Electrical problem

[stinkbelly]

I have an electrical problem in my well house. It is basically a big shed with well equipment in it. There is a breaker box in the well house that is fed from the main breaker box. Basically they took a 50amp 240 breaker off of the main box and connected it to this breaker box. In this box there are 3 breakers. One is a 240 for the well. The other two are 20 amp 120 Volt breakers. One covers two walls and one light. The other covers the other 2 walls and the other light. Lights are on light switches.

With all breakers on and the lights off I am reading 130 V in all the plugs on Breaker 1. I am reading 118 Volts in all plugs on Breaker 4. (1 and 4 are their locations). I checked between all three connectors of the plugs and only get voltage between the + and -.

When I turn on the light that is on Breaker 4, the voltage of the plugs in Breaker 1 goes to 200V and the voltage in Breaker 4 goes to 38 Volts.

This is an ongoing problem. I just replaced all breakers, switches, the light for Breaker 4, and several plugs. I also tightened all screws in the breaker box.

I don't see how the two circuits for Breaker 1 and Breaker 4 are connected.

Were do I need to look? I want to verify the incoming voltage to the Well house. It was weird this past weekend. I also want to verify the outgoing voltage from the main breaker.

[RDT]

You have lost the neutral somewhere .

[MadHatter]

Does the panel for the well, have 3 wires coming in or 4? If only 3, are the neutrals and ground from your receptacles, screwed into the same bus, inside the well panel?
I'm guessing neutral & ground are tied together, so your ground is now a conduit for current.
Could be totally off here, concerning your problem, but I see this quite often.

[stinkbelly]

Three wires coming in. Yes. The neutrals and ground are on the same bus inside the well panel.

I am searching the internet and that doesn't seem right since it is an auxiliary panel. The problem is that I have had this land for 18 years and never had any issues.

[Walding1989]

Check voltage where it comes into the panel between A and B phase and to neutral and ground. It sounds like you have lost the neutral somewhere.

[MadHatter]

Yeah, it used to happen a lot it seems. 99% of the time it is ok, but it can be very dangerous under the right circumstances.
You need to buy a ground bus for the panel, and grounding rods.
Neutral & Ground bond only ONCE, at the first disconnect, once you leave the meter can.

[splitbeam145]

You have lost the neutral somewhere .

This is what I'm thinking, but with a 3 wire system instead of being the 4 wire system like it should be. It seems to me it's a loose neutral/ground wire in well panel most likely, but I'd check the wiring back at main panel where wire coming from. Almost sounds like the issue is there and not at Well Panel. You can verify this by checking hot to ground on the 2 pole breaker on slot 2 and 3 to see if they are even or close to each other in voltage when running.

[splitbeam145]

Yeah, it used to happen a lot it seems. 99% of the time it is ok, but it can be very dangerous under the right circumstances.
You need to buy a ground bus for the panel, and grounding rods.
Neutral & Ground bond only ONCE, at the first disconnect, once you leave the meter can.

x2

[Bill]

240V and water/well?
Please call electrician. Stay safe.


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[MadHatter]

Neutral is for balancing the load, and it carries current back to the main panel. Your ground wire, is tied to the neutral in the well panel, so now it is carrying current, even when all breakers are off.

[stinkbelly]

Things keep changing on their own. I checked the two 120 volt legs coming in to the well breaker box on Sunday and I got 150V on one and 90V on the other. Maybe I should have lead off with that, but I didn't think about it until Splitbeam said something. I have not looked at the main breaker box yet. That is a job for tonight. I want to verify the power coming in from the city and verify the voltage going out on each leg to the well breaker box.

[stinkbelly]

Yeah, it used to happen a lot it seems. 99% of the time it is ok, but it can be very dangerous under the right circumstances.
You need to buy a ground bus for the panel, and grounding rods.
Neutral & Ground bond only ONCE, at the first disconnect, once you leave the meter can.

Can I just add a grounding bus to my current panel? How is the grounding rod installed?

[MadHatter]

Can I just add a grounding bus to my current panel? How is the grounding rod installed?

Yes, you add it to the panel for the well house.
How you do it, well....thats up to you. NEC has their way, local code office has their way, and then every electrician has their way.
IMO only!!!, I would sink 2, 8ft ground rods, 10ft apart, and make 1 continuous run, with #6 groundwire, from the panel (new ground bus), to both rods.
I assume running a 4th wire from the panel is not an option?

[stinkbelly]

Yes, you add it to the panel for the well house.
How you do it, well....thats up to you. NEC has their way, local code office has their way, and then every electrician has their way.
IMO only!!!, I would sink 2, 8ft ground rods, 10ft apart, and make 1 continuous run, with #6 groundwire, from the panel (new ground bus), to both rods.
I assume running a 4th wire from the panel is not an option?

The well house is about 100 yards from the main breaker. It is in a conduit so it may not be impossible to pull a new line.

[splitbeam145]

The well house is about 100 yards from the main breaker. It is in a conduit so it may not be impossible to pull a new line.

This would be best option if the existing wire will pull out. The 2 grd rod comment above would be 2nd option even though I'm not a fan of it. Ground really needs to go back to main ground rod at service.
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