Products satisfying PG&E for underground term cans?

[Ricko1980]

I'm hunting around for a pull can that satisfies PG&E's green book requirements for a difficult service upgrade, and am curious if anyone has any models that have pleased the good folks at PG&E.

The new service is 400A one phase residential. PG&E wants 4" conduit from their vault.

The inspector wants us to propose a can for side entry, since the can will be in a basement area and we can just go straight in from 2' below sidewalk grade. Per the Green Book, I understand we need 42" inside the can between the closest edge of the incoming 4" conduit and the nearest termination bolt. This is a hugely giant can! Anyone have experience with this sort of PG&E situation, and found a product that works for them?

We're hoping to find a can with the termination bolts much closer to one end than the other, so we can get the 42" on the PG&E side, but keep the load side much shorter, since we have a space limit due to a stair. PG&E is only running 350 kcmil, so this can will look pretty much empty even once the wires are pulled....

Thanks for any thoughts!

Eric

 

[tortuga]

I have had a lot of luck with millbank stuff, dont have a green book at my 'work from home' desk but try this:

Milbank - CT424211-SC

www.milbankworks.com

 

[Ricko1980]

I have had a lot of luck with millbank stuff, dont have a green book at my 'work from home' desk but try this:

Milbank - CT424211-SC

www.milbankworks.com

Thanks tortuga, I'll check this out and run it by the QEW. Still might be a few inches too small, even if we installed the bolts almost all the way on one side --- how the heck do they think that I'll get 42" before the line bolts???

I'm thinking it'll have to be probably 60" by 18", this sound familiar to anyone? Any other recommendations out there in the hive mind?

 

[wwhitney]

Per the Green Book, I understand we need 42" inside the can between the closest edge of the incoming 4" conduit and the nearest termination bolt.

What section of the green book are you looking at?

Greenbook Manual Online

Download the guide to PG&E utility requirements for establishing gas or electric service to new or remodeled customer installations.

www.pge.com

Thanks,
Wayne

 

[Todd0x1]

Not sure exactly what your whole installation looks like but can you omit the pull can and land in a switchboard? Eaton has a list by utility and PGE is in there. Switchboard 32" wide and pull section is 24" wide.

 

[Ricko1980]

What section of the green book are you looking at?

Greenbook Manual Online

Download the guide to PG&E utility requirements for establishing gas or electric service to new or remodeled customer installations.

www.pge.com

Thanks,
Wayne

Hi Wayne,
I'm looking at Table 10.2 of the Green Book, which the PG&E inspector called my attention to. It wants a termination can with a very, very long 42" vertical distance from conduit to bolts, that would look something like this, at a minimum:

 

[Ricko1980]

Hi Wayne,
I'm looking at Table 10.2 of the Green Book, which the PG&E inspector called my attention to. It wants a termination can with a very, very long 42" vertical distance from conduit to bolts, that would look something like this, at a minimum:

Oops, Table 9.3 in the Green Book is acceptable in this case, so the 24" dimension in the drawing could be less than that --- but they still want the 42" from conduit to bolts!!!

 

[Ricko1980]

Not sure exactly what your whole installation looks like but can you omit the pull can and land in a switchboard? Eaton has a list by utility and PGE is in there. Switchboard 32" wide and pull section is 24" wide.

Hi Todd,
Switchboard might be an option... I'd love to see that list by utility that Eaton has, but didn't find it on their website. Where did you get your hands on it?
Thanks,
Eric

 

[Todd0x1]

Hi Todd,
Switchboard might be an option... I'd love to see that list by utility that Eaton has, but didn't find it on their website. Where did you get your hands on it?
Thanks,
Eric

See the attached PDF. The full document was too big so I had to print these pages. These are wider than the other switchboards I was looking at when I mentioned using a switchboard. These PGE approved ones are 36"w and 30"w for the pull section. Layout 2, bottom feed with pull section. So maybe thats not ideal.

 

[wwhitney]

Maybe a stupid idea, but Table 9.3 only requires a width of 10-1/2". So could you use a length of 12" x 12" wireway?

Cheers, Wayne

 

[Ricko1980]

Thanks, Todd, thanks Wayne, I'll hunt down these leads and propose to PG&E. The wireway is an ingenious idea, we'll see what they think about that!
Eric

 

[Ricko1980]

Thought I'd follow up on this with the solution we came up with. We installed an Eaton R9000 CC (pictured above), but turned it on its side so the PG&E guys won't have to bend their wires but will just run straight to the lugs. As I read the PG&E Greenbook Table 9-3, this doesn't really satisfy the width requirements (the R9000 CC can is 42" wide total, but, as mentioned above, the Greenbook Table 9-3 wants 42" from the line side conduit to the line side lugs for 400A service, assuming the lugs are at 90 degrees relative to the incoming side-feed).

As it's mounted sideways, it's obviously not going to be a problem for PG&E's guys to do the bending radii, etc, and the PG&E inspector signed off on it. Even though it's single phase service, we got the CC (intended for 3 phase) and took off one of the lugs, since we wanted the extra width (which is actually height in our sideways installation), since we exit the box from the top as-installed on the load side with 2.5" conduit.

Thanks for your ideas on this one, Tortuga, Wayne and Todd,

Eric