3 main panels

[derek22r]

My house was built long before me and was originally all knob and tube wiring. Over the years different owners of the house have upgraded parts of the house to an insulated system, but still not grounded. I am left with the following:

The meter is double-tapped. One feed goes to the original fuse box (the only thing left on this box are some upstairs lights) and the other feed goes to a single breaker in a seperate box. The load side of the breaker then goes to a distribution block located in the same box which feeds two newer MLO panels. These two panels are what feed nearly every circuit in the house.

Without getting into grounding and bonding, is this a code violation assuming the wire feeding each panel has an ampacity higher than the OCPD.

 

[augie47]

A few possible violations:
The meter, unless it's 320 amp, does probably not have lugs rated to accept two conductors.
Are the old fusible panel and the breaker grouped at the same location.
What about 230.70(A)(1) ? compliant with local interpretation ?
Often the original service cable to the line side of the meter was not increased to the actual possible load of the two load side cables.

All that said, it is certainly not uncommon in this area, That was apparently the "standard" method of adding loads such as window a/c at one time.

 

[derek22r]

Yes, the feeder breaker box and the fuse box are located at the same location as the meter.

Is the fact that a single breaker feeds two panels a violation of the NEC. I did not think that it was, but the inspector says differently.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Is the fact that a single breaker feeds two panels a violation of the NEC. I did not think that it was, but the inspector says differently.

There is no reason a single breaker canot feed 2 panels as long as the long is satisfied, the wire sizes are correct and you don't double up under the breaker.