Can ground and neutral share a bar in the main panel?

In the main panel, yes — that's where the single bond lives. In a subpanel, no: separate bars, bonding screw out.

Does the ground wire carry current?

Normally, no. Its only intended job is carrying fault current. Steady current on a ground wire means something's wrong — often a neutral-ground bond where there shouldn't be one.

Why does my outlet tester say \"correct\" but there's no ground wire?

Probably a bootleg ground: neutral jumpered to the ground terminal. Testers check continuity, not a true ground path. Get it inspected.

Is a GFCI without a ground safe?

It gives shock protection and is Code-recognized where grounding isn't practicable, with proper labeling — but it doesn't ground equipment for surge protection.

Can I fix the subpanel bonding screw myself?

No. The panel cover stays closed for homeowners — panel work is licensed-electrician territory.

Panel's a mystery? Outlets test \"correct\" in a house with cloth wiring? Subpanel installed by \"a guy\"? Get a licensed electrician to look before it becomes a problem. Call ABest Pros at (504) 552-3785 or visit abestpros.com. When you need a Pro, call ABest Pros.

Sources: NEC Articles 250.24, 250.28, 250.142, and 406.4 (NFPA); ECMag \"Codes & Standards: Neutral and Grounded\"; Mike Holt NEC forum discussions; Wikipedia \"Bootleg ground\".

","TEXT_IMAGE_NONE","label","link","image",{"_267":322,"_323":324,"_74":325},"https://d13cw1lxlociqy.cloudfront.net/myfptd0a65y1s41yk57i611tybfv","altText","Close-up of a server rack with numerous red and orange cables connected to various ports and switches.","WebsiteCustomImage","ODQzNDY0Ng==","What To Do With 2-Prong Outlets and No Ground Wire","

Rewiring the whole house is the gold standard, but it isn't always in the cards right away. Where adding a ground isn't practicable, NEC 406.4(D)(2)(b) and (c) allow a GFCI device with its grounding terminal unconnected — the GFCI receptacle must be labeled \"No Equipment Ground,\" and any downstream grounding-type receptacles it protects get \"GFCI Protected\" and \"No Equipment Ground.\" You get shock protection without a ground wire — a legitimate, Code-recognized path we recommend often in South Louisiana's aging, post-storm housing stock.

What it doesn't do: provide an equipment ground for things that need one, like surge protectors or some computer equipment. Worth knowing before you plug in the home office.

",{"_267":322,"_323":324,"_74":325},"ODQzNDY0NQ==","The Bootleg Ground: Why Your Tester Lies to You","

We see it constantly in older housing stock — Metairie cottages and Eastbank doubles with original two-wire cloth or knob-and-tube. Somebody swaps a 2-prong receptacle for a 3-prong one and, with no ground wire in the box, jumpers the neutral to the ground terminal. That's a bootleg ground — a Code violation.

The nasty part: a standard 3-lamp plug-in tester reads that outlet as \"correctly wired.\" The tester only checks continuity between the ground terminal and neutral — which the bootleg provides. As the Wikipedia article on bootleg grounds and Mike Holt forum pros explain, the real danger comes if the neutral opens upstream: the ground terminal, and the frame of whatever's plugged in, can be energized through the load. A reverse-polarity bootleg is worse, putting line voltage on the ground wire and appliance frames.

So 3-prong outlets in an old house nobody's rewired, testing \"correct,\" don't prove you have a ground. Only an inspection does.

",{"_267":322,"_323":324,"_74":325},"ODQzNDY0NA==","Why Subpanels Keep Them Apart","

Here's where it gets practical — and where we see the mistake constantly. Take a subpanel in a detached Covington garage or a Hammond workshop: a Square D Homeline or Siemens panel fed from the house. In a subpanel, neutrals and grounds land on separate bars, and the green bonding screw or strap tying the neutral bar to the enclosure comes out. That's the whole electrical difference between a main panel and a subpanel.

Bond them at two points and normal return current splits — some rides the neutral home, some rides the ground and every bonded metal part between. Now your \"safety path\" carries everyday current: objectionable current on the grounding path. Metal parts that should sit at zero volts can float a few volts up, and a ground fault splits across multiple paths instead of one predictable route.

The first thing a licensed electrician checks on a misbehaving subpanel — a GFCI or AFCI breaker nuisance-tripping, a tingle from an appliance frame, odd voltage readings — is whether that green bonding screw is still in. Across the Northshore and Southshore, it's one of the most common defects we find in homeowner- or handyman-installed subpanels: they ship with the screw installed because they're sold as main panels too, and plenty never get removed.

The fix is straightforward for a licensed electrician: separate the bars, pull the bonding screw, and confirm the feeder carries its own equipment grounding conductor back to the main panel. The panel cover stays closed for homeowners — this is licensed-pro work, full stop. But knowing why helps you ask the right questions.

",{"_267":322,"_323":324,"_74":325},"ODQzNDY0Mw==","The Homeowner Version: Two Jobs, One Meeting Point","

Power comes in on the hot wires, does its work, and flows back on the neutral — the working circuit in every home in Marrero, Metairie, and Slidell. Current belongs on the neutral.

The ground wire is the backup plan. It bonds together every metal part you can touch — appliance frames, panel enclosures, boxes — and runs them back to the panel. Most of the time it sits idle. When a hot wire touches a frame, it gives fault current a fast lane home so the breaker can trip.

They meet at one point because the safety path needs a defined route back to the source. NEC 250.24(B) and 250.28 describe the main bonding jumper making that connection at the service equipment. The Code bars the neutral from reconnecting to ground on the load side (NEC 250.24(A)(5); see ECMag's \"Codes & Standards: Neutral and Grounded\") and from grounding metal parts downstream (NEC 250.142(B)). One meeting point, nowhere else — outside narrow Code exceptions for special systems, which your electrician knows.

",{"_267":322,"_323":324,"_74":325},"ODQzMjQzMA==","The 30-Second Answer","

Open a main service panel — something a homeowner should never do — and you'll see white neutral wires and bare or green ground wires landing on what looks like the same bar. We hear it on service calls across the Westbank and Eastbank all the time: they're the same wire, right? They land in the same place.

They're not the same wire, and they don't do the same job. The neutral is the normal return path — it's live with current every time a light is on. The ground is the safety path: normally it carries nothing, stepping in only when something goes wrong, giving fault current a low-resistance route back so the breaker can trip instead of leaving an appliance frame energized. They touch at exactly one point in your whole system: the main bonding jumper at the service disconnect. Everywhere else — subpanels, junction boxes, receptacles — they stay separated.

A finished Square D QO panel: breakers mounted on the bus, mains landed at top, and white neutral conductors dressed in pigtails along both terminal bars.

Neutral carries normal return current; the ground (equipment grounding conductor) should carry current only during a fault.
One neutral-to-ground bond: the main bonding jumper at the service disconnect (NEC 250.24(B), 250.28).
Past that point, the neutral can't reconnect to ground (250.24(A)(5)) or ground metal parts (250.142(B)).
Subpanels: separate neutral and ground bars, factory bonding screw removed.
A bootleg ground — neutral jumpered to a receptacle's ground terminal — fools plug-in testers and violates Code.

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Ground vs. Neutral: Why the "Same Wire" in Your New Orleans Panel Isn't the Same at All

The 30-Second Answer

The Homeowner Version: Two Jobs, One Meeting Point

Why Subpanels Keep Them Apart

The Bootleg Ground: Why Your Tester Lies to You

What To Do With 2-Prong Outlets and No Ground Wire

Quick Answers