We recently lost power to one leg of our electrical which was caused by dual 50 amp breaker which had gone bad. On repairing the box, I noticed there was no ground wire to the neutral/ground bar. The power company meter above the pole breaker box has the ground running from a ground stake at the base of the pole to the meter. The large gauge, coiled bare ground runs into the meter. The meter connects to the breaker box with two inches of galvanized pipe. There is continuity when probing the steel between the two boxes. I measured a resistance of about 3.5 ohms between the two boxes. I read that this is legal in some states, but I am concerned that this setup is providing a proper ground. Everything is running fine now; no problems but want to confirm as the box is old.
Besides losing half our power, we had dimming, flickering, and brightening bulbs before the power died and I believe this is an open neutral condition. Does a bad ground contribute to this? Does running a second ground to the breaker box defeat ground faulting and bonding? Learning but slowly getting these concepts. Thanks for any help!
http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m549/ChollaBob/DSC_0168B.jpg
http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m549/ChollaBob/Fly.jpg
Besides losing half our power, we had dimming, flickering, and brightening bulbs before the power died and I believe this is an open neutral condition. Does a bad ground contribute to this? Does running a second ground to the breaker box defeat ground faulting and bonding? Learning but slowly getting these concepts. Thanks for any help!
http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m549/ChollaBob/DSC_0168B.jpg
http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m549/ChollaBob/Fly.jpg
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