Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss GFCI crazy

Brettski,

I may be confused, if I am, forget the following info. From your description above, I am assuming there are a total of 3 panels. correct

I can't tell from the picture (second pic), but is the main panel's (I will refer to this as panel 2) neutral bar isolated from the metal cabinet? or, is there metal to metal contact between the bar and the panel? I don't know, but I have another one at home (in stock) that I can review and letcha know tonite
Since you have, in essence, a "main" panel (your first pic, and I will now refer to this as panel 1) that feeds this panel (panel 2), and panel 1 in the first pic is grounded to a ground rod (yes, ground wire is connected directly to the neutral/ground bar inside the panel) and has the neutral bonded to the panel(right or wrong?) not sure if it is; will find out this coming weekend, any panel after that should not have the neutral bar bonded to the ground. So, your outdoor sub-panel (I am assuming it is not pictured, we will call this panel 3)and panel 2, should have isolated grounds and neutrals.
So, in summary, you are saying that panel #1 (at the gen-set) should have a neutral/ground bar bonded to the panel AND this should also be grounded to a rod in the soil. Any and all following panels should NOT have the neutral/ground bar bonded to the panel, nor should they be grounded to a rod in the soil. That being said, there is a continuous, uninterrupted neutral wire and ground wire that ties all the neutral/ground bars together (in all 3 panels). That makes all of them grounded to the 1st panel (at the gen-set) which in turn is grounded to the soil with a rod. So...what's the difference if I isolate the 2nd and 3rd panels? They still each have a path back to the soil. NEC code does not allow for this, because what you are doing is creaing parallel paths to ground. From the 2002 NEC Handbook 408.20...
A seperate equipment grounding conductor terminal bar must be installed and bonded to the panelboard for the termination of feeder and branch-circuit equipment grounding conductors. Where installed within service equipment, this terminal is bonded to the neutral terminal bar. Any other connection between the equipment grounding terminal bar and the neutral bar, other than allowed in 250.32, is not permitted. If this downstream connection occurs, current flow in the neutral or grounded conductor would take parallel paths through the equipment grounding conductors (the raceway, the building structure, or earth, for example) back to the service equipment. Normal load currents flowing on the equipment grounding conductors could create a shock hazard. Exposed metal parts of equipment could have a potential difference of several volts created by the load current on the grounding conductors. Another safety hazard created by this effect, where subpanels are used, is arcing or loose connections at connectors and raceway fittings, for example, creating a potential fire hazard.
Is there a reason you are using a 2-pole breaker (understanding that you are only using one phase) for the GFCI outlet, rather than using a single pole breaker? This way, I still have the option of 220v at the dock....who knows if I would ever need it, but I had the wire, I had the conduit installed....why not, right?
Other than these couple things, everything should be okay, unless I misunderstood something. Thanks for lookin' over my shoulder; this is giving me a headache for a good reason