Passing feeder from main panel through enclosure with main disconnect?

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cobrahead

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We have a cabin in a rural area that is fed by an OH 120/240 single phase service. The service conductors enter the riser, go through the meter can, exit the meter can into an enclosure with a 200A two pole main breaker/disconnect. In this enclosure the neutral and grounding electrode conductor are bonded together. The feeder wires exit this enclosure, pass through a short conduit nipple in the exterior wall of the cabin where they then enter the main panel located inside the cabin. Simple enough.

Now then, we have a built a small shed and chicken coop separate from the cabin which we would like to install a sub-panel in.

If this cabin had 'ordinary' exterior walls I would simply drill a hole, run conduit from the main panel outside and then to the shed. Unfortunately the walls of this cabin are made of some earthen hippie mud/adobe-esque material. Maybe it's not a big deal to drill through, but I don't want to find out right now... I just want some power at the shed.

My question is this:

Is it permissible for me to install a dual pole breaker in the main panel and run the feeder wires (for the shed sub-panel) out of that breaker through the conduit where the feeder wires from the 200A main/disconnect enter the main panel? NEC states mixing feeder and service conductors in same raceway is prohibited. In this case (that I am describing/proposing) they would be, briefly, in the same enclosure as the main disconnect breaker, which is of course fed by the service conductors.
 
cobrahead said:
We have a cabin in a rural area that is fed by an OH 120/240 single phase service. The service conductors enter the riser, go through the meter can, exit the meter can into an enclosure with a 200A two pole main breaker/disconnect. In this enclosure the neutral and grounding electrode conductor are bonded together. The feeder wires exit this enclosure, pass through a short conduit nipple in the exterior wall of the cabin where they then enter the main panel located inside the cabin. Simple enough.

Now then, we have a built a small shed and chicken coop separate from the cabin which we would like to install a sub-panel in.

If this cabin had 'ordinary' exterior walls I would simply drill a hole, run conduit from the main panel outside and then to the shed. Unfortunately the walls of this cabin are made of some earthen hippie mud/adobe-esque material. Maybe it's not a big deal to drill through, but I don't want to find out right now... I just want some power at the shed.

My question is this:

Is it permissible for me to install a dual pole breaker in the main panel and run the feeder wires (for the shed sub-panel) out of that breaker through the conduit where the feeder wires from the 200A main/disconnect enter the main panel? NEC states mixing feeder and service conductors in same raceway is prohibited. In this case (that I am describing/proposing) they would be, briefly, in the same enclosure as the main disconnect breaker, which is of course fed by the service conductors.
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There's your answer. I think drilling the mud walls will be much less of an issue than you think. I'll admit i've never drilled one, however I'd think an old auger bit made for wood studs, or one made for concrete would chew thru that pretty quickly.
 
Since both are feeders passing through the short conduit nipple, mixing the two is a non issue. Conduit fill may be an issue though.

When you open the 200 amp main in the service enclosure you would not have any unexpected energized conductors in that enclosure.

I would think you may want to tag the feeder passing through the service disconnect enclosure.

I could see free space where the conductors pass through and possibly conduit fill otherwise I cannot think of an issue.
 
JFletcher said:
There's your answer. I think drilling the mud walls will be much less of an issue than you think. I'll admit i've never drilled one, however I'd think an old auger bit made for wood studs, or one made for concrete would chew thru that pretty quickly.
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That is how I read it too. Then I started thinking :? about the fact that the enclosure with the main breaker/disconnect already has the service and feeder cable in it. Service cables into breaker and feeder cables out. They are already, technically, both in the enclosure. That enclosure is considered a raceway right?
 
cobrahead said:
That is how I read it too. Then I started thinking :? about the fact that the enclosure with the main breaker/disconnect already has the service and feeder cable in it. Service cables into breaker and feeder cables out. They are already, technically, both in the enclosure. That enclosure is considered a raceway right?
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I misread your post on your setup. David's post is correct.
 
JFletcher said:
I misread your post on your setup. David's post is correct.
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david said:
Since both are feeders passing through the short conduit nipple, mixing the two is a non issue. Conduit fill may be an issue though.

When you open the 200 amp main in the service enclosure you would not have any unexpected energized conductors in that enclosure.

I would think you may want to tag the feeder passing through the service disconnect enclosure.

I could see free space where the conductors pass through and possibly conduit fill otherwise I cannot think of an issue.
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Thanks to both of you for talking this through with me!

What about replacing the disconnect with one that allows multiple panel connections? That sounds easy, so it is probably complicated.
 
cobrahead said:
Thanks to both of you for talking this through with me!

What about replacing the disconnect with one that allows multiple panel connections? That sounds easy, so it is probably complicated.
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If you don't want to drill through the outside wall, and, if the feeder conduit through the wall is full, which I assume it is, an Eaton BR48B200RF or something similar would serve you nicely.

Its a 200a 3r ECB with feed thru lugs with distribution you could stab a breaker in and feed the chicken house and not as expensive or entailed as changing out the service to a combo meter/main.

Just a thought.

JAP>
 
jap said:
If you don't want to drill through the outside wall, and, if the feeder conduit through the wall is full, which I assume it is, an Eaton BR48B200RF or something similar would serve you nicely.

Its a 200a 3r ECB with feed thru lugs with distribution you could stab a breaker in and feed the chicken house and not as expensive or entailed as changing out the service to a combo meter/main.

Just a thought.

JAP>
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That's interesting. I could use this to replace my main disconnect via the feed thru and (like you said) stab in a breaker to feed the shed panel. Am I understanding this correctly?
 
cobrahead said:
That's interesting. I could use this to replace my main disconnect via the feed thru and (like you said) stab in a breaker to feed the shed panel. Am I understanding this correctly?
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:

JAP>
 
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