NEC 250 PART IV: ENCLOSURE, RACEWAY, AND
SERVICE CABLE CONNECTIONS
7. NEC 250 PART IV: ENCLOSURE, RACEWAY, AND SERVICE
CABLE CONNECTIONS
This short section of Art. 250 gives us instructions on how to properly ground all
metal raceways and enclosures from the utility service to the very last metal
enclosure in your building or structure. While there are a few exceptions, the
governing principle is simple: all metal raceways and enclosures in your
building/structure must be connected to ground to ensure the electrical safety of
persons.
This will require you to properly connect the neutral conductor (grounded
conductor) to the incoming service raceways, and to ensure that equipment-
grounding conductors (third-wire or green-wire ground) are used throughout your
electrical system.
Additionally, there are some very specific rules regarding how the utility service
feed is to be connected to ground in order to ensure the safety of the occupants
of the building/structure, particularly when dealing with armored or sheathed
cables.
7.1. 250.80. SERVICE RACEWAYS AND ENCLOSURES
This section of the Code tells us that any form of metal raceway (conduit, flexible
tubing, raceways, etc.) used to route service conductors and equipment should
be connected to the neutral (grounded conductor) wire. Power coming from the
utility service rarely (if ever) has a third-wire ground. The neutral wire is the
grounded conductor in the system and must be bonded to all metal raceways so
that any accidental contact between the phase wire and the metal raceway will
have an effective fault-current path back to the transformer.
If you have an ungrounded electrical system, you must bond the raceway to your
system's grounding electrode conductor.
Raceway An enclosed channel of metal or nonmetallic material
designed expressly for holding wires, cables, bus bars, and so on.
Raceways include all types of conduit, flexible tubing, raceways, floor
raceways, busways, and so on.
Grounded conductor (neutral) A system or circuit conductor that
is intentionally grounded. This is a current-carrying conductor typically
called the neutral wire.
Grounding (earthing) electrode conductor The conductor used
to connect the grounding (earthing) electrode(s) to the equipment-
grounding (bonding) conductor, to the neutral (grounded) conductor, or
to both in accordance with Arts. 250.66 and 250.142.
Service The conductors and equipment for delivering electric
energy from the serving utility to the wiring system of the premises.
There is one exception to this rule, and that is for services with underground
raceways that comprise a combination of both metallic and nonmetallic
components. Often, underground service raceways will be made from polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) conduit (nonmetallic), as it will not corrode as quickly when in
contact with the soil/earth. However, PVC elbow bends are often not strong
enough to withstand the rigors of pulling conductors through them, so the PVC
elbows are often replaced with metal ones. In other words, your underground
service raceway may be a combination of both metal and plastic conduit, with the
elbow bends being metal. The exception states that you do not need to bond
those metal raceway bends to ground, if they are completely buried and covered
by at least 18 in. (450 mm) of earth/soil. We can see in Fig. 7.1 that metal elbows
and sweeps that are buried at least 18 inches below-grade do not have to be
bonded to the grounding system.
Figure 7.1. Ungrounded metal elbow 18-in. below-grade.
7.2. 250.84. UNDERGROUND SERVICE CABLE OR RACEWAY
This section of the Code tells us how to ground and bond underground electrical
service feeds that use metal sheath or armored cables.
250.84(A). Underground Service Cable. If your underground service cable
is the type with a metal sheath or armor and is continuous from the utility
transformer all the way to your first service disconnect, you do not need to bond
the metal sheath or armor to the neutral (grounded conductor) at the building, if
the metal sheath or armor is bonded to the neutral at the utility transformer.
In other words, if your service supply conductors are the sheathed or armored
type, you should bond the armor to the XO of the supply transformer but should
not bond it to the neutral at the building. This is because your service conductors
will have an armored cable for each phase wire and will also have a wire for the
neutral (grounded conductor). If you bond the armor at both ends, you will create
two neutral return paths; one through the neutral wire and the other through the
armor sheathing, which is a hazardous situation.
Service The conductors and equipment for delivering electric
energy from the serving utility to the wiring system of the premises.
First service disconnect The very first electrical panel that will
disconnect (turn off) the power coming in from the utility company.
Sometimes this term is used to describe the first electrical panel that
can turn off power on the secondary or low-voltage side of a
transformer.
Grounded conductor (neutral) A system or circuit conductor that
is intentionally grounded. This is a current-carrying conductor typically
called the neutral wire.
It is permitted to insulate the sheath or armor from the interior metal raceway or
piping.
250.84(B). Underground Service Raceway Containing Cable. If your
underground service cable is the type with a metal sheath or armor and it is
connected to the neutral (grounded conductor), as in Art. 250.84(A) above, and
routed in underground metal raceway (service raceway), you do not need to
ground the metal raceway to the building's neutral (grounded conductor), as in
Art. 250.80.
It is permitted to insulate the sheath or armor from the interior metal raceway or
piping.
7.3. 250.86. OTHER CONDUCTOR ENCLOSURES AND RACEWAYS
This section tells us that all the metal raceways and metal enclosures of all types
that are in your building/structure need to be grounded, so if an electrical fault
were to occur, there would be an effective fault-current path. If your metal
enclosure or raceway is not bonded to ground, there will be a difference in
potential between the non-current-carrying enclosure and ground. That difference
in potential is a shock hazard to people and can result in the inability of circuit
breakers to function properly.
Effective ground fault–current path An intentionally
constructed, low-impedance, electrically conductive path designed and
intended to carry current under ground-fault conditions from the point
of a ground fault on a wiring system to the electrical supply source and
that facilitates the operation of the OCPD or ground-fault detectors.
Equipment-grounding (bonding) conductor The low-impedance
fault-current path that is typically run with or encloses the circuit
conductors, used to connect the non-current-carrying metal parts of
equipment, raceways, and other enclosures to the grounded (neutral)
conductor and equipment-grounding (bonding) conductor at service
equipment or at the source of a separately derived system. Often
called the green-wire or third-wire ground conductor.
Raceway An enclosed channel of metal or nonmetallic material
designed expressly for holding wires, cables, bus bars, and so on.
Raceways include all types of conduit, flexible tubing, raceways, floor
raceways, busways, and so on.
The previous two articles in Section IV, 250.80 and 250.84, addressed the service
conductors and service raceways. This section covers all other metal raceways
and enclosures in your building/structure's electrical system. All of the metal
raceways and metal enclosures in your building/structure's electrical system must
be bonded to the equipment-grounding conductor.
There are four exceptions to this rule; however, only three are numbered in the
text of the Code. The primary exception (and the one that is not numbered), is
from Art. 250.112(I), which states that circuits less than 50 V that are used for
fire alarms, signaling, and/or remote control systems do not need to be grounded.
You may, of course, ground them (and you should), but it is not required.
Another exception to this rule (called exception 1 in the Code) involves metal
enclosures and raceways that have been added to existing installations in
buildings/structures that have open-wire, knob-and-tube wiring, and nonmetallic
sheathed cable. You do not need to bond metal raceways and enclosures to the
equipment-grounding conductor if all of the following four requirements are met:
1. They do not provide an equipment ground.
2. The runs are less than 25 ft (7.5 m).
3. They are unlikely to come in contact with ground or other grounded objects.
4. They are guarded from contact by persons.
Another exception, called exception 2, tells us that short sections of metal
enclosures or raceways used to provide additional support/protection to cable
assemblies do not need to be tied to the equipment-grounding conductor. Cable
assemblies are not defined within the NEC, but are generally considered to be
purposely built multiconductor assemblies inside an armored sheathing such as
Type AC, Type MC, or Type NM cables. See Arts. 200.6(E) and 200.7(C)(1) for
more information on cable assemblies.
The last exception (called exception 3 in the Code), is very similar to the
exception found in Art. 250.80. This exception says that an underground
nonmetallic raceway may have ungrounded metal elbows, if the metal elbows are
isolated from possible contact by one of the following methods:
Completely buried in 18 in. (450 mm) of soil/earth
Encased in at least 2 in. (50 mm) of concrete
Please see the exception in Art. 250.80 for more information.
Citation
EXPORT
David R. Stockin: McGraw-Hill's National Electrical Code® 2014 Grounding and
Earthing Handbook. NEC 250 PART IV: ENCLOSURE, RACEWAY, AND SERVICE
CABLE CONNECTIONS, Chapter (McGraw-Hill Professional, 2014),
AccessEngineering
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