running pex pipe so can't do it that way. Is it just run a 12 gauge wire from the box itself outside to a ground rod? Where does the ground wire attach in the box, what size rod, how long of a rod, any minimum distance from the house? Thanks in advance for all your help!!!

First I would check with your local building inspector, as the codes changes more times than you can change your socks!

When I grounded my 200 amp service, I used 6 guage wire and grounded it to the grounding strip, then ran it outside...(in fact, I ran two of them, one from each ground strip) to copper coated poles that were 8 feet in lenght, driven in the ground just on the outside of my house. (I had good clay soil, so I seperated the posts 10 feet apart and drove them in the ground then attached the wires via the thingamabob they sold me to attach it with-->brain freeze on the name of the doohickey...sorry).

DONT ATTACH IT TO YOUR WATER PIPE OR GAS PIPE!!

Too many times I have seen Water meter men/women change out a meter and get electrocuted because someone forgot to 'strap' the line before and after the meter and the people provided the ground for when the meter was taken out and almost killed!! A lot of the meter people will now take jumper cables and attach it before and aft on the copper lines to prevent that now, but, thats after too many people were injured or killed on the job first..

Wow. From the broad scope of the questions, and the way they are asked, PLEASE get some good books on home wiring and study up BEFORE even attempting this.
You are basically asking how do do the whole job, in detail.

PEX has less do do with as opposed to what feeds your house. Do you have a well with plastic coming in, or is the water main copper?
This is just one of many questions you would need to answer.
Also, permits and inspections are mandatory for a job like this.


Menace, You DO have to connect to the water lines IF they are metallic. In fact there are several specific rules if the water main is metallic. THIS IS MANDATORY, as is jumping out a meter or non-metallic filter, etc.
Because someone may not have done it correctly is NO reason to advise folks to leave it out all together.
Besides, the inspector would catch this huge mistake right away.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: speedy petey,

as a note on grounding
do not atach the ground wire from lighting rods
installed on the roof. to the plumbing pipes or the gas pipes.
i know of a house that got struck, and it unsolidered the copper pipes, with water in the lines!!! if it is attached to the gas lines
at will go BOOM

I'm sorry if I sound so uninformed. I have some knowledge about alot, but alot about almost none. I have never wired up a new breaker box before. And rather than drive somewhere to buy a book, and read the entire thing for two questions, I decided to join and ask on this forum. Plus the neutral/ground bar question may very well not be answered in any certain book I buy, because I am referring to a specific brand/model of box.
Also, when I said that there were 4 ground/neutral bars, I meant that were already attached to the breaker box. The one I bought separate was one long one.

1. I have 4 neutral/ground bars, are they specifically one or the other, or can neutral and ground wires go to the same bar?

2. How do you ground a 200 amp breaker box?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: silver02gt,

In reference to question #1, I can only tell you from recent experience that my breaker box has both neutral and ground wires going to the same ground bar. There were two ground bars, one on each side of the box, so not sure if you having 4 ground bars makes a difference.

quote:

Originally posted by silver02gt:
I'm sorry if I sound so uninformed. I have some knowledge about alot, but alot about almost none. I have never wired up a new breaker box before. And rather than drive somewhere to buy a book, and read the entire thing for two questions, I decided to join and ask on this forum. Plus the neutral/ground bar question may very well not be answered in any certain book I buy, because I am referring to a specific brand/model of box.
Also, when I said that there were 4 ground/neutral bars, I meant that were already attached to the breaker box. The one I bought separate was one long one.

1. I have 4 neutral/ground bars, are they specifically one or the other, or can neutral and ground wires go to the same bar?

2. How do you ground a 200 amp breaker box?

Well of your two "simple" questions one is NOT so simple.

1) If this is the main panel then all bars are ground and neutral bars.
You must install the bond screw/strap that is included with the panel if it is not already done.

2) #6cu to two ground rods.
Answer my questions about your water service and I can continue.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: speedy petey,

So you don't have to drive all the way to the store, here, read this:
http://www.selfhelpandmore.com/home-wiring-usa/main-dwe...olled-meter-2002.php

Sorry, when i went to reply I totally forgot about your question. I have a well with plastic coming in.
I am gonna eat supper, then come back and read your entire link. And this is the main breaker box fed by the service entrance wire coming from the meter outside.

If you have plastic water coming in then you have to hit a cold water pipe with a #4cu in an accessible location.
You will also need the afore mentioned two ground rods. That's it.

OK, that was a little confusing. From what I gathered in reading that, I have to ask, Why would I need to ground to a plastic water pipe?

A silly question, but when you say #4cu and #6cu, you are talking about 4 gauge copper wire and 6 gauge copper wire correct?

By "hit a cold water pipe" I was hoping it was assumed that I meant a copper pipe.
If the house is all PEX or CPVC then obviously there is nothing to bond.

Ok, so I need to connect two 6 gauge copper wires to two grounding rods(minimum 1/2" x 8'). Now do I connect one to each sides grounding bars or what? There was only 1 grounding screw provided with the breaker box.

Also, if you don't mind me asking, as I didn't see it anywhere in the reading material you gave me, why do I need two ground wires and rods?

Thank you very much for all of your help!!!

One wire can run to both rods, just pass the wire through the ground rod clamp. Be SURE to put the wire on the correct side of the clamps.
It does NOT matter where the ground rod wire(s) go in the panel. Any neutral or ground bar is fine, this is the main panel.

The bond screw go in it's appropriate location. This is different in each panel so you'll have to look at the instructions.