Meter Bypass load break

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al hildenbrand

Senior Member
Location
Minnesota
Occupation
Electrical Contractor, Electrical Consultant, Electrical Engineer
In my experience, the common single phase direct meter internal bypass meter sockets have NO interrupting rating. I work mostly with Milbank sockets.
 

GoldDigger

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Location
Placerville, CA, USA
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Retired PV System Designer
In my experience, the common single phase direct meter internal bypass meter sockets have NO interrupting rating. I work mostly with Milbank sockets.
:thumbsup:
They assume that you will close the switch with the meter in place and only open the switch once the meter has been replaced. In that case no interrupting rating is needed.
If you bypass, pull the meter and then open the bypass under load you are likely to make sparks or smoke somewhere.
 

ron

Senior Member
Ok, odd question. Does a meter bypass lever have any load breaking ability?

No it does not have any significant load breaking ability. It is designed to engage with the meter in place, and disengage when the meter is installed.

So of course it does break some load when you disengage with the meter in place (likely ~ 1/2 of the connected load), but not like a regular load break switch.
 

GoldDigger

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Staff member
Location
Placerville, CA, USA
Occupation
Retired PV System Designer
No it does not have any significant load breaking ability. It is designed to engage with the meter in place, and disengage when the meter is installed.

So of course it does break some load when you disengage with the meter in place (likely ~ 1/2 of the connected load), but not like a regular load break switch.
I think that the critical difference is that when the switch opens in parallel with the meter there will not be significant arcing because the voltage across the contacts will not rise above a fraction of a volt with the parallel path in place.
 

Steve Sink

Member
Location
NC
Yeah, this is definitely a no, no. The meter bypass meter base was designed so that the utility could safely replace the meter without interrupting power to their customers. The bypass is not rated to make or break load. So, if you need to pull the meter to turn the power off to the service, whether you are turning the power off to do some work, or disconnecting the customer's power, the proper thing to do would be to turn off the main breaker. This way, there will be no load to break. You will have already done that with the main breaker. Just remember, if you break load to take the meter out, that same load and possibly more will be present when you throw that handle up to reinstall the meter, and there will be an arc.
 
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