Electrical Grounding and Bonding Per the National Electrical Code

Learn about the requirements of the National Electric Code^® Article 250, requirements for grounding and bonding in several other NEC^® articles, and how to avoid grounding and bonding problems using practical solutions.

Course Objectives:

• Take the mystery out of grounding and bonding requirements
• Provide awareness of changes in Article 250 of the National Electrical Code
• Cover requirements for facility grounding and bonding in a comprehensive manner
• Present practical solutions to grounding and bonding problems
• Assist the students in applying the NEC to on-the-job installations

• Designers, engineers, contractors, and consultants responsible for the design and installation of building electrical grounding systems
• Electricians, technicians, inspectors, safety personnel, and other employees responsible for the operation and maintenance of electrical grounding and bonding systems in commercial, industrial, institutional, or utility customer-interface settings

This course has been approved by the State of WI Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) for 14 hours for: Registered Electrician, Commercial Electrical Inspector, Industrial Journeyman Electrician, Journeyman Electrician, Master Electrician, Residential Journeyman Electrician, and UDC - Electrical Inspector license holders.

As part of the course fee, attendees will be provided a copy of the textbook "Electrical Grounding and Bonding" (published by Cengage) by Phil Simmons.

Industry and NEC Definitions

• Defining the terms related to grounding and bonding
• Understanding the difference between “grounding” and “bonding” 
• Differentiating between a short-circuit and a ground-fault 
• What is a system grounded conductor and a grounding electrode conductor? 
• What is an equipment grounding conductor? 
• What is a grounded conductor? 
• When is a neutral conductor a grounded conductor?

Low-Impedance Fault Return Path

• Definition of effective ground-fault current path 
• Requirements for effective ground-fault current path 
• Purpose and function of effective ground-fault current path 
• Earth return prohibited installations 
• Installing parallel sets of conductors

System Grounding Requirements

• Reducing objectionable current flow over grounding conductors 
• Systems that are required to be grounded and those that are permitted to be grounded 
• Choosing a grounded or ungrounded system 
• High-and low-resistance grounding applications 
• Grounding the neutral of a wye-connected system 
• Grounding the mid-point of a delta system 
• Corner-grounded delta systems 
• Purpose of the grounding electrode system on an ungrounded system

Purpose of the Grounded Conductor on a Grounded System

• Providing a low-impedance path for fault-clearing capability 
• The function of the main bonding jumper and system bonding jumper 
• Sizing the neutral for services with a single and parallel set of supply conductors 
• Maintaining neutral isolation on load side of service or source of separately derived system

The Grounding Electrode System

• What grounding electrodes are required to be used if present? 
• Types of grounding electrodes, including the Ufer ground
• How to determine if grounding electrodes qualify for use 
• Bonding requirements for the grounding electrode system 
• Using busbars for connecting grounding electrode system components 
• Optional grounding electrode system connections 
• Understanding the purpose of the grounding electrode 
• Bonding requirements for all grounding electrodes, including those installed for lightning protection systems, communication systems, and data processing systems

Separately Derived Systems

• What is a separately derived system?
• How is this type of system grounded?
• Sizing neutral, bonding, and grounding electrode conductors
• When is an on-site generator a separately derived system?
• How are automatic transfer switches appropriately applied?
• Requirements if the source is outdoors

Grounding and Bonding at Separate Buildings

• When a grounding electrode is not required 
• Choosing grounding and bonding scheme at separate buildings
• When the neutral is permitted to be grounded at separate buildings
• Sizing grounding electrode conductors at separate buildings
• Buildings or structures supplied by a separately derived system

Equipment Grounding Conductors

• When equipment is required to be grounded 
• Metal raceways as equipment grounding conductors
• How to calculate the maximum length of metal conduits when used as equipment grounding conductors
• Supplementing metal raceways with equipment grounding conductors
• Sizing equipment grounding conductors for motor circuits and for parallel conduit runs
• Sizing equipment grounding conductors for available short-circuit current
• Color code requirements
• Branch circuit extensions and GFCI protection of replacement receptacles

Ground Fault Protection

• Types of ground fault protection
• Capacitive charging current effects 
• Coordinating GFP settings with downstream protection

Grounding and Bonding Conductor Connections

• Types of connections: welded, brazed, and pressure type 
• Selecting connectors for the application

Bonding Requirements

• Bonding requirements for service equipment 
• Intersystem bonding requirements
• Bonding of metal piping systems
• Bonding of metal frames of buildings 
• Bonding requirements for areas supplied by separately derived systems 
• Bonding requirements for receptacles and boxes

Use of the Neutral for Bonding

• When it is permitted to use the neutral for bonding and when it is not 
• Use of the neutral for line-side bonding
• Use of the neutral for equipment grounding

Isolated Equipment Grounding

• Isolated grounding of equipment 
• Isolated grounding of receptacles

Special Occupancy Grounding and Bonding

• Grounding and bonding for hazardous locations 
• Requirements for patient care areas of health care facilities 
• Grounding and bonding for agricultural buildings 
• Requirements for mobile and manufactured homes

"The course was very useful for me. The instructors are very knowledgeable and take interest in helping out individuals in their specific work-related problems."
—Arvind Sethuraman, Mesa Natural Gas Solutions, Power Systems Engineer

"Your use of Zoom (web interface) was the best I've been part of! I've been in other web-based training sessions in the past 12-18 months and you by far have it down! I really enjoyed that you took the time for specific questions! Great training!"
—Joel LeMahieu, DeTroye Electric Services, Inc., Electrical Department Manager

"This training made me confident in what I felt I already knew and gave me an understanding of the areas that were not clear in the NEC."
—Richard Linke, Hilscher-Clarke Electrical Contractors and Engineers, Electrical Designer

"Instructor was extremely knowledgeable on the subject with many real-life examples."
—Glenn Walls, Professional Power Systems, Owner

Noel Williams

Noel runs Noel Williams Consulting (more than 20 years) and serves as an instructor and developer of electrical training programs covering electrical safety, including the National Electrical Code and related standards. He has provided training services for Salt Lake Community College, NFPA, NTT, IAEI, and private clients that included Los Alamos National Labs, Alcan Cable, Thiokol, Honeywell, Salt Lake City Airport, and the University of Utah Hospital. He has taught thousands of students throughout most of the United States as well as a few other countries for over 25 years. He has also worked as a subject matter expert for development of online training programs and as an expert witness.