Why isolate the neutral in a sub panel?…
The neutral is only bonded to ground at your service panel. At all other points throughout your house, there is no connection between the bare (or green) grounding conductor and the white neutral conductor. Under normal conditions, the grounding conductor carries no current. No current means there is no voltage drop along it; therefore anything “grounded” to this conductor is at the same potential (voltage) as ground. If you bond the neutral and ground at the sub panel, than stray currents from the neutral return could go thru the equipment ground on the electrical devices fed from this sub panel. If you isolate the neutral and ground at the sub panel, than any currents would go back to the main panel, where they should be bonded, and go to the service ground. If you install a sub panel outside the building from the main panel, than you will need to drive a ground rod at this panel. A single branch circuit run to another building is not considered a sub panel. [ Back to FAQ.
