petersonra
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern illinois
- Occupation
- Semi-retired engineer
I was talking with another EE today. He had a tale of electrical woe to tell.
He wanted to add service out to his garage, but has no space in his existing panelboard (has electric heat and all the spaces are used up), so he talked with an electrician about this problem.
Turns out he has a 200 CB downstream of the meter that feeds inside to the panelboard inside (that also has a main CB).
The electrician wanted $2000 to run UF cable from this CB in a trench into his garage to feed a new panelboard.
He thought this was a bit excessive so he rented a trencher and dug the trench, put a new panelboard in the garage and hired an electrician friend to connect the UF cable and make sure its done right.
First thing, they open the outside CB. He says it "made an odd noise", and the electrician says "that does not sound good".
Then the electrician loosens the lugs for the wires in the CB enclosure. All but one come loose easily. Electrician applies a bit more oomph to the lug to loosen in, and it comes off with a big chunk of plastic.
So, he calls a supply house and they tell him a std Sq D CB will substitute for the 40 year old breaker in the enclosure. So he runs off to buy a new breaker while the electrician routes the UF cable in the trench and conencts it to the garage panelboard.
He gets back with new CB. They realize they will need to pull meter to replace old breaker. Wait for electric company to show up. After electric company comes they replace breaker and electric company puts meter back in place.
I said " Why would anyone do such a thing in the first place"? He says, electrican claimed an outside OCPD device used to be required after the meter before entering house by REA. This requirement has since been dropped.
I say, why not just remove CB and use CB enclosure as splice box. He says, electrician had same thought after the fact, but by then was done.
I wonder why such an arrangement was once required.
He wanted to add service out to his garage, but has no space in his existing panelboard (has electric heat and all the spaces are used up), so he talked with an electrician about this problem.
Turns out he has a 200 CB downstream of the meter that feeds inside to the panelboard inside (that also has a main CB).
The electrician wanted $2000 to run UF cable from this CB in a trench into his garage to feed a new panelboard.
He thought this was a bit excessive so he rented a trencher and dug the trench, put a new panelboard in the garage and hired an electrician friend to connect the UF cable and make sure its done right.
First thing, they open the outside CB. He says it "made an odd noise", and the electrician says "that does not sound good".
Then the electrician loosens the lugs for the wires in the CB enclosure. All but one come loose easily. Electrician applies a bit more oomph to the lug to loosen in, and it comes off with a big chunk of plastic.
So, he calls a supply house and they tell him a std Sq D CB will substitute for the 40 year old breaker in the enclosure. So he runs off to buy a new breaker while the electrician routes the UF cable in the trench and conencts it to the garage panelboard.
He gets back with new CB. They realize they will need to pull meter to replace old breaker. Wait for electric company to show up. After electric company comes they replace breaker and electric company puts meter back in place.
I said " Why would anyone do such a thing in the first place"? He says, electrican claimed an outside OCPD device used to be required after the meter before entering house by REA. This requirement has since been dropped.
I say, why not just remove CB and use CB enclosure as splice box. He says, electrician had same thought after the fact, but by then was done.
I wonder why such an arrangement was once required.
