Room in Electric Panel

[Mark Lammert]

Hey guys,

I am *finally* getting ready to start my two bath remodels... Hallway and master...

Right now, the lights and outlets in my bathroom not only are they on the same circuit, but they are on the same circuit with about 3 other rooms in the house... Sheesh...

Anyway, part of the remodel will be to give each bathroom its own dedicated circiut...

I have plenty of breaker openings available to me... However, the part that I am concerned about is that the ground bus bar all the little holes are filled with the ground wires from the other breakers... I can add breakers but there is no place to attach the ground wires to the ground bus bar...

I was told that you shoul dnot run two ground wires from different breakers to the same hole in the ground bus bar... Is this correct???

Also, does it seem right that you could still have openings for new breakers but not enough openings on the ground bus bar???

It is a 200 amp sevice box...

Any suggestions???

If I have not provided enough info, please let me know and I will do my est to get more...

Thank you very much,
Mark

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[jdm]

Mark --

Do you know if the panel is a main panel or a subpanel? This is not as obvious as it seems. If it is a main panel the neutral (white) and ground (bare) wires will be running to the same neutral/ground bar. (It's possible that an anal electrican ran the grounds and neutrals to separate bars in a main panel, but they will be electrically connected together with a metal bar.) In a subpanel they will go to separate ground and neutral bars. Also, in a subpanel, there will be a main breaker for the panel somewhere upstream from the panel itself. It may be in the main panel, or it may be in the meter base.

That said, neutral wires must always go to their own screw terminal in the neutral (or neutral/ground) bar. More than one ground wire may go to a single screw in the ground (or neutral/ground) bar if the panel is rated for such. Some panels are rated for two wires per terminal, some three, and some only one.

It would be very helpful if you can post more info on your installation, or possibly some pictures.

[NVC]

Jeff, you must have been a sparky in your past life. :D

What Jeff said.

You can use multiple wires in one hole as Jeff said or you can add another ground bus, Bond (connect) it to the primary bus bar via the same size wire that's bonding the original bus to the grounding electrode (going to a UFER i.e. rebar or ground rod or both). I'd guess a #6, depending on the size of your 'service entrance conductors'.

Yes, you can be short on holes on a service because the neutral bus and the ground bus are the same. Although most newer panels have the metal jumper which allows all the white wires to go to one bus and all the green/bare wires go to the other. <wonders what Jeff meant by 'anal'> :D

hope this helped,
Mark