Remote pedestal meter electrodes

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M. D.

M. D.

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400 amp service meter main with 200a ocpd/disconnect for optional standby panel at house and 200a ocpd/disconnect for non standby panel at house, grouped at house . 2 ground rods out at pedestal connected to the neutral in socket .. equipment ground to house .. there is a concrete encased electrode at the house , does the equipment ground bond thisat the house or do I have to run all the way out to the pedestal ?
 
If you have a GES at both the pedestal and house, and an EGC from the pedestal to house then you are good.

The GEC from the pedestal to the house GEC need not be interconnected. The GES's can be separate.
 
O.K. so a # 4 cu. to the concrete encased electrode it is then ..that's what I thought just wanted some feed back . Thanks
 
M. D. said:
400 amp service meter main with 200a ocpd/disconnect for optional standby panel at house and 200a ocpd/disconnect for non standby panel at house, grouped at house . 2 ground rods out at pedestal connected to the neutral in socket .. equipment ground to house .. there is a concrete encased electrode at the house , does the equipment ground bond thisat the house or do I have to run all the way out to the pedestal ?
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If I understand you correctly, you will have 2, 200 amp feeders going to the home. This is a violation of Art. 225 rules which only allow 1 feeder to a building.
That said, many AHJs will overlook this. But you better check with them first. If you do this you will need either a main breaker or a non fusible disconnect on the home for each feeder.
 
From the wording in the original post it sounded like it meets 225.30(A)(4)
 
M. D. said:
Yes ,.this is the case there will be a 200 amp optional standby power panel
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But the feeder in question is not supplied by the optional standby system, it is the normal power system and you have two feeders to the building. The optional standby system comes from the other side of the transfer switch. Someone will disagree with me on this though. I really don't know if I am right or not but wanted to throw the suggestion out there.

If I am right, a simple fix is to make it a 400 amp feeder with up to six disconnecting means, instead of two 200 amp feeders.
 
After a little more thinking, I think that MD has two normal power feeders (not allowed by art 225) and an additional standby system feeder (which is allowed by art 225).
 
kwired said:
After a little more thinking, I think that MD has two normal power feeders (not allowed by art 225) and an additional standby system feeder (which is allowed by art 225).
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This is exactly it .. It's not my job and the electrician who's job it is has done this same set up several times and has never been called on it .. Massachusetts is the state .
 
M. D. said:
This is exactly it .. It's not my job and the electrician who's job it is has done this same set up several times and has never been called on it .. Massachusetts is the state .
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If the supply were a service instead of a feeder(s) there would be no NEC violations with what was described, but like I said earlier about the easiest fix is to make it a 400 amp feeder instead of two 200 amp feeders by making them parallel conductors.
 
kwired said:
If the supply were a service instead of a feeder(s) there would be no NEC violations with what was described, but like I said earlier about the easiest fix is to make it a 400 amp feeder instead of two 200 amp feeders by making them parallel conductors.
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I guess but the wording reads like a system can be supplied ,. I'm not sure what we have here is not a system for optional stand
by power
(A) Special Conditions. Additional feeders or branch cir-
cuits shall be permitted to supply the following: fying under the provisions of Article 685, the disconnecting



(4) Optional standby systems


 
M. D. said:
I guess but the wording reads like a system can be supplied ,. I'm not sure what we have here is not a system for optional stand
by power
(A) Special Conditions. Additional feeders or branch cir-
cuits shall be permitted to supply the following: fying under the provisions of Article 685, the disconnecting



(4) Optional standby systems


Click to expand...

The generator feeder would comply with (4). The second feeder from the meter would not.
 
curt swartz said:
The generator feeder would comply with (4). The second feeder from the meter would not.
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I agree. That was what I was saying back in my post #5 but I was not clear and not exactly sure of the OP's question. From what I see of his reply's of what he is doing this would not be compliant. That said, many AHJ will allow 2 feeders in situations like this. Although I must say that I had a fellow electrician do exactly this recently (2, 200 amp feeders to a new home from a remote meter main in the yard) and had to take out and re do it with a single feeder to pass inspection. Costly mistake. That is why I advised the OP to check with the AHJ first.
 
My question is .. what is the second feeder supplying if not an optional standby system?
 
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M. D. said:
400 amp service meter main with 200a ocpd/disconnect for optional standby panel at house and 200a ocpd/disconnect for non standby panel at house, grouped at house . 2 ground rods out at pedestal connected to the neutral in socket .. equipment ground to house .. there is a concrete encased electrode at the house , does the equipment ground bond thisat the house or do I have to run all the way out to the pedestal ?
Click to expand...

Dumb question but one of the panels is viewed as an "optional standby" panel. Does this mean when the house was wired, the circuits originating from this panel had been selected so that they would be on generator power during an outage?
 
M. D. said:
My question is .. what is the second feeder supplying if not an optional standby system?
Click to expand...
What do you have if there was only a single panel with a transfer switch ahead of it? A utility supplied system or a standby system?

As far as I am concerned the optional standby system starts at the alternate source and ends at the transfer switch, but does include load shedding relays or similar devices. Otherwise everything on the load side of the transfer switch is the same regardless of which source is powering it.
 
mark32 said:
Dumb question but one of the panels is viewed as an "optional standby" panel. Does this mean when the house was wired, the circuits originating from this panel had been selected so that they would be on generator power during an outage?
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yes ,pre determined
 
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