Subpanel

[Firewoodjoe]

Ok if there's any electricians out there I just put a 4 wire sub panle in my pole barn and I have 110 on each hot until I hook it to the main the one is 220 and one 110. What did I do wrong? Or is the sub bad? It's brand new.

[scsmith42]

Joe, can you post a photo of the subpanel showing where the wires are hooked up?

[SPIKER]

Sounds odd:

Should have 4 wires from Main Panel, 2 hots, one Neutral and one Ground.

Be sure the Sub Panel does NOT have the (green screw) Neutral to Ground Bonding Screw/Bolt installed.   The tow HOT legs into each half of the Sub Panel so between them you have 220V.   One side to Neutral is 120V..   The Ground wires and Neutral Wires need to be separate & there should be ground rod at the Sub Panel (Pole barn Ground Rods.)

Only check for voltage between HOT and Neutral for 120V and between the two hot wires for 240V.

Mark

[Firewoodjoe]

I can take a pic tomorrow. Family x mas down state right now. And yes the nuetral and ground are separate with no bonding screw. Do I need a bond on the neutral? I put a single pole 115 breaker in and it has 220 on it. But one hole side has 110/115 amd one has 220/230

[beenthere]

Something is wrong. I see no way that a breaker can (all single breakers are rated in amps) have 220v as it is just in line with one of the two 115v legs. Takes two 115v legs to get 220v thus a double breaker is used in a panel.

Tell us what is feeding this sub panel, in some detail. Is it as Spiker (Mark) says... ??

And what is the brand and model of the sub panel. 

Should be able to help you get it squared away.

[LaneC]

What do you mean when you say "hook it to the main"? Do you have a disconnect or something in between the feeder and the sub panel? Where are you putting your meter to check the voltage? I am assuming you are in the country with single phase power and no high leg.

[Firewoodjoe]

4 wire for detached building. Aluminum wire. Has the two hots at 110/115 feeding from my home via a 100 amp two pole breaker. (also reads 110/115 on each wire) at the pole barn both hots go into the main breaker the ground to the  non bonded ground strip and nutrel to a non grounded and separate strip. The ground has ground wire to 8 foot ground rods. When main is on, one main hot  reads 110 amd the other reads 220. With no breakers in, the metal legs or poles in the back of the panel also read 110 and the other 220. I'll have to post pics tomorrow. Amd yes a single breaker will read 220 with one wire. Believe me i blew lights amd my circulating pump because I didn't use my multi meter first.

[beenthere]

Sounds correct on the feed.

Puzzling how you get a 220 reading between a hot line and ground that comes in at 110 and converts to 220.

Might need an electrician to check it out. 

[Firewoodjoe]

Is it possible the breaker box was a defect or something? My dad had one that burnt together and did kida the same thing but it was a old one.

[Magicman]

Sounds like you put one of the 120v legs to the neutral post, and the neutral wire to one of the breaker strips.  That way you will read exactly what you are seeing.  From your now hot neutral, you will read 120v to one breaker and 240v to the other.  Since your ground wire is connected to the box, if you screwed the bonding screw in, you will see sparks.

Maybe I am wrong, but that is what you are describing by your voltage measurements.

I am just glad that no one is dead yet.

[Brucer]

I gave this some thought before Magicman posted and came to exactly the same conclusion. If you swap the two wires that have 110V across them, you should be good.

[scsmith42]

I recently encountered a similar circumstance of having 230 VAC on one leg, and discovered that a neutral wire was shorted to one leg of my hot.  This occurred in a mobile veterinary hospital and one of the neutral wires had pulled out of the screw in the plug going into the unit, and said neutral bent over and touched one of the hot wires on the plug.  Took me a few hours to figure out what had happened...

I would suggest that you check between your neutral and ground buss in your subpanel.  If you have current, then the short is between your main and the subpanel.

It could also be somewhere in the circuit where you are measuring 230 at the breaker. 

[beenthere]

Makes sense what MM suggested, but also is a scary thought if that is how it is hooked up.

I'd suggest leaving it alone and let an electrician hook it up. There is something going on here that whoever hooked it up does not understand. Don't mean to be rude, but want y'all to be safe.

[Firewoodjoe]

Well it's all black wire except the neutral has a yellow strip so that would not be my fault. Amd I'm sure I check continuity on all four wires prior to burying it. It still has the tape marks on both ends. Now the ground and hot maybe, only because that doesn't have the yellow factory strip. And I had this on a small 40 amp running my stove. Then trying to finish my garage, I swaped A 100 amp in and now this. Thanks ALOT for the post but I'll check volts tomorrow for a third time and post a pic. Thank u again

[Magicman]

Use your multimeter.  You have two wires that read 220v across them.  Those two wires go to the breakers.  That leaves one black and one yellow stripe.  One is the ground and the other is the neutral.  You will read 120v from either of them to each of the breakers and 220v from one breaker to the other.

Please be careful.

[Gary_C]

I came to the same conclusion that MM did. Shut off the power to that panel right away before someone gets killed. One of the hot wires is connected to the neutral. You need to swap the neutral and the wire now going to the side with 110 volts.

[Southside]

I lost a house to a fire because the neutral became energized when a short happened - it is not something to mess with.  Like MM said - shut it down then figure it out.

[Firewoodjoe]

It is shut down. It's been shut down. I know that much. And if the yellow striped neutral is wrong then that's the manufactures fault. Thanks for the help

[Magicman]

I doubt that there is anything wrong with the yellow striped wire.

[ChopperDan]

I'm certain MM is correct. I would meter from the ground to neutral. I'll bet you'll have 120 volts. 1 of those conductors are switched with 1 of the hots.

[LaneC]

I sent you a PM with my phone number to try and help but don't bother. Magic man is saying exactly what I was going to say over the phone. I was going to get you to ohm the wires and verify each end. hopefully it will stay off until the wires are verified. Usually the ground is allowed to be 2 sizes smaller so that should help if 1 is a different size. This is very serious as you already know. Hope it works out.

[Firewoodjoe]

I'm headed home soon. 5 hour drive. I can't ohm it anymore. It's buried 100 feet. Amd as posted before I did prior to burying it and my marks are still on it now. I've made mistakes before but I'll let u know in a few

[Hilltop366]

I'm headed home soon. 5 hour drive. I can't ohm it anymore. It's buried 100 feet. Amd as posted before I did prior to burying it and my marks are still on it now. I've made mistakes before but I'll let u know in a few

You could use a 100' piece of wire or your marked wire to check the others with your ohm meter, could also use an extension chord.

[LaneC]

It doesn't matter. Call me and I can tell you how to ohm it.

[Firewoodjoe]

Well where do I start. Got home put my new circulating pump on got the fire going and heating my house via a extension cord. Then unhooked my sub panel wire under flashlight and wow in my face, on the "ground wire", the tap I put on from two years ago says hot!! With everything just hanging there turn the feed on and check with multi meter and sure enough the tape was right and I was wrong. The yellow strip neutral was right though! Man do I feel like a fool. I thank u all and u guys were spot on