ECN Forum Forums Code Related Discussion NEC & other Code issues sub-panel

As I said in an earlier post a while ago,we are slow at work right now so me and my buddy find ourselves going on other peoples jobs.I am about finished hot-checking this house now on Pensecola Beach where among other things,the sub feed to the panel upstairs is 2 conductor and grond to main lug panel on breaker in service downstairs....Anyone see a problem here?

I don't see a problem with it as long as the wires are protected at their ampacity and all they need is single voltage circuits. Hopefully one of the insulated conductors is the "grounded" conductor and one is the "grounding" conductor. I see that combination sometimes when a contractor has to refeed an existing subpanel after relocating the Service to accomodate a room addition. If they can't get to the existing panel with SER they wil use the existing SE cable and convert the old panel to 120v. This means connecting both bus to the same side of the line. Kinda hookey and maybe wouldn't pass for new construction but it's safe IMHO. It does potentially put the system in an unbalanced state but one could compensate for this at the main service.

Sounds like your down there in gfretwell area of the country so I'm sure he'll have something to add to this issue.

George described the _right_ way to do this. If you have 2 insulated conductor and a grounding conductor, then you can feed a 120V subpanel. This means one insulated 'hot' conductor, one insulated 'grounded' conductor, and one bare equipment grounding conductor.

Just to make it very explicit: if this is a 120/240V panel, where the bare conductor is being used as the grounded current carrying conductor, then you have clear violations of code.

-Jon

Yeah,Ikindo posted this to bore you:}It is 120-240 but I thought I would get some of you guys input...I don't wanna start anything but I wonder where the line is drawn sometimes.I would have defintly changed it...I also wonder if my bosses ever had it drawn to their attention.I guess I will MODESTLY mention it

This gets a little problem if there are any shared neutrals between circuits.