Overcurrent protection

[blueheels2]

I was doing a job Friday where I was adding 3 circuits to an outdoor kitchen. Saw an exterior “meter main combo” and decided I would pull the circuits from there instead of the interior subpanel. I drilled the hole opened the panel and realized its one of the typical “meter mains” around here that doesn’t have a main. Just a meter no main. So there were 3 breakers in the panel. 1 for the interior sub and the other 2 were for HVAC equipment. It’s legal (grandfathered) as far as disconnects go in that 3 swiped of the hand kills the loads to the houseBut what protects the bus in the panel? In this scenario couldn’t I add loads in excess of 200 amps and it would never trip the breaker because there is no overcurrent protection for the service/bus bar?
What am I missing?

Mia this really legal?

 

[LarryFine]

Yes, it is/was legal, just like a split-bus panel. Proper load calcs and load diversity protect the bus.

 

[infinity]

This service falls under the 6 service disconnect rule so with 6 circuit breakers it's code compliant. As Larry stated with multiple service disconnects a load calculation is what protects the service from being overloaded.

 

[petersonra]

Yes, it is/was legal, just like a split-bus panel. Proper load calcs and load diversity protect the bus.

The load calculations include the so called diversity.

 

[electrofelon]

I think what you looking for specifically is 408.36 exception #1

 

[jap]

I was doing a job Friday where I was adding 3 circuits to an outdoor kitchen. Saw an exterior “meter main combo” and decided I would pull the circuits from there instead of the interior subpanel. I drilled the hole opened the panel and realized its one of the typical “meter mains” around here that doesn’t have a main. Just a meter no main. So there were 3 breakers in the panel. 1 for the interior sub and the other 2 were for HVAC equipment. It’s legal (grandfathered) as far as disconnects go in that 3 swiped of the hand kills the loads to the houseBut what protects the bus in the panel? In this scenario couldn’t I add loads in excess of 200 amps and it would never trip the breaker because there is no overcurrent protection for the service/bus bar?
What am I missing?

Mia this really legal?

You are correct, and, services like this can become taxed more so than others for that very reason.

I kind of like that though.

JAP>