what NEC should be used "in the county"

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letgomywago said:
WA allows 15 ft for this instance which is very generous but so long as there is a non fused disconnect outside I now don't think it is so generous but is now a practical number since you don't need to have the fireman run around trying to see which room in the basement it ended up in to find that it's actually 1 room over towards the middle in an equipment closet.
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Have you ever watched service conductors burning because of a fault in the wire or cable?
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
Have you ever watched service conductors burning because of a fault in the wire or cable?
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Shouldn't happen but yes. It can happen on the side of the house which is where i saw it anyway so what's the difference from that compared to inside a studbay or joist bay inside conduit. Yes someone could Sawzall it but especially split levels are particularly challenging to get around this since popping right off the meter doesn't get you into a normal height. I don't like SEU though since there isn't anything to contain it and WA doesn't allow it for service conductors.
 
letgomywago said:
Shouldn't happen but yes. It can happen on the side of the house which is where i saw it anyway so what's the difference from that compared to inside a studbay or joist bay inside conduit. Yes someone could Sawzall it but especially split levels are particularly challenging to get around this since popping right off the meter doesn't get you into a normal height. I don't like SEU though since there isn't anything to contain it and WA doesn't allow it for service conductors.
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Much more likely to start the building on fire when it is inside the structure.
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
Much more likely to start the building on fire when it is inside the structure.
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How many electrical fires particularly in dwelling units are caused by this. It used to be common to have many feet of seu to a panel. Now not so much thankfully but it seams like most electrical fires are caused after service equipment and the ones ive seen have been at the outlet at the end of the circuit. Do you have any info regarding that you have more access to it than most?
 
letgomywago said:
How many electrical fires particularly in dwelling units are caused by this. It used to be common to have many feet of seu to a panel. Now not so much thankfully but it seams like most electrical fires are caused after service equipment and the ones ive seen have been at the outlet at the end of the circuit. Do you have any info regarding that you have more access to it than most?
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There is no really valid electrical fire cause and origin data for dwelling units.
Just something I don't like. And even our requirement for RMC or IMC does not really change anything.
 
letgomywago said:
WA allows 15 ft for this instance which is very generous but so long as there is a non fused disconnect outside I now don't think it is so generous but is now a practical number since you don't need to have the fireman run around trying to see which room in the basement it ended up in to find that it's actually 1 room over towards the middle in an equipment closet.
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Still on 2017 code here so still no "emergency disconnect" required yet but for years I have often installed service panel in middle of basements or middle of slab for slab on grade applications and still have done some recently. Only conductors that are "inside the building" are from where it emerges from slab up to the service equipment.

Meter may be on the building or on a pole - you are not easily finding where the service disconnect is just because you see where the meter is.

Can still do this with 2020 and 2023 NEC. The emergency disconnect does not have to be the service disconnecting means, just needs to be on or outside the building but on same premises so at the pole is still acceptable place for it if pole is on the premises.
 
kwired said:
Still on 2017 code here so still no "emergency disconnect" required yet but for years I have often installed service panel in middle of basements or middle of slab for slab on grade applications and still have done some recently. Only conductors that are "inside the building" are from where it emerges from slab up to the service equipment.

Meter may be on the building or on a pole - you are not easily finding where the service disconnect is just because you see where the meter is.

Can still do this with 2020 and 2023 NEC. The emergency disconnect does not have to be the service disconnecting means, just needs to be on or outside the building but on same premises so at the pole is still acceptable place for it if pole is on the premises.
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Pole sounds good to me but I've only seen that set up on farms
 
letgomywago said:
Pole sounds good to me but I've only seen that set up on farms
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Older installations around here might have meter on a pole.

Some the rural POCO's are now serving smaller towns as well as rural areas. Some of them are supplying same meter/disconnects on new/upgraded services as they do for rural services, placing them on their distribution poles. Everything beyond that point is customer supplied.
 
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