Actually i am seeking some opinions on a couple of things that have come up on the job. The first is from a discussion i had with the electical inspector about the service i am building. I am adding a 400 Amp service that will be tapped off of a gutter supplied by a 1000 amp main switch. The inspector advised me that although the neutral is bonded in the 1000 amp switch that he had previously required the neutral to also be bonded in the gutter and it was also bonded in the existing meter bases and the service disconnects fed by these meters. He only wanted the grounding conductor to originate in the service disconnects downstream from the meters. I have always questioned by meters have the neutral bonded to ground inside of them and asked that question in a seminar by one of the authors of article 250 but he said that the power company does not think it is a problem. This issue must have come up previously for this inspector because he said they investigated it and that it would be a special order meter with a time delay that would have severly hurt a big shopping center in his jurisdiction so the judgement came down from the chief that the grounding wire would originate in the service disconnect this way. Wouldnt that create alternative path for the neutral to flow? Would like to hear any info or other opinions that anyone might have. Item no. 2 is that i know it its forbidden by code to run emt underground for a raceway, but there are some inspectors in this area who will not allow the use of emt as stakes, solely for the reason of securing pvc underground. I have cut stakes out of emt for years to use to tie wire pvc to hold it down so that a slab can be poured. Are they taking the fact that you cant use emt underground way too far or am i missing something. What difference would it make what you used to stake the raceway down with as long as its secure and your not using the emt for a raceway. Any opinions appreciated.
