Two Services, One Grounding Electrode System, in Camas, WA

Two electrical services on one property is more common than people think: a house and an ADU, a shop with its own meter, or an old second service nobody ever took out. It’s also a setup that’s often grounded wrong. This property in Camas got the grounding fixed and everything labeled so nobody has to guess.

Two services still share one ground

This surprises people. When a building is fed by more than one service, the grounds get bonded together into one grounding system. They aren’t kept separate.

Here’s why:

• Separate grounds can sit at different voltages. If they aren’t tied together, metal fed from one service can be at a different voltage than metal fed from the other.
• A person can end up in between. Touch an appliance on Service A while leaning on a pipe tied to Service B, and you’re the connection.
• Breakers trip better on one good ground path. Two half-systems don’t clear a fault as reliably as one bonded system.

So we drove new rods and tied them to the house’s existing ground with a split bolt, the standard connector for that job, rated for direct burial when it’s done right.

Engraved labels, not a marker

We put an engraved phenolic label on every piece of service equipment: SERVICE A on one meter, disconnect and panel, and SERVICE B on the other.

Phenolic is a layered plastic. The letters are engraved through the black top into the white underneath, so they’re part of the label, not printed on it. They don’t fade in the sun, wash off in the rain, or peel off.

With two services, that matters. In an emergency, someone has to shut off the right one on the first try, and a handwritten note taped to a meter years ago won’t be readable when that day comes. Code requires permanent labels on service equipment for this reason, and we do them as part of any service equipment work.

You won’t see the difference

Nothing on this property works any differently now. No new circuit, no new light, nothing the owner can see from the kitchen.

But grounding and labels are the two things the cheapest bid skips, and the two things an inspector, an insurance company or a buyer’s home inspector is most likely to flag. They also matter most on the day something goes wrong.

Property in Camas or Washougal with two meters, an ADU, or a shop on its own service? Call 360-828-7143 or get the grounding checked before someone else finds the problem.