Yet another Grounding Question-Separate 'Earth'


I emailed this question to Nsgarch since he gave advice on another thread respecting the separate grounding of a dedicated subpanel, but at the risk of making some of you read yet another grounding question, I decided to post it as well. Here goes:


My electrician has installed a separate subpanel for the audio system which is 'upstream' even of the main breaker panel in the house.
It will have several dedicated lines, each with a 20 amp breaker (Square D) running separate grounds to Hubbell Hospital Grade Outlets. I was concerned about the potential 'difference' among these separate lines- one will support mid-hi-freq. amps, others, the subwoofer amps, and a third, the lower powered front-end equipment (preamp, phono stage and TT- no digital). I do have one of those Granite Audio thingies which permits me to 'star ground' everything to a single point in the system, FWIW.
But, and here's the really critical question- my electrician has proposed a pair of separate ground rods about 10' from the main ground for the rest of the house electrical system, and in his view, the audio system subpanel would be grounded just to these new ground rods, not connected, by ground or anything else, to the rest of the house. In one of Nsgarch's postings on this subject, he indicated that there could be a differential in the two different panel groundings which could put current to the 'neutral' and create a shock risk. As I understood the advice, it was to make sure that the audio subpanel shares the same 'earth' ground as the rest of the house.
Could you comment?

=====================================
128x128whart

Showing 1 response by gs5556

I strongly suggest you check with the local building department or electrical inspector before you let this electrician do any work.

The subpanel is not a separate electrical source since it is in the same building as the service. Therefore it must be grounded at the point of the electrical source which is your main panel. Regardless if you put a separate ground rod for the subpanel, you MUST ground that subpanel back at the main panel. You cannot ground anything upstream of the main circuit breaker on its own ground. In other words, add all the ground rods you want, but you still need to ground back to the main panel.

What I suggest, and what I did in my house (which I do not want to burn down), is to install a 2-pole breaker in the main panel. Run wires from this breaker to your subpanel (no main breaker required in the subpanel). Run a separate neutral from the main panel neutral bus to the neutral bus of the subpanel. In the subpanel, install a separate ground bus. This ground bus MUST NOT be bonded to the subpanel or the subpanel neutral. Run a separate ground wire from the subpanel ground bus all the way back to the main panel and join it to the ground at that point. Connect your dedicated circuit grounds to the subpanel ground bus and the dedicated neutrals to the subpanel neutral. This is effective and legal.

You cannot ground seperately, unless your jurisdiction permits it. The reason for the ground is to trip circuit breakers, as the ground becomes an "escape hatch" for short circuit current in the event of a fault. By using separate or multiple grounds, the possibility exists that a short circuit may be routed away from the breaker, causing a dangerous situation.