peter d
Senior Member
- Location
- New England
I've had meters out all day and never had the poco show up. They expect us to be doing their job for them anyway, so that's probably why.
Removing 400 amp Residential meter
- Thread starter weather77
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I've had meters out all day and never had the poco show up. They expect us to be doing their job for them anyway, so that's probably why.
Tony S
Senior Member
- Location
- Resting under the Major Oak UK
There are a lot of choices here but the one in the picture below is pretty typical choice for a 400 amp single phase service to a home or small business.
The power company plugs a 4 terminal meter into it.
You can see the red lever on the right, when you lift it it electrically bypasses the meter and releases the tension on the jaws so the meter removes easily.
The cover cannot be installed with the bypass on so that you can't easily steal power unnoticed.
Thanks for the photograph, I wonder what the DNO’s (PoCo’s) will make of it. I'll not hold my breath waiting for a response.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
Not all of them automatically dispatch someone to check it out, not all of them necessarily monitor what is going on. But the ability to ping a meter or group of meters may help with troubleshooting and finding out where to look for a failure if an entire area fails the ping.
Some do ping periodically, could be several times an hour once a day, or at least once a month when consumption readings are going to be transmitted and possibly send out someone to check out what is going on if there is a failure. If no information is being transmitted during the time you have the meter out they will never know it was out. Other times it could fail a test but pass the next test and they may just dismiss it to unknown causes. If it fails several consecutive tests that could be what triggers a response to check it out.
meternerd
Senior Member
- Location
- Athol, ID
- Occupation
- retired water & electric utility electrician, meter/relay tech
The issue is probably not running load with the meter bypassed, but cutting the seal to gain access to the bypass. Personally, as a POCO guy, I was never a fan of lever bypass meters. Biggest problem was if you wanted to de-energize the line side jaws. More than one utility besides ours has requirements that state that a meter shall not be installed or removed when the socket is energized (usually on 277/480 services). May be overkill, but it is as a result of arc flash injuries when a meter is installed or pulled in an energized socket and a fault occurs. Lots of gory pics at our safety meetings. Requirements are now that the test/bypass disconnect link must be open (which de-energizes line and load side jaws) when installing or removing a meter from a bypass type meter panel. Called a test/bypass type of meter enclosure. If anyone is unfamiliar with these, Google it if you care. That is not possible with a lever bypass meter. Some utilities have even gone so far as to forbid installing or removing a meter from any type socket while energized, which means a disconnect at the transformer. That is definitely overkill, in my opinion. One other issue is that lever bypass meter cans have ringless covers, meaning the cover must be removed before the meter can be removed. Some utilities feel that this increases the risk. Some utilities (ours and some other EUSERC member utilities) do not allow ringless sockets. We require the ability to install locking meter rings if we choose to. I know there will be flaming arrows regarding my opinion, but it's just that...my opinion. If yours is different, I'll patiently explain why you're wrong.:lol: I know this is way off the original topic, but I'm bored, so be kind. Merry Christmas.
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kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
I will keep it off topic a little longer and tell you that one of the local rural power companies here builds 200 amp 480/277 services with primary lines at the top of pole of course, then as you go down, primary fuses, transformers, secondary conductors running down a raceway, meter socket, and a disconnect for customer convenience (often unfused disconnect). Customer wiring lands in this disconnect.
Their policy is they face the low voltage equipment on opposite side of pole as the primary fuses, they do pull primary fuses if they are going to pull the meter, but they also put them on opposite side in case there would be a secondary fault when installing primary fuses with extension type tools that their lineman won't be standing directly in front of the low voltage gear.
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