I'm installing a new 100 amp panel and have almost run out of openings on the neutral bus bar and still have 4 more breakers to install. Can I double up on the neutral side or should I start using openings on the ground side. The neutral is bonded and this is a main service (not sub panel) I'm a bit of a neat freak with this stuff and would prefer to keep grounds and neutrals separate but not at the cost of safety.
Electrical – Is it OK to have more than one neutral wire in the same connection on the neutral bus bar on a main panel
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The panel you have pictured is a grounded panel but originally designed for just 12 branch circuits. There would be no problem if you added an extra ground buss as long as it is screwed securely to the metal box and bonded to earth ground with a piece of 10 or 8 AWG. Knowing you want to add kitchen circuits, looks like you have plenty of capacity. Minimum of two 20 amp convenience receptacle circuits (GFIC), one for the fridge, one for the dishwasher, and one for lighting. Looks good to me. I'd pass it on my inspection.
Yes, you can add an insulated ground bar in the can (you should be able to get one specifically designed for your particular can, but here's what they look like):
.. and then connect it to the other ground bar using a piece of #4 AWG (solid bare copper, or stranded THHN insulated) assuming you're still at 200 amps. This guarantees that the green bonding screw that's actually bonding your neutral on the other bar will affect both bars if it is removed. It's common to add these for isolated grounds, where they're connected to a different ground altogether instead of the other bar.
Note - the one you buy may come with its own bonding screw, and the appropriate tapped hole to receive it - so check for that prior to connecting the two together (IOW, read the installation notes that came with it).
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Best Answer
Neutrals must be one to a hole. No exceptions.
NEC 2011:
Since this is the main panel there is typically no separate neutral and ground bars, although additional bars that attach directly to the back of the panel box MUST be for grounds only. The metal panel enclosure CANNOT be used to carry current.
As long as both existing bars are connected by a link bar or other path you can use either side for neutrals. Grounds typically can be two and even three conductors to a hole, sized #14 or #12 and sometimes #10, and must be the same size. So if you need to make room you can double up on some grounds.
Neatness is all well and good, but fanaticism at the cost of convenience and logic is silly. Keeping the grounds and neutrals on separate bars in a main panel makes absolutely NO sense at all. IMO it is neater when all the wires don't cross from one side to another.