Service Disconnect
- Thread starter VIC1958
- Start date
- Status
- Location
- Connecticut
- Occupation
- Engineer
Try 230.76
MasterTheNEC
CEO and President of Electrical Code Academy, Inc.
- Location
- McKinney, Texas
- Occupation
- CEO
Yep...and 230.66 does not help the case any either.
- Location
- Massachusetts
I see on your profile you are fire fighter, does this have to do with the job?
Basically using a meter as a disconnecting or connecting means is dangerous.
qcroanoke
Sometimes I don't know if I'm the boxer or the bag
- Location
- Roanoke, VA.
- Occupation
- Sorta retired........
Pulling a meter under load is not a good idea. And reconnecting under load is even worse. You will see some arcing.
I'm pretty sure the code doesn't allow the meter as a disconnecting means.
- Location
- Placerville, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Retired PV System Designer
It can be used as an isolating means (removed with no load to keep power from being reapplied). But even then, with no load, a POCO worker will wear PPE in case a faulty meter or socket causes an arc flash event. There is no tight tolerance fast acting overcurrent protection ahead of the meter to reduce the flash.
Circuit breakers or disconnect switches, on the other hand, are made to interrupt a load or a downstream arc.
Circuit breakers or disconnect switches, on the other hand, are made to interrupt a load or a downstream arc.
- Location
- Massachusetts
Can it be?
I would bet OSHA and other standards would have an issue with that unless you have some sort of lock out device to prevent the meter from being put back in.
- Location
- Placerville, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Retired PV System Designer
Although it can be an isolating device, it indeed would not meet the requirements for a LOTO disconnect.
Even if you take the meter with you to the work site and keep it in your tool box somebody could come in with another interchangeable standard meter and plug it in.
- Location
- Massachusetts
Exactly, which means it's no more an isolating device than it is a disconnecting means.
It's a meter and a meter socket, nothing more.
Cavie
Senior Member
- Location
- SW Florida
I don't know the reason for it (star alignment I guess) but I find a lot of fire fighters working as electricians as a second job.
- Location
- Massachusetts
102 Inspector
Senior Member
- Location
- N/E Indiana
- Occupation
- Inspector- All facets
I started as an electrician, became a vol. firefighter and now inspector. The meter is a requirement of the POCO and serves no other purpose than to provide a means for them to collect money. I would never accept a meter as a means of disconnect. As safety officer, I never allow my firefighters to pull a meter at the scene. We have a meter pulling device that encloses the meter but it has its limits. I am the only person that can pull a meter at the fire scene and I always look at the speed the meter is spinning first. Seen too many videos of arc flash and do not want to be the next post on youtube.
102 Inspector
Senior Member
- Location
- N/E Indiana
- Occupation
- Inspector- All facets
Question is would that be POCO owned or customer owned. Now all interior panel become load side panels. The NEc states disconnect outside or immediately inside the structure so an ordinance to change the NEC reference might be required. I think a community in the southern part of my state did that, but the legality has been questioned. As a firefighter I understand it from a safety point of view, but as a homeowner, do I really want my neighbor to be able to walk up and shut my power off any time he feels like it?
- Location
- Massachusetts
I hope that does not happen without a clear history showing a true benefit for it.
I agree with 102 Inspector , to a firefighter there is a reason for it, for a homeowner I would not want one on the outside of my home.
Here the FD calls the power company to kill the power to a building when they need that to be done.
- Location
- Placerville, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Retired PV System Designer
How long does that typically take? There are a bunch of videos on the net of fire fighters watching a house burn down while waiting for POCO. (Admittedly those were major problems like a fallen primary.)
- Location
- Illinois
- Occupation
- retired electrician
From tens of minutes to hours.
- Occupation
- Licensed Electrician
It has been a requirement where I live to have a disconnect on the outside of any building for a long, long time. The whole county functions with no major problems, very little minor ones for that matter. You are allowed to put a lock on your disconnect to prevent any ne?er-do-wells from messing around with your power.
- Location
- Massachusetts
It has never been a requirerment here and the whole New England area functions with no major problems. .... Well at least as far as the subject at hand.
- Status