Meter Can

Status
Not open for further replies.
Kind of defeats the purpose of having factory-installed double lugs on the load side of the meter can. Sounds like another engineer power trip. :mad:
 
LarryRPE said:
He is saying that the meter can should only have one set of feeders on the load side but can not produce any specifications from the poco.
Click to expand...

Sounds like he's confusing a few things.

Is he concerned about the (2) 200A feeder cables coming from the 320A meter can?

Maybe he's trying to apply the tap rules, this may be why he mentioned a raceway for the cables, although I don't know why a utility would be citing the NEC tap rules.

Plus, the tap rules are for Feeders, not Service Cables.
Do all of the (6) Main Breakers add up to more than 320A? This may be confusing him.

Just a few ideas.

steve
 
LarryRPE said:
This particular application is a service increase from 200 amps to 320 amps. The existing service is 200 amps with an exterior 200 amp MLO panel that feeds one interior panel, A/C and water heater loads. It has four 2-pole circuit breakers in the panel. I am adding another 200 amp MLO with the 320 meter can. The new or second panel will feed a garage with a 60 amp circuit and pool pump panel also fed from a 60 amp breaker. This will total six main disconnect switches. The poco engineer has per approved the installation, when its time to energize he decides that the meter can not feed two panels
Click to expand...

Off subject and may belong in another thread. If so maybe the moderators can move this.

In his description, assuming the breaker serving the water heater is a 30 amp breaker and the breaker feeding the interior panel is supplying neutral loads, is this a lighting and appliance branch-circuit panelboard, requiring a main breaker?

The branch-circuit serving the water heater serves no neutral loads neither would the A/C branch-circuit. The breaker serving the interior panel probably is serving neutral loads but it?s a feeder. I?m a little puzzled and would welcome the opinion of others.
 
Mvillines said:
Off subject and may belong in another thread. If so maybe the moderators can move this.

In his description, assuming the breaker serving the water heater is a 30 amp breaker and the breaker feeding the interior panel is supplying neutral loads, is this a lighting and appliance branch-circuit panelboard, requiring a main breaker?

The branch-circuit serving the water heater serves no neutral loads neither would the A/C branch-circuit. The breaker serving the interior panel probably is serving neutral loads but it?s a feeder. I?m a little puzzled and would welcome the opinion of others.
Click to expand...

IMHO, I think you are mixing words. 480.14 (in '02) states "A L& A branch circuit is a branch circuit that has a connection to the neutral of the panelboard and has ovwercurrent of 30 amps or less...." So, even though you have a neutral connection, it is not with the 30 amp circuit so you do not have any (defined) L&A branch circuit.
Of course, by the '08 Code, it is not relevant as the L&A panelboard has been removed.
 
This is an interesting situation.
Without a Main Breaker in the Panel, who's to say in the future someone could'nt come along and put (6) 2p 100amp breakers in place of whats there now? There still are only (6) movements to shut the Service down but has the possibility of overloading the 3/0 wire feeding the MLO Panels without a means of overcurrent protection for the MLO Panels.Not Likely this would happen but it is a thought.
Around here the POCO used 320 amp meterbases all the way up to 600 amp services. I've been told the CT metering is inaccurate if the load is not large enough.
 
LarryRPE said:
He is saying that the meter can should only have one set of feeders on the load side but can not produce any specifications from the poco.
Click to expand...


There are two POCO's I work with and Entergy is about 75% of that.

Their "engineer" is wrong.

It is very common to do this in residential in Louisiana.

320 amp meter with double lugs straight into two 200 amp main breaker panels.

I did not Read anything in here about this exact situation, but here is their
Installation Requirements
 
Last edited:
The NEC does not require a meter. In a perfect world there would be none.
I always recommend that electricians have a copy of the utility customer handbook
 
I know this isn't right on point, but what about 230.90(A) Exc.3 --

Exception No. 3: Two to six circuit breakers or sets of fuses
shall be permitted as the overcurrent device to provide the
overload protection. The sum of the ratings of the circuit
breakers or fuses shall be permitted to exceed the ampacity
of the service conductors, provided the calculated load
does not exceed the ampacity of the service conductors.

I know you're asking about the rating of the meter can and not the service conductors.

This at least makes your point that it is not about 2+2=4, it is about connected load.
 
POCO guys don't always know everything. One I dealt with, who had even been the field engineer on a similar service two years earlier, declined energizing an open-Delta service with a reduced high-leg conductor.

At my insistence, he agreed to check with the guys in his office before he would accept it, even with approval of the city planning reviewer. It ended up delaying us receiving permanent power for over a week.
 
LarryFine said:
POCO guys don't always know everything. One I dealt with, who had even been the field engineer on a similar service two years earlier, declined energizing an open-Delta service with a reduced high-leg conductor.

At my insistence, he agreed to check with the guys in his office before he would accept it, even with approval of the city planning reviewer. It ended up delaying us receiving permanent power for over a week.
Click to expand...
He's probably posting about you on another site about how he has to watch those electricians like a hawk as they will try to get away with anything.:D
 
LarryRPE said:
No Roger, I am saying the existing panel is full. I want to add another panel.
The existing 200 amp service is approximately at 70% capacity. I am increasing it to a 320 and adding a panel next to the existing one.
Click to expand...
Larry you keep saying 320 amps . Just to get the terminology straight adding this 320 amp meter base with 2- 200 amp panels is called a 400 amp service.

Let me explain a bit further than Bob's post. The 320 amp meter base has caused much confusion in the past simply because it is really a 400 amp meter can with a continuous rating of 320 amps. This is no different than a 200 amp base that is rated 160 amps continuous. The problem is that the 200 amp base is called by it's non continuous load while the 320 base is called by the continuous load. Why? I don't know but I always will call it a 400 amp base.

I agree the poco supervisor should be contacted on this.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top