Service taps

[mdb94]

A friend of mine bought an old home that has a service with fuses instead of breakers. At the top the feeders (they look like at least a #2) come in from the meter socket and land on a set of lugs which are the line side of the main fuse (60 amp fuse). Is it permissable to tap off of these lugs with #6 THHN to feed a sub panel (right next to it) via a back fed 40 amp breaker using a hold down kit? It seems to me like a violation unless the tap was on the load side of the main fuse. But the circuit using the tap conductors are protected by a 40 amp breaker. BTW he want to use this sub panel solely for a 3-ton A/C unit. Also, if cost permits, he is considering changing out the fuse box to a breaker box (the meter socket is a separate box above the fuse box connected with a 6-8 inch nipple). Can this be done without disturbing the meter socket and mast assembly? Thanks.

 

[bphgravity]

Re: Service taps

It is not a violation to tap service conductors, however, I seriously doubt the main lugs in the fused panels are listed for use with more than one conductor. Also, make sure the service entrance has the capacity to allow the A/C load.

As for your last question, you obviously will need the service disconnected to the dwelling as you will have no way deenergizing the conductors from the meter enclosure to the new panelboard. This would be a good oportunity to simply upgrade the service at that time.