Why Neutrals & Grounds are Connected in a Main Panel

Check out our new tool deals website! We've put a lot of work into it and built it to only show tools with the largest discount for Knipex, Klein, Milwaukee, Dewalt, and Makita: deals.benjaminsahlstrom.com/ Also, if you're interested subscribers get $25 off the Sense Home Energy Monitor by using code BENJAMIN at checkout: store.sense.com/discount/BENJAMIN

Some folks just don't understand how to teach a subject such as electricity flow. You are a very good teacher & explain the things that others leave out, because they don't have much intuition when it comes to the thought process of the student. Thank you for making your videos the way you do!

Grounding/Earthing is one of the most confused topic also among professionals and I being an electrical engineer have not found such an easy and clear explanation of it in last 10years of my research about this topic. Thanks for this good work Ben and please spread the rare knowledge which you possess. Thanks a lot.

I really appreciate this very clear explanation on bonding/grounding. Been working with electric for 40+years and didn’t have this clear of an understanding until your video. Thank you very much!

WOW - I thought 20 minutes would be too long, but you did such a fantastic job of explaining this!

Doing a total remodel of a 40 year old house, total upgrade and increasing from 200A to 320A, splitting the service at the meter equally to the house and the garage with to external switches. After seeking understanding and advice from industrial electrician associates of mine at work, and still being quite confused, your videos have helped me tremendously in understanding the principals for why this system is wired, grounded and bonded the way that is correct. Thanks a million for your service to the greater DIY public who seek understanding in order to perform home projects properly and also safely and to code. Well done!!

Great explanation! As Einstein said, "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."

Nice lesson Benjamin! About those "stray" or "leakage" currents. Those currents are caused by inductive or capacitive coupling. Those are both "non-galvanic" meaning there is no metallic connection. They can be confusing because they don't need frayed or broken wires to cause official ground faults. A capacitor is two plates separated by an insulator. Alternating current passes thru capacitors depending on the capacitor plate area, frequency of the alternating current, and distance between the plates. If you were to take a capacitor and connect it between a Hot and, say, an unbonded/ungrounded enclosure the enclosure would become live. It would not be at the same level as a metallic wire contacting the enclosure but could easily still be fatal or cause an accident due to uncontrolled body motion. Sources for leakage current are any products that have lots of conductive metal near other metal that is ultimately fastened to touchable metal or enclosures. The most common found around homes are motors. In a motor you have thousands of wire wraps close laid on metal in the stator. So many wires add up to many square inches or even square feet of pseudo capacitor plate between the windings and ultimately the metal structure. Hence current is conducted via that capacitance to the chassis. Having that chassis/framework/enclosure grounded gives that current a return path and sets that metal to "ground potential".

Ben has a good understanding of residential wiring. Not always the technical terms are used but close enough. Good job, Ben. Retired Utility Co. protection and control engineer.

Ben in addition to being technically excellent, you are also a very talented teacher. Your pacing, selection of instructional points, and language skills are in a different league! Also, the moment where you invite people to correct you was very humble and touching. Good job!

At last someone knows how to perfectly explain this very confusing topic. Bro you are awesome, you are an expert. I am extremelly surprised u way u easily explianed this bro.

As an industrial designer who worked at two major lighting manufacturers (and Klein Tools) I have run into countless engineering coworkers who refused to provide a sketch in creative meetings or after some private time in their own space. If it ain’t done on a computer I guess it is not real. Kudos, Ben, for proving that one should not let perfection (in visual illustrations) get in the way of progress. Sure your drawings are a bit rough but they are more than adequate along with your exceptional dialog to explain what has been for too many an elusive topic. May the 2022 NEC deities smile down upon you and your work.

Until the white, black, red and green wires realize they are all copper on the inside, only then will they all truly connect.

Have been struggling to understand this for about a year, reading books, watching videos, FINALLY! You are a great teacher. Thank you.

I love this, you really bring things together! When I was young (70s) I often got shocked through my body when grabbing the door handle of the old fridge in my unfinished basement especially with no shoes. My family never believed me because I couldn't repeat it when I tried. Now I've become the electricity expert in the family (and the least sensitive to shock)

I'm just a DIY'r, but always wondered about the differences between ground and earth and why the bus bars are connected in the panel. This cleared everything up. Great video!

This is a brilliant explanation! I studied electricity/magnetism at the college level pursuing my BA in Math. I have done wiring for over fifty years, but never completely understood the role of the neutral and ground systems even though I've carefully done it correctly. I always thought the neutral/ground was a redundant ground. Now that I know the neutral is a center tap of the secondary of a transformer, it makes perfect sense. Thank you so much! Henrik Hansen, DDS

Ben is a true guru. I'm blown away by the detail and thoroughness of this video and all his electrical videos. Masterful.

Thank you for acknowledging the existence of ship’s electrical service. As a former mariner (engineer/electrician), it makes me very happy.

Time stamps: * 00:15 The first disconnect means (FDM) in your main panel after your electrical meter is where your neutrals and grounds are bonded together - white wires and copper green wires tying into the same location. * 1:03 Electricity --> transformer primary side to secondary side at 10k volts --> electrical system at 240v --> center tap to tranformer winding (where your neutral comes from) for 120v (which are grounded). * 1:30 The neutral of the main utility line is physically connected to the neutral of your electrical system. This goes through the electric meter to the first disconnect means/main panel where neutrals/grounds are tied in at the same location * 2:15 Utility neutral is physically connected to the neutral of your electrical system. * 3:25 Metallic objects in the electric system are tied together via the grounding wire and bonded the neutral. A green screw specifically connects the neutral to the enclosure of the system. * 5:00 Bonding is connecting all of the electrical parts of a system together. We are discussing it today with the equipment grounding conductors (EGC). The EGC ties metal components of a system that normally don't carry charge to the grounding conductor in case of a ground-fault. * 6:32 The Effective Ground Fault Current Path (EGFCP) - a low impedance path that carries current from a ground-fault to the electrical supply source, allowing deployment of over current protective device/ground-fault detectors (from: 2020 NEC Handbook) * 7:24 Multiple electrical appliances in your household are connected to the same EGFCP to ensure the protective breaker to trip in case of a ground-fault by bonding to the neutral. * 8:55 If your system is grounded to the earth but does not have a feedback loop (EGFCP) the protective breaker will not trip and your system is still unsafe. Grounding is not what allows this safety check, bonding to the neutral (and source) is what allows this check and makes your system safe. * 10:00 The neutral will draw more energy than the circuit breaker with a ground fault short which will allow the safety breaker to trip. * 10:33 Electricity doesn't necessarily want to return to ground, it wants to return to its source. * 11:10 The ground is connected to the source in case of lightning. * 12:20 Ship engines are ungrounded systems. The generator doesn't have any portion of its winding connected to the ship frame. * 13:34 Grounding also can get rid of excessive static electricity, but Ben's not sure why. If anyone knows, please comment. * 15:14 We separate neutrals and grounds distally in a subpanels because we don't want any neutral current in the equipment grounding conductor (EGC) which can be dangerous. * 16:00 If they are bonded at multiple locations, they will have current in both the ground and neutral, which is a dangerous situation. They are only connected at the FDM (first disconnecting means). He goes into this if further detail in another video that's linked in the description. * 17:52 Review and summary.