Residential Feed 250 Mcm Hots What Size Neutral

For every wire, you will need a ground wire. As you may know, the ground wire doesn't have to be as big as the main wire. Example: 1 AWG copper wire doesn't require a 1 AWG copper ground wire. It requires a 6 AWG copper ground wire. A ground wire size chart that follows will tell you exactly the size of the grounding conductor you need.

Now, it's important to understand that you cannot go wrong with a bigger-than-required ground wire. A big ground wire is just an overkill that will cost you more. That's it.

With smaller wires (8 AWG or smaller), you can use the same size ground wire as the main (hot) wire.

To find the most optimum ground wire size, you have to consult the 'NEC Grounding Conduction Size Chart'.

What section of the NEC covers grounding?

National Electrical Code (NEC) covers the sizes of ground wires in Article 250, Table 250.66 titled 'Grounding Electrode Conductor For Alternativing Current Systems'.

Since it's not all that easy to get hands on these new 2020 NEC guidelines, we are sharing this chart below. You will see two charts:

• 1st chart covers the size of copper wires (from 8 AWG to 2000 kcmil) and their corresponding copper ground wires.
• 2nd chart covers the size of aluminum wires (from 6 AWG to 2000 kcmil) and their corresponding aluminum ground wires.

To figure out what size ground wire you need, just consult these two charts. Below each chart, we also list some examples of ground wire sizing choices:

Copper Ground Wire Size Chart (Copper Grounding Conductor Size Chart)

Size Of Copper Wire (AWG or kcmil):	Copper Grounding Electrode Conductor Size (AWG or kcmil)
8 AWG Copper Wire	8 AWG Copper Ground Wire
6 AWG Copper Wire	8 AWG Copper Ground Wire
4 AWG Copper Wire	8 AWG Copper Ground Wire
3 AWG Copper Wire	8 AWG Copper Ground Wire
2 AWG Copper Wire	8 AWG Copper Ground Wire
1 AWG Copper Wire	6 AWG Copper Ground Wire
0 (1/0) AWG Copper Wire	6 AWG Copper Ground Wire
00 (2/0) AWG Copper Wire	4 AWG Copper Ground Wire
000 (3/0) AWG Copper Wire	4 AWG Copper Ground Wire
0000 (4/0) AWG Copper Wire	2 AWG Copper Ground Wire
250 kcmil Copper Wire	2 AWG Copper Ground Wire
300 kcmil Copper Wire	2 AWG Copper Ground Wire
350 kcmil Copper Wire	2 AWG Copper Ground Wire
400 kcmil Copper Wire	0 (1/0) AWG Copper Ground Wire
500 kcmil Copper Wire	0 (1/0) AWG Copper Ground Wire
600 kcmil Copper Wire	0 (1/0) AWG Copper Ground Wire
700 kcmil Copper Wire	00 (2/0) AWG Copper Ground Wire
750 kcmil Copper Wire	00 (2/0) AWG Copper Ground Wire
800 kcmil Copper Wire	00 (2/0) AWG Copper Ground Wire
900 kcmil Copper Wire	00 (2/0) AWG Copper Ground Wire
1000 kcmil Copper Wire	00 (2/0) AWG Copper Ground Wire
1250 kcmil Copper Wire	000 (3/0) AWG Copper Ground Wire
1500 kcmil Copper Wire	000 (3/0) AWG Copper Ground Wire
1750 kcmil Copper Wire	000 (3/0) AWG Copper Ground Wire
2000 kcmil Copper Wire	000 (3/0) AWG Copper Ground Wire

Let's look at two examples:

What size ground wire do I need for a 3 AWG wire?

3 AWG wire has an ampacity of 100A at a median 75°C (167°C) temperature. This is also why people confuse it with being a 100 amp wire. You can check what size wire you need for 100 amps here.

To figure out the size of ground wire, you consult the copper grounding conductor size chart, and you see that you need an 8 AWG copper ground wire for 3 AWG copper wire. Now, there is nothing wrong if you use a 6 AWG or even 4 AWG ground wire; it will do the same job, it will just cost more.

What size ground wire do I need for 250 kcmil wire?

250 kcmil copper wire has a 255A ampacity at a median conductor temperature. If you apply the NEC 80% rule, 250 kcmil wire can handle up to 204 amps. That's why it is considered a 200 amp wire. Basically, we are trying to answer what ground wire do you need for 200 amp service.

If you consult the copper ground wire size chart above, you can see that you will need a 2 AWG copper ground wire to adequately ground a 250 kcmil wire. Basically, you need a 2 AWG copper ground wire for a 200 amp service.

Let's look at the NEC recommendations for aluminum wires as well:

Aluminum Ground Wire Size Chart (Aluminum Grounding Conductor Size Chart)

Size Of Aluminum Wire (AWG or kcmil):	Aluminum Grounding Electrode Conductor Size (AWG or kcmil)
6 AWG Aluminum Wire	6 AWG Aluminum Ground Wire
4 AWG Aluminum Wire	6 AWG Aluminum Ground Wire
3 AWG Aluminum Wire	6 AWG Aluminum Ground Wire
2 AWG Aluminum Wire	6 AWG Aluminum Ground Wire
1 AWG Aluminum Wire	4 AWG Aluminum Ground Wire
0 (1/0) AWG Aluminum Wire	4 AWG Aluminum Ground Wire
00 (2/0) AWG Aluminum Wire	2 AWG Aluminum Ground Wire
000 (3/0) AWG Aluminum Wire	2 AWG Aluminum Ground Wire
0000 (4/0) AWG Aluminum Wire	0 (1/0) AWG Aluminum Ground Wire
250 kcmil Aluminum Wire	0 (1/0) AWG Aluminum Ground Wire
300 kcmil Aluminum Wire	0 (1/0) AWG Aluminum Ground Wire
350 kcmil Aluminum Wire	0 (1/0) AWG Aluminum Ground Wire
400 kcmil Aluminum Wire	000 (3/0) AWG Aluminum Ground Wire
500 kcmil Aluminum Wire	000 (3/0) AWG Aluminum Ground Wire
600 kcmil Aluminum Wire	000 (3/0) AWG Aluminum Ground Wire
700 kcmil Aluminum Wire	0000 (4/0) AWG Aluminum Ground Wire
750 kcmil Aluminum Wire	0000 (4/0) AWG Aluminum Ground Wire
800 kcmil Aluminum Wire	0000 (4/0) AWG Aluminum Ground Wire
900 kcmil Aluminum Wire	0000 (4/0) AWG Aluminum Ground Wire
1000 kcmil Aluminum Wire	0000 (4/0) AWG Aluminum Ground Wire
1250 kcmil Aluminum Wire	250 kcmil Aluminum Ground Wire
1500 kcmil Aluminum Wire	250 kcmil Aluminum Ground Wire
1750 kcmil Aluminum Wire	250 kcmil Aluminum Ground Wire
2000 kcmil Aluminum Wire	250 kcmil Aluminum Ground Wire

Compared to copper wires, aluminum wires have about 39% lower conductivity. That's why you have to use different grounding wires for aluminum wires.

Let's look at two examples of aluminum ground wires:

How big aluminum ground wire do you need for a 00 AWG aluminum wire?

Just check the aluminum ground wire size table above and you will see that you need a 2 AWG aluminum ground wire for 00 AWG aluminum wire grounding.

What size ground wire do I need for 500 kcmil aluminum wire?

Same thing. Check the NEC equipment grounding conductor chart for aluminum wires above, and you will see that you need a 000 AWG aluminum ground wire for adequately grounding a 500 kcmil aluminum wire.

With these two charts, you can pretty much figure out how big equipment grounding conductors you need. If you have any questions, just use the comments below and we'll try to help you out.

• Copper Ground Wire Size Chart (Copper Grounding Conductor Size Chart)
• Aluminum Ground Wire Size Chart (Aluminum Grounding Conductor Size Chart)
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harringtoninving84.blogspot.com

Source: https://learnmetrics.com/ground-wire-size-chart-nec-grounding-conductor-size-chart/

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