Bond ground busbars together in subpanel?

[Nick_Wa]

I am finishing up my garage panel (detached garage). I have 3 feeder + 1 ground running from house panel underground to garage subpanel. I have the ground busbars and neutral busbars separated.

There are 2 neutral bars running down each side of the hot "fins". These are bonded with a strap across the bottom.

There are 2 ground bars running down each side of the outside of the panel, bolted to the panel. Do I need to bond these together or will connecting the ground from my feeder cable (from house) to one of the bars (and having the panel "bond" the bars be sufficient?

Here is the panel setup:

 

[C96]

I would bond the two ground bars together. In fact, I would even go as far as scraping the paint out from behind the two ground bars, but that’s just me…Lol

 

[Aceman]

Land the ground wire on wire of the bars and that's it, you're done. Standard procedure.

 

[3rdgen]

In Ontario the ground and neutral are only joined in the main switch or panel and separated in all other distribution points. On those panels there is a little strap from the neutral bar to the case in the top left hand side. Neutral from house goes in lug in the feed portion and the ground goes on either one of the ground bus.

 

[gasaxeman]

Land the ground wire on wire of the bars and that's it, you're done. Standard procedure.

This is the quote I meant to use.
We never add additional wires from ground bar to ground bar.

 

[ishiboo]

The ground bars are connected through the enclosure itself.

The neutral bars are connected via the strap since they must be isolatable from the enclosure/ground. Don't forget to remove the green screw.

 

[rlitman]

I would bond the two ground bars together. In fact, I would even go as far as scraping the paint out from behind the two ground bars, but that’s just me…Lol

The paint should already be masked off where the ground bars are mounted to the panel. If not, I too would do something about that.

As for running copper between the two ground bars, consider that the panel does this. Yes, it is steel, but the amount of steel between the two bars is far greater in cross section than any single copper wire that will fit into any of the holes in the ground bars.

 

[jimp]

In Ontario the ground and neutral are only joined in the main switch or panel and separated in all other distribution points. On those panels there is a little strap from the neutral bar to the case in the top left hand side. Neutral from house goes in lug in the feed portion and the ground goes on either one of the ground bus.

Same in the US

 

[Nick_Wa]

Yes that does make sense, just wanted to make sure. I have already removed the green screw which bonds the neautral and the ground. I will have ground and neutral isolated in the sub panel in the garage.

Now I just need to get a ground lug for the ground bar unless the 6 gauge ground will fit.

 

[57JoeFoMoPar]

In Ontario the ground and neutral are only joined in the main switch or panel and separated in all other distribution points. On those panels there is a little strap from the neutral bar to the case in the top left hand side. Neutral from house goes in lug in the feed portion and the ground goes on either one of the ground bus.

This is my understanding as well. The ground and neutral should be separate in the subpanel, so do not insert the bonding screw.

 

[teamextreme]

Now I just need to get a ground lug for the ground bar unless the 6 gauge ground will fit.

Any ground bar I've seen will take a #6 awg.