Hi All,

I have bought a new (old) house and am installing a new breaker box. I want to make this as clean as I can and I have run upon a choice I don't know the answer to, hoping someone out there can help. Here goes...

The service has 2 load wires and a ground wire (uninsulated), also there is an earth ground wire. (long copper rod in the earth with heavy gauge copper wire) Currently the earth ground and the service ground are connected together and all the ground wires AND all the neutral wires are connected to it. There are a couple different ways I can ground this box. I have the following options

1, Keep the same and wire all neutrals and grounds together to both the service ground and the earth ground.

2, Separate the service ground and the earth ground using one for the neutrals and the other for the grounds. This also has the options of which one to use for grounds and which for neutrals

My instincts tell me that wiring them all together would create so-called  'dirty power'. If I have to choose based on my instincts alone I would separate  the service ground from the earth ground and use the service ground for the neutrals and the earth ground for the grounds. I will happily admit I am wrong, but I'd rather be right .  Any electricians (or anyone else) out there have any advice?

My new breaker box came with instructions and a special screw...... "If your local code requires it use this screw to bond Neutral to Ground."

Further more my current house (not the one I am moving to) does not even have an earth ground.

So apparently they don't have to be together unless your local code requires it.

I do like the idea of redundant grounds though and if running a dedicated feed for my Decware gear is considered good enough then that's good enough for me as well. I listen to mostly classic rock which has a lot of mush to begin with, but still I would like it as clean as I can.