I need to install a new 20 amp single pole breaker into my panel. It was my understanding that there should be a neutral bar for the white wires and a grounding bar for the bare copper wires on each side of the breakers. In my panel the white wires and ground wires are both attached to the same bar and this occurs on both sides of the breakers. Will it be ok for me to put my neutral and ground wires on the same bar?
I second Propreno. You don't need to separate them in the main panel. Subpanels do require it, as he described. Current doesn't go to ground without a surge (such as Lightning) because the Earth actually has too high a resistance. All return flow goes through the neutral wire, back to the transformer, where it is acutally a ground (so, at the service panel, the neutrals are really grounds, hence the mixing).
Ideally it should be separated and the white side should be attached to the service lines. The Green side should go to a heavy solid bare wire that goes to a grounding clamp outside or to your incoming water lines. You really should correct this if that is not the case. If you don't you'd have voltage going to ground which is reserved for only surge protection.
No. Don't re-route the ground wires. It's okay. You could re-route the wires so you have whites on one side and grounds on the other merely for aesthetic value.No, I'm kidding. It's fine, correct, and safe. Leave them be. The only time you would have to worry about separating the neutral and ground wires is for example on a remote box in a garage or workshop where the neutral busbar is insulated from the panel's steel components. You would see all the white wires on one insulated bar and the green or bare wires on the busbar attached to the panel. But you're talking about your main panel so you're fine. You don't have to re-wire your whole service.
