New Feeder Question

[RHernandez7136]

Here is the situation I am in. I have an Electrical Design who drew the single line and messed it up. So I corrected it and now I have a new issue.

The Engineer I want to stamp the drawings is telling me that the 1000 Amp Panel I am installing must be fed by a 1000 Amp Breaker. Currently there is an Existing 800 Amp breaker we will be using. The Feeder is designed to handle the 1000 Amp Rating in the future when we change it out the breaker to 1000 Amps. I am limiting the amount of available current to 800 Amps with the existing breaker. Total Load of the 1000 Amp Panel is 323 Amps.

I have done some digging around and have not found anything that says I can't do this. Does anyone know of a code reference that will Allow me to do this?

 

[Smart $]

... Does anyone know of a code reference that will Allow me to do this?

This one...

408.36 Overcurrent Protection. In addition to the requirement
of 408.30, a panelboard shall be protected by an
overcurrent protective device having a rating not greater
than that of the panelboard. This overcurrent protective device
shall be located within or at any point on the supply
side of the panelboard.
Exceptions, subsections irrelevant and omitted for brevity

 

[jim dungar]

The Engineer I want to stamp the drawings is telling me that the 1000 Amp Panel I am installing must be fed by a 1000 Amp Breaker.

Your design - then use your stamp.
His stamp - then use his design.

Of course, you can use the code reference from Smart, to try to convince him to chang his design.

 

[RHernandez7136]

If I am reading this correctly this means the Main Circuit Breaker does not have to be in the new PanelBoard but on the supply side. In other words, it can be in the upstream distribution located 700 feet away correct?

 

[augie47]

As long as they are in the same building, yes

 

[kwired]

You could supply that panel with a 400 amp circuit if you wanted since the load is less than 400 amps. If more load is expected in future then that may not be wise install but is compliant as long as load remains below 400 amps.

 

[RHernandez7136]

You could supply that panel with a 400 amp circuit if you wanted since the load is less than 400 amps. If more load is expected in future then that may not be wise install but is compliant as long as load remains below 400 amps.

Thanks for your help. We will be adding another 400 Amps in the not so distant (1 Year) future. In my experience with cold storage customers, they tend to expand once they move into a new building, usually 1 year later.

Thanks Again Everyone.

--Ryan

 

[kwired]

Thanks for your help. We will be adding another 400 Amps in the not so distant (1 Year) future. In my experience with cold storage customers, they tend to expand once they move into a new building, usually 1 year later.

Thanks Again Everyone.

--Ryan

Well if 1000 amps is what will eventually be needed it is hard to find a reason not to use a 1000 amp breaker. Now if you need to use 400 temporarily because you don't have the 1000 and the load is not there yet then the 400 will work just fine, other than it will usually be hard to terminate 1000 amps worth of conductor(s) to a 400 amp frame breaker, but you can probably just leave some of the conductors as unterminated spares until the 1000 gets installed

 

[Smart $]

Well if 1000 amps is what will eventually be needed it is hard to find a reason not to use a 1000 amp breaker. Now if you need to use 400 temporarily because you don't have the 1000 and the load is not there yet then the 400 will work just fine, other than it will usually be hard to terminate 1000 amps worth of conductor(s) to a 400 amp frame breaker, but you can probably just leave some of the conductors as unterminated spares until the 1000 gets installed

The OP states the existing breaker is 800A.

 

[kwired]

The OP states the existing breaker is 800A.

You are correct - some reason I had 400 in my head. I think because the current load would work just fine on 400 amp breaker.