200 amp service with 400 mcm

[stickboy1375]

your mains have to be grouped together. NEC 2005 article 230.72

They are... didnt you see them? Also, I could have easily taken advantage of 230.40 Exception No. 3, but instead I installed a disconnect at the garage.

 

[ultramegabob]

They are... didnt you see them? Also, I could have easily taken advantage of 230.40 Exception No. 3, but instead I installed a disconnect at the garage.

I wasnt pointing anything out wrong, I was answering buck33's question why you had the disconnect there.

 

[stickboy1375]

That service isn't going to work too well with no service conductors.

Being a 400 amp service I am 99% sure CL&P will feed this with 4/0. At least every single 400 amp residential service I've ever encountered in CL&P land has been fed with 4/0.

Actually its working now, I'll take some new pics on monday, and I would be VERY surprised if they ran anything bigger than 4/0 AL.

 

[stickboy1375]

I wasnt pointing anything out wrong, I was answering buck33's question why you had the disconnect there.

Oh, sorry, got a little defensive... :grin:

 

[peter d]

Actually its working now, I'll take some new pics on monday, and I would be VERY surprised if they ran anything bigger than 4/0 AL.

I usually just look at what's coming out of the riser at the pole....all the "400 amp" services I've seen are fed with the same 4/0 triplex that CL&P uses for the 200 amp services....even the 3 phase ones (but they have a 4th wire of course)

 

[ultramegabob]

Oh, sorry, got a little defensive... :grin:

if you read back a little, you will see where we both pretty much in agreement how we would do the job...

 

[stickboy1375]

if you read back a little, you will see where we both pretty much in agreement how we would do the job...

I did actually, and your right, I just missed the who posted what part of it... :grin: opps, my bad.

 

[stickboy1375]

I usually just look at what's coming out of the riser at the pole....all the "400 amp" services I've seen are fed with the same 4/0 triplex that CL&P uses for the 200 amp services....even the 3 phase ones (but they have a 4th wire of course)

To be honest, I hardly care what they pull as long as I have power, :grin: ...

but I do know this, they usually request 250 lugs in the meter.

 

[Buck Parrish]

The OP James, or any one have you priced 400 mcm copper lately.
I think it's about $7.00-$8.00 a ft.

Our poco will go to 250 AL mcm for a 400 amp service under ground if it is a long run

 

[iwire]

he asked for the most ecconomical way to get everything tied together, and I think the best way is with a 320 amp meter base or 400 amp service however you want to describe it.

Call me stupid but I fail to see how doubling the service size is more economical. :grin:

 

[steelersman]

My opinion is why use copper? That's so expensive and not necessary. You should use aluminum.

 

[stickboy1375]

Call me stupid but I fail to see how doubling the service size is more economical. :grin:

Bob, stick to Commercial, :grin: Tell me my 320 amp install that I did is more expensive than the 200 amp service the OP suggested...

 

[iwire]

Bob, stick to Commercial, :grin: Tell me my install that I did is so more expensive than the 200 amp service the OP suggested...

No the equipment will not be.

However if you really want to bring it up to 320/400 amp service it will really be much more money as the 400 Kcmil will now be to small.

I am assuming they already know the calculated load and are running 400 for voltage drop reasons.

Besides, heres a novel idea.

Why don't we answer the OPs question before redesigning the service how we think it should be?

 

[stickboy1375]

Why don't we answer the OPs question before redesigning the service how we think it should be?

Because its a forum, and the OP can choose to read my post or not... Besides that, have you ever seen a design as the OP described? It has headache written all over it.

 

[ultramegabob]

Call me stupid but I fail to see how doubling the service size is more economical. :grin:

well, going back and reading your original suggestion, Im having a hard time picturing how your install goes together.

 

[Buck Parrish]

the OP can choose to read my post or not...

I think he left

 

[stickboy1375]

I think he left

yeah, like after the 2nd post...

 

[iwire]

Because its a forum, and the OP can choose to read my post or not...

That is very helpful. :roll:

All I am saying (suggesting) is the members should try answering the guys questions before going on to re-designing the service.

There are over a 1000 active members here, that means there are over a 1000 ways to do that job.

Your way would work, the OPs way would work, Ultramegabobs way would work, Smart$ way would work.

I don't see any headache with the OPs method, it is just not your method.

As far as we know at this point the meter may be back at the pole, we just don't know. :smile:

So here we are at post 38 with very few posts trying to directly answer the questions asked by the OP.

 

[winnie]

I guess with 1000 different members, you have 1000 different ways to do a job, and nearly a million ways that the text description will be interpreted

I read the suggestion of using a '320/400A' service as 'use a 320/400A meter pan to deal with the oversized for voltage drop conductors being used by this 200A service'.

It seems plausible to me that a 320/400A meter pan would be cheaper than using a 160/200A meter pan plus an external splice box. However this will depend upon what gets sold in large quantity in the OPs region.

My suggestion to the OP would be to very carefully total up both the total loads, and then separately total up the loads that can tolerate large voltage drop and the loads that cannot. I would then consider looking at how loads could be made more tolerant of voltage drop, and also carefully consider any intermittent loads which will cause sudden and obvious voltage drop.

For example, this home will probably have well water. Every time the well pump kicks on, every light in the house will probably dim. A suitable well pump controller (or even a VSD based well pump control, which I believe are available for residential application) could greatly reduce the voltage dip caused by the well pump.

Consider using separate feeders for the VD tolerant and the VD intolerant loads.

-Jon

 

[ultramegabob]

I read the suggestion of using a '320/400A' service as 'use a 320/400A meter pan to deal with the oversized for voltage drop conductors being used by this 200A service'.

It seems plausible to me that a 320/400A meter pan would be cheaper than using a 160/200A meter pan plus an external splice box. However this will depend upon what gets sold in large quantity in the OPs region

exactly......

you already are using big wire, and 2 200 amp panels, the only difference is using a 320 meter base to land the big wire vs. expensive taps and 18x18 j-box and 7" deep special order tubs etc...