[TowerTalk] CQ article error(?)

[Jim Lux]

At 12:03 PM 10/7/2005, Bill Aycock wrote:
>No- no added wire. The "metallic conductor" I refer to IS the neutral
>wire, but there is an added bond from that to the earth ground rod
>within the panel.
>Significantly, ALL panels I have ever seen have this "Bonding
>connection" between the green wire blocks and the neutral blocks.
>Neither the green or the neutral is switched.


Some panels with transfer switches (for use with a standby generator) 
included have the neutral switched as well.  If the the neutral is bonded 
to the ground at the generator (true for most generators that have 
"receptacles" on them), then unbalanced neutral return currents can flow 
through the generator and back through the generator ground wire.  Fixed 
standby generators (designed to be hooked up with a "wires in lugs" as 
opposed to a plug/receptacle) have separate connections for ground and 
neutral, and the two are isolated at the generator.

Apparently, too, the companies that sell generators and transfer switches 
aren't real clear on which switches are supposed to be used with which 
generators.  Home Depot sells a whole bunch of transfer switches with a 4 
wire male plug on the front (designed to hook up to a generator) and a 2 
pole switch (which raises the whole neutral/ground problem).