why did they do this?

[Mark A. Timpani, CMI]

please explain

[mnicholet]

Looks like they bonded the neutral bus together with that big ugly yellow conductor. Black plastic supporting the neutral bus? Sharing the neutral bus with ground? We cant share the neutral bus with the ground in my area... Plus I dont think they should have a neutral crossing the hot like that. Dont know why they did that BUT I would get recommend sparky looks at it if it was in my area.

[Robert Meier]

There is no good explanation for the yellow (looks like NM cable) within the panel. The only reason I can think of is that the installer had no clue as to what they were doing. It appears, as Mark stated, that they're attempting to jumper the two buses together ignoring the fact that they're factory connected by the bus within the horizontal black plastic. The large hole with the cables entering is improper, and the bonding strap (on the upper right side of the first photo) isn't connected either. Since this is a service, the EGC's and neutrals can share the same bus.

[Jim Port]

I think I agree with Robert that someone had no idea what was already built into the panel.

The bond strap is also not installed. It is still hanging.

[Mark A. Timpani, CMI]

pretty strange

[Mark Thorman]

That looks like a heavy duty extension cord. There appears to be two double lugs at the bottom left breakers.

www.MauiHomeInspections.com

[Chuck Evans]

Probably some home inspector said the grounded buss needed to be bonded and the homeowner decided to save the cost of a professional electrician. That's my best guess anyway.

It certainly is representative of some of the kinds of things I encounter in re-inspections, though I have not seen that one in particular.

[Bruce M. Graham]

I like the big as_ hole they cut into the back of the panel

[Richard W. Washington]

Originally Posted by Robert Meier

There is no good explanation for the yellow (looks like NM cable) within the panel. The only reason I can think of is that the installer had no clue as to what they were doing. It appears, as Mark stated, that they're attempting to jumper the two buses together ignoring the fact that they're factory connected by the bus within the horizontal black plastic. The large hole with the cables entering is improper, and the bonding strap (on the upper right side of the first photo) isn't connected either. Since this is a service, the EGC's and neutrals can share the same bus.

The EGC's & neutrals should not share the same bus. Am I missing something?

[Robert Meier]

Originally Posted by rwashington

The EGC's & neutrals should not share the same bus. Am I missing something?

At the service panel the equipment grounding conductors and the grounded (neutral) conductors can be on the same bus. At all points downstream of the service panel they need to be separate. I think that's what I said initially.

Since this is a service, the EGC's and neutrals can share the same bus.

[jstanek]

Robert is correct, but they may only share the buss at the one location, otherwise you have just paralleled the two locations. That is where it can get very dangerous