Ground to neutral question, mobile home

[Randyj]

My bud asked me to help him with his mobile home installation. He had failed to run a ground wire from the switch box at the meter to the switch box inside. The diagram on the box says the neutral has to be grounded and the ground wire has to be connected to a ground rod. Everything I've read says the ground is to be connected to the neutral at the switch box on the pole outside and nowhere else in the system should they be connected. We kinda argued a little as to which way is correct on how to wire the switch box outside. The complication is merely that there is one space on the neutral bar which is big enough for the stranded #4 ground wire OR the #4 bare ground wire but not BOTH. There is a lug in the box which appears to be solely for the bare ground wire and the stranded ground for the equipment. I took a couple of pictures of both configurations we came up with to solve this dilemma. However, I'm not comfortable with one or the other being right but looks to me like both should be acceptable since both the neutral bar and the ground connections are bonded to the switch box. So, which is right or wrong or best? The way the box is made it looks like it is supposed to have two ground rods.

 

[Jadnashua]

Ground and neutral are to be bonded together at the main panel. Further downstream would be treated like a subpanel, and there, you need a 4-wire cable and the ground and neutral busses are supposed to be kept separate. Not sure if there are special provisions when it comes to manufactured, mobile homes.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Randyj]

Ground and neutral are to be bonded together at the main panel. Further downstream would be treated like a subpanel, and there, you need a 4-wire cable and the ground and neutral busses are supposed to be kept separate. Not sure if there are special provisions when it comes to manufactured, mobile homes.

So...according to what you are saying the bottom picture is correct/best?

 

[Jadnashua]

The pictures are side-by-side on my display, but assuming your home has it's own electrical panel in it, the outside panel would be considered the main one, and the internal one a subpanel (as I understand it, but I'm not an electrician!). That means that outside, the ground and neutral should be bonded together, while inside, they should be separate, and not interconnected directly. A subpanel in a non-connected building from the main also needs ground rods connected to its subpanel.

 

[Randyj]

ok. On my laptop the one I am referring to is on the right.

 

[Jadnashua]

The main panel should be as the one with the ground also attached to the neutral bus. The subpanel (I assume, in the mobile home) would have the ground and neutral separated like in the other picture. Also, as noted, a detached building from the main also needs its own ground rod(s).

 

[JWelectric]

My bud asked me to help him with his mobile home installation. He had failed to run a ground wire from the switch box at the meter to the switch box inside. The diagram on the box says the neutral has to be grounded and the ground wire has to be connected to a ground rod. Everything I've read says the ground is to be connected to the neutral at the switch box on the pole outside and nowhere else in the system should they be connected. We kinda argued a little as to which way is correct on how to wire the switch box outside. The complication is merely that there is one space on the neutral bar which is big enough for the stranded #4 ground wire OR the #4 bare ground wire but not BOTH. There is a lug in the box which appears to be solely for the bare ground wire and the stranded ground for the equipment. I took a couple of pictures of both configurations we came up with to solve this dilemma. However, I'm not comfortable with one or the other being right but looks to me like both should be acceptable since both the neutral bar and the ground connections are bonded to the switch box. So, which is right or wrong or best? The way the box is made it looks like it is supposed to have two ground rods.
View attachment 32182 View attachment 32183

If the green insulated wire is going to the inside panel then it MUST be in the same conduit as the other conductors. As far as the bare copper conductor It is required to have a main bonding jumper to connect the Equipment Grounding Conductor (EGC), The panel enclosure, the grounding electrode conductor and the neutral together.
The panel inside the mobile home does not need two ground rods but the green and white wires HAVE to be on separate terminal bars that are not interconnected.

 

[Speedy Petey]

Looks to me like that neutral bar is screwed right to the panel box so the neutral is inherently bonded already. That double lug was not necessary and running that bare through both did nothing.

The biggest problem is that not only did they remove the allowance to run a "3-wire" feeder to a structure, it was NEVER code to do so for a mobile home feeder. So, that 3-wire URD run to the house is NO GOOD, and a ground MUST be run.
This is why we have available MHF (mobile home feeder) cable, which has two hots, a neutral and an equipment ground.
A JW stated, mobile homes do not require ground rods, but steel frames must be bonded.