It was hard to tell from your pix but it looks like the red and black wire go to a 240 volt breaker. One goes to one of the hot wires and the other goes to the other so you have 240 volts across them, the white is the neutal an the bare is the ground.
The red is the same as the black but colored differantly so you know which is which.
Allright. When you say Huckleberries, especially WWII Ufer Huckleberries, I have to take a second (and third) look.
The grounding rod, I believe, has been found! It was underneath a structure that was built over it; which I just removed to snap these pictures.
I see what looks like two aluminum bare wires and two bare copper wires bolted to this steel rod driven into the ground.
Is *this* what we've been looking for?
I removed the enclosure that was built just under the meter panel and, lo and behold, all this *stuff* was directly below, one of which is a rod driven into the ground with four bare wires attached:
I think that's the grounding rod, in the foreground, a few inches away from the concrete, slightly to the right of center.
That location is directly below the circuit panel.
Well, knowing that the Huckleberries were in season, if I only knew where to look for them ... I stuck my big fat head back into the hole in the garage wall to snap this picture for you:
The steel pipe in the middle appears to be the incoming water. The plastic conduit to the left and right appear to hold the electrical wires as they come out of the main breaker box (which is just above them, but on the outside of the house).l
However, the other side of that water pipe, around ground level, had an old enclosure on it, which, when removed, revealed *this*:
So, you *were* right. Now what I don't get is how did you know the huckleberries were in season, but hidden under the enclosure that I removed, which was right on the other side of the rectangular hole in the garage wall?
Actually, I think I'm pretty clear on the "functional" difference, and, on the mechanical difference with respect to insulation and colors.
That's actually why I had a problem with them all connecting together. Sheesh. They're all "grounding" wires!
Yes. I can see the neutral bar is directly attached to the inch-wide neutral strap which, itself, is the center tap of the dedicated transformer for my house.
Yes. I do understand that. The ground wire doesn't "complete" a circuit, unless something is wrong.
I think I understand that also. The current 'wants' to flow back to the transformer over that big fat insulated striped aluminum wire; but some will flow down the much thinner bare copper wire to that grounding electrode driven into the ground.
How you notice these things, from where you sit, and I don't even
*see* it when I'm directly in front of it, I'll never understand.You're right! It's dark outside now (and I buttoned it all up), but, here is a large-format picture that I had taken earlier.
What would make that huge neutral get that hot so as to melt the insulation to a caramel color?
Could it be as simple as that rusty screw?
A *lot* of them are 100 amps!
I just went outside in the drizzle (our first rain in 8 or 9 months!) with a flashlight to read the numbers off the breaker paddles:
PS: Why they write these labels in pencil is beyond me.
You are correct. I followed the romex? from the hole in the wall to the circuit breaker, and, that white romex appears to feed the 240V outlet in the garage that you can see on the right side in this picture:
The funny thing is that there are *four* wires in that Romex? cable, but, we already determined this style of socket only has *three* connections.
Working backward, that romex? appears to come up the bottom right rectangular hole in the panel as shown here:
And, then, it seems to connect to the 30A 220V breaker at the bottom left, top breaker:
I'm not sure *why* we would want to know which leg is black and which leg is red but I have nothing against identifying which is which.
The only thing I don't understand is where the fourth wire goes in that Romex? cable because we already ascertained there are only two hots and a "grounded neutral" in the outlet on the wall.
Hi, Yes, it is. You get 220V between red and black. 120V between neutral and either red or black.
I thought that myself, at first. I am still uncertain if this observation is correct. You will notice that the bare wire is split-bolted to two other wires on the right side of the panel. The color on my monitor is messed up and I was not able to determine the color of the wires (insulated) that are connected to the bare copper wire. If not green, or if there is not a ring of green tape wrapped around each of the insulated wires, something was done wrong.
I wasn't sure how they connect to the bars underneath. So, this panel seems to mainly feed three other panels with 100A service:
Of the four baby breakers, two are 240V but only one is in use; while the other two are 120V but again, only one is in use. a. Garage 240V & well 240V b. Unintelligible 120V
I wonder what 120V circuit is so important that it has its own puny 30A breaker as the only 120V breaker in the entire circuit panel?
Does it feed the generator electronics perhaps? (PS: I can test it in the morning.)
Another thing a bit odd is the corner ground delta used by some of the local utilities for irrigation well hookups. 3ø, 480 vac, 100 hp or less in my area. The meter sockets look like single phase meter sockets. The utilities usually bring four wires into the sockets. Two of them go to the grounded center pole. One of those two will have the green/white stripe on it.
I wonder if the rusted screw is related to the burnt insulation on that wire that you pointed out to me?
If scheduled it is as trader4 stated. It is a maintenance cycle. Some stand alone units have their own A/C charger that switches off of utility when the generator is running. It all depends on how many bells and whistles are included with the package.
Generac is a reputable back-up power provider, and I would not think that they would not provide such a provision. Though, some people look at cost over functionality...until it is too late.
Out towards Loma Prieta, then. Highland Way?
Hmm, I wonder how long you have been living in that house not knowing all this? I never lived in a preowned house. I always had mine built to my liking(custom built) and have blue prints for building, hvac duct work, plumbing, electrical lay out in the house. When I do some work on them I always mark them on the prints. When I sell the house, new owner gets them.
That bus bar is where the neutral/ground bond is made. Both grounds and neutrals may be terminated on this bus bar, regardless of size as long as the barrel of the lug they are being placed into supports the wire size. Your sub-panels might have something similar going on, and this is okay, as long as the bus bar is isolated from the metal of the panel enclosures. The bus bars should be on some sort of stand-off in the sub-panels.
Not really. The meter-main is being used as a "distribution" panel while the sub-panels are being used as "load centers". It is much easier, while it is raining, to check a breaker inside than have to go outside and mess with things while it is storming. It is a modern convenience. Some places in your area still might have the method of having everything in the external panel.
Rusty screw can very well lead to over heating, which might explain the brown insulation.
Yep. One of those wires goes back (should) to the neutral bus in your meter main.
Speaking of your neutral bus. The insulated white wire that looks burnt is not the wire causing the problem. It is the bare aluminum wire that goes underneath it that is cooking the insulation of the wire (burnt looking) above it.
I would recommend that the both be re-terminated using proper methods and materials.
First choice for a mechanical lug on the bus bar would be this:
or similar part for your specific application. There should be a model number to verify/cross reference the part needed for your panel.
Second choice would be:
Both should be available at Home Depot. I believe your closest Home Depot is off of Hamilton Ave, though another one could have been built in the region since the last time I was in the area (Feb of 2007). If they are not available there, go to:
They are the local Square D distributor. Not as cheap as Home Depot, but if you want a Square D item, they can get it for you. I would recommend trying to get lugs that have Allen head set screws. They give better torque and don't strip out as easily as the blade screwdriver types.
I also would recommend replacing all of the terminations of the large wires to the neutral bus with this type of set-up. Or, a satellite bus bar may be installed and jumpered over to the existing neutral bus using a mechanical terminal block such as:
They have all kinds and E.D. (previous link) should have something that would work.
Primarily, hire an electrician so that everything checks out and make sure that no-ox is used on that aluminum at the termination points. That neutral cooking like that is not a good sign and hopefully it is only a bad termination and not a severe load imbalance.
Good luck.
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