230.72 Grouping of Disconnects

[goldsborough]

I recently failed a job by a contractor. A Service lateral terminates in a non-fused disconnect located about 5 feet from entry. All the grounding and bonding was completed at this non-fused disconnect. The non-fused disconnect then feeds two 4 gang Meter Stacks (OCPD at Each Meter) which brings the total services number to 8 for one building. There are other inspectors saying this is not a violation.

 

[jaggedben]

You described one service.

The violation I see is that relying on the 8 circuit breakers to be the overcurrent protection doesn't seem to meet the requirements in 230.90. Also the unfused disconnect may not be listed for use as service equipment, in which case the 8 meter OCPDs (I'm assuming they're breakers) is too many.

If there were only 6 OCPDs at the meters, or if the main disconnect were fused and suitable for use as service equipment, then there would be no problem.

It is not a problem that grounding is ahead of the meters. Bonding depends on how the rest of the situation would be resolved.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

The installation looks fine to me. As long as the disconnect is suitable as service equipment then I don't see any issues.