What the...?

[Eric Hyde]

I've never seen something like this and I'm hoping someone can either confirm or deny that this is a major problem. The photo shows all the neutral circuit wires connected where the feed neutral wire should be (not to mention all the ground wires connected to the lug next door), and the neutral feed is nowhere to be found.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

[Michael R. Boyett]

The sparkies here will confirm this is a major problem and needs to be further inspected and repaired as needed by a qualified electrical contractor.

[Marc D. Shunk]

I see enough stuff wrong in that one little picture that you can safely defer that whole thing to an electrician. Looks like some serious DIY to the rescue work there.

[Ian Gills]

Don't just stop there. Why is this dangerous? I can guess three things.

1) if the ground wire to the panel is cut, everything become live?
2) The neutral and ground are essentially shared on the same wire. So the current flowing on neutral wire would easily cause a large voltage difference (up to many volts) on different outlets grounds. The ground potential on any outlet will then depend on the load current, neutral wire resistance and the mains phase it is connected to.
3) The neutral is effectively shorted to ground implying nasty ground loop problems.

Am I right? Any more?

[Greg Fretwell]

Where is the neutral from the service? That is the most serious issue I see. The list certainly does go on.

[Ian Gills]

Isn't the neutral for the service entering through the middle left, looping right and then secured to the metal thingy?

[Greg Fretwell]

The fat bare wire looks like a 4ga ground electrode conductor. That implies a 200a service and I would expect to see a 2/0 copper or 4/0 aluminum white insulated conductor on that bus.

[Ian Gills]

I would like to inspect my panel i.e. look at it, not touch.

Is it safe to unscrew the cover with the main breaker on, or should I switch this off, so I only have the two main supply wire entering as live?

Or should I just leave it be?

[Eric Hyde]

Originally Posted by Greg Fretwell

Where is the neutral from the service? That is the most serious issue I see. The list certainly does go on.

There isn't one. It's turned into a ground wire before it enters the mass head, exactly like the picture I posted in another thread this morning (entitled Service Entrance Question ). This is a bad scenario right? Why is it even setup this way?

[Greg Fretwell]

If that is true, where is the grounding electrode conductor? That grounded conductor also looks smaller that the ungrounded conductors.