1600 Amp Main

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friday

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I have a service that I,m installing a 1600 amp main which feeds 12 meter stacks. Calculated load by engineer is 95 max amps per meter, which totals 1140 amps. The line side of main will only accept 4 wires per phase, and poco will only allow me to run #500's max. Will 4 #500's per phase be ok for this install? Building is a strip mall so not sure of actual load without tenants. Any advice would be appreciated.
 
No.

At best the 500 copper would give you 1520 amps.

You can not round up to the next size above 800 amps.

If there was engineer that figured the meter loads why is this your problem?
 
You need to change the main to 1500 amps. As Bob mentioned, what does the engineer think about this?
 
Hey Bob, just a question: Any time I have done a 400 amp service we have always used 500MCM Cu. How is it that 4 sets of 500's wouldn't get you to 1600 amps?
 
TommyC said:
Hey Bob, just a question: Any time I have done a 400 amp service we have always used 500MCM Cu. How is it that 4 sets of 500's wouldn't get you to 1600 amps?
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iwire said:
You can not round up to the next size above 800 amps.
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500 THHN is good for 380A...you could bump that to 400A because it's UNDER the 800A limit.
 
Engineer originally had these 12 single phase meters on a 2000 amp three phase main. Owner did not like the cost so he instructed me to install a 1600 amp main single phase. Owner has had several buildings like this built before and that was what we have installed (1600 amp ) without problems until now.we installed 4 # 600's in the past. New poco ,different story.
 
TommyC said:
Hey Bob, just a question: Any time I have done a 400 amp service we have always used 500MCM Cu. How is it that 4 sets of 500's wouldn't get you to 1600 amps?
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Tommy, read all of 240.4

Roger
 
One set of 500 copper will provide 380 amps of capacity.

240.4(B) allows rolling up to the next standard size as long as it is under 800 amps.
 
Friday, it sounds as though this is an Engineer, Inspector, and POCO war, as Bob implied.

Roger
 
friday said:
Engineer originally had these 12 single phase meters on a 2000 amp three phase main. Owner did not like the cost so he instructed me to install a 1600 amp main single phase.
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hmmm...sounds like a quickie solution to no-where's-ville.

friday said:
Owner has had several buildings like this built before and that was what we have installed (1600 amp ) without problems until now.we installed 4 # 600's in the past. New poco ,different story.
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1600A on 4 sets of 600's is fine (4 x 420= 1680)


Would reducers be an option here (4x600's w/reducers?) to hit the magic 1500A ?
 
Celtic, Roger,
Thanks for the info. I love this site. I think such a free flow of information is golden. I would sure have hated to find out something like that the hard way:smile:
 
Would it be code compliant to install 2 ilsco lugs beneath the main , run 4 600's from there to main , and install 5 # 400's from ilsco lugs to poco hook up? Not the best , but owner would rather spend less on the lugs than a new 1500 amp main.
 
TommyC said:
Celtic
Thanks for the info. I love this site. I think such a free flow of information is golden. I would sure have hated to find out something like that the hard way:smile:
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Don't thank me...thank them guys...they taught me :D ...and I spend wayyyy too much time here ;)
 
My wife used to get on me for spending too much time playing golf:mad: Now she's getting mad at me for spending too much time on the computer:mad: Golf wasn't making me any $ The stuff I'm learning here will. By the way I got it now: 240.4(B)(3):grin: And thanks again to all you guys, I hope some day I'll be passing on some of those gems too.
 
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