Thread: broken ground bus bar

hey all

2004 home. this is ground bus bar in main panel. ya think city inspector looked in box??? also found about ten attic supports that looked like they were carved off. i have seen a few of these but 10 plus, what do you think ?? what would you write up if anything.definitely caught my eye.

cvf

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Not a problem on the trusses, the truss manufacturer specified and built the truss with the lumber grade needed. If it is not broken or causing deflection, I would not call it out.

Originally Posted by CHARLIE VAN FLEET

hey all

2004 home. this is ground bus bar in main panel. ya think city inspector looked in box??? also found about ten attic supports that looked like they were carved off. i have seen a few of these but 10 plus, what do you think ?? what would you write up if anything.definitely caught my eye. cvf

CHARLIE,

I assuming you mean the service equipment (trying to get the jab in before JP). Is it actually loose or just not straight? Did you try to move it (not sure if I would have)? I wonder why they didn't use the nicely secured grounding bar at the upper/left of the photo. If it is actually loose, then it should be commented on.

On a related note, I believe you will find that as of the 2005 NEC, grounding terminal bars can no longer be secured with sheet metal screws. Depending on where you are and whether or not the 2005 is currently being enforced, if it is loose, they will have to use machine screws or whatever came with the terminal bar to correct this. (My thanks to Douglas Hansen for that useful little tidbit)

The rounded edges are called "wane" and are due to the outer curve of the tree trunk. The mill is just trying to get the most out of each tree. As these are engineered trusses, the engineer should have taken the loss of material into account. Whether or not they actually did is another question.

gunnar

the broken bus was secured to casing not loose, but don't ya think it should have been written up by city dude. would you have written up

cvf

cvf,

Oh... I was not looking at it correctly. I thought it was attached to the panel, I did not realize that it was broken and hanging. My mistake.

Yes, that should have been flagged for correction by the building inspector. However, more to the point, the electrical contractor should not have left it that way.

My guess is the buss broke AFTER the final inspection unless it is a "good ole boy" network going on there and the electrical inspector is part of it. The mounting screws for the buss are what come as part of the grounding buss kit for that brand of panelboard. Different brands use different screws. Those mounting screws are not sheet metal screws. The easiest solution is move the grounding conductors to the part still attached to the enclosure. The home could have been homeowner wired as most locations in the US allow this. Chicago City does not allow homeowners to do anything. They have to keep the union guys working as best they can at the expense of homeowners and whoever.

bob
owner said hes never been in there,and if you look someone worked hard to jam all those ground wires in to the broken bus. broken buss is directly connected to grounded wireto earth. looks like lazy sparky work

cvf

Do you think an electrician put all the ground wires into the buss after it was broken off from the mounted portion?
Is this a main panel or a sub panel?
Is it a Siemens panel?

BOB

siemans panel and main.

i believe sparky put all the ground wires there. why wouldn't he have spread them out one per screw on intacked bus like he should have???

cvf

Do you think it was an wire puller (cannot call someone who would do this an electrician) that thought this would seperate the grounded and grounding conductors? The grounding bars like those do not just break it would have to have been done intentionally.