RV Hot Skin (Exterior electrification)
This past weekend my wife was electrocuted when she stepped onto the trailer steps and grabbed the handrail while in bare feet. She was subsequently thrown from the rig and landed in the grass. She ...
Forum Discussion
mr_andyj wrote:
I have a panel out of a 1971 camper.
The neutral is grounded at the panel. The neutral is grounded, as many are saying yet others somehow want to disagree with such facts...
What some here are saying is that this code has changed and now the neutral is not supposed to be grounded at the panel?
Should the neutral be un-grounded and let the neutral ground effect take place at the house panel, not the caper panel? Would this help eliminate some possible issues with reverse hot skin?
If the wiring looks untouched and original (never messed with) like it came from the factory then at that time that would have been acceptable practice and would be "Grandfathered" today.
I believe code was updated in the 1980s-90s to define how subpanels were to be treated concerning ground and neutral connection and possible additional ground rods on remote subpanels (like a remote unattached garage with a subpanel).
Even though your system should be Grandfathered, if you have the space in your panel to add a buss bar you could update the panel with a ground isolated neutral and a separate ground bar.
Note, some panels that are all metal will have a grounding screw or a grounding lug that connects the buss bar to the metal panel or sometimes the buss may be mounted directly to the metal of the panel.. For panels that the buss is mounted directly to steel you will need a buss bar with insulators..
While technically having neutral and ground connected together in a subpanel will cause no harm, the idea of isolating the two is all about not having a live voltage potential from current on the neutral showing up on your safety grounded equipment..
