Electrical – Are there any safety issues with this breaker box

electricalelectrical-panel

Please point out any safety issues with this breaker box in my shop.

Breaker Panel

Notes:

  1. has its own service drop and weatherhead

  2. the ground wire is in the center doubletapped and connected to a grounding rod outside

  3. the orange 30amp has no ground connected to the box because the outlet itself is grounded to its own Grounding rod as it is a single circuit for an RV

Criticize away I would like my shop to be safe.. not having any problems presently

Second area of interest.. the power is coming from a splice off the main service AFTER the meter but before the main panel for my house .. all three service cables are done in this manner which should mean that they are not connected at the main box and serve as their own service I believe.

Don't get me started on the main panel it is an ungrounded fuse box, but the main circuits have a similar breaker box and splice and drop due to a previous addition.. I've had no problems with it..

Let's start with the shop.. if I need an electrician I'll hire one I already had one come out and he didn't seem too concerned with the way it was but he is 71 and said they used to do this all the time.

Best Answer

  • The RV circuit ought to have a ground wire to the panel. It having a local ground rod means grounded metal parts of the RV won't float up to dangerous voltage levels relative to the surrounding dirt, but without a ground wire back to the panel various faults to ground might not trip the breaker. Grounding might not have been required at the time of installation, but if you have the ground wire back to the panel there's really no good reason not to connect it.
  • The RV circuit probably ought to have GFCI protection, given that it's outdoors and especially if you fix the circuit's grounding.
  • The RV circuit cable must be clamped, not loose in the knockout. It could wear against the sharp edge of the knockout and cause a short, arcing, or fire.
  • You probably have “alien” breakers. All breakers must be specifically listed or classified for use in your specific panel. You may not mix and match at whim. Some types may seem to fit, but may lead to arcing, bus damage, or fire. It looks like there are at least three brands present (Siemens, Square-D Homeline, something else) and so some of them are probably not appropriate. Your panel looks like a GE unit based on the model number starting with "TLM".
  • It sounds like you said you have no shut-off between your meter and this panel. You need one, to protect the feed wiring and panel bus. It can be legal to have a panel with six breakers and no single main, but you have seven (and room for more).
  • The feed wires look a bit small for the total loads, especially if there’s no main breaker protecting them.
  • The wire to the ground rod needs to be the full size required by code (#6 or #8 depending on feed size) all the way to the bus bar lug, not spliced down to a smaller gauge (looks like #10 at most) for any length.
  • There are five neutral wires coming in the right side of the panel but only four hots. What’s the extra for? If it’s for a disused circuit, it should be disconnected from the bus bar.
Related Topic