Ground bar neutral bar connection

[Douglas]

I have breaker box at least 40 yrs old, both conduit and romex enter box, only one neutral bar that all white wires and bare ground wires attach to, bar has bond screw to box. Most everything I read and pictures on internet seem to contradict. Nowdays box must have separate neutral and ground bars.What I read says the two shouldn’t be connected but pictures always shows connection from ground bar to neutral bar to ground wire. So should they be connected together or not?

 

[Avo Mk8]

Understanding Neutral, Ground, Grounding, and Bonding

Power Quality for the Digital age - Waveform Correction and SPD from Environmental Potentials, Inc

ep2000.com

They should be connected together but only at the 'main panel', but I believe can be complicated for multi-panel systems.
Caveat - this references a very early version of the NEC!

 

[Megawatt]

I have breaker box at least 40 yrs old, both conduit and romex enter box, only one neutral bar that all white wires and bare ground wires attach to, bar has bond screw to box. Most everything I read and pictures on internet seem to contradict. Nowdays box must have separate neutral and ground bars.What I read says the two shouldn’t be connected but pictures always shows connection from ground bar to neutral bar to ground wire. So should they be connected together or not?

Sorry for the late reply but as far as the NEC 2023 edition says is that the first panel after the meter you are allowed to terminate both the grounds and neutrals on the same bar. Any panel being subfed from the main panel is required to separate the grounds from the neutrals. Hope this give you a good understanding of the right way to do panels. Good luck and welcome to the forum

 

[norcal]

Sorry for the late reply but as far as the NEC 2023 edition says is that the first panel after the meter you are allowed to terminate both the grounds and neutrals on the same bar. Any panel being subfed from the main panel is required to separate the grounds from the neutrals. Hope this give you a good understanding of the right way to do panels. Good luck and welcome to the forum

The 2023 NEC has only been adopted by 5 States, so unless one is in CO, MA, MN, WY, or TX, might be still a bit premature to quote the 2023, Massachusetts always is first to adopt in the January of the year it comes out.

 

[Avo Mk8]

The 2023 NEC has only been adopted by 5 States, so unless one is in CO, MA, MN, WY, or TX, might be still a bit premature to quote the 2023, Massachusetts always is first to adopt in the January of the year it comes out.

Thank you. I see the OP's profile says he's in MN, so that appears to bring the 2023 NEC into play. But I don't think there is any diffence between the editions on this particular point anyway.