Main panel design question

amakarevic

when the meter is directly connected to your main panel box (as it usually is) and if your meter stupidly does not have an on/off switch, there is no way to turn off the feeder cable before the main panel switch.

in my opinion, this is a safety hazard or a design contrived to keep electricians or power companies happy. when you if you want to do work inside the panel SAFELY, you want the power to not even come through the feeder cable.

as an alternative to replacing the whole meter with one that has a switch, is it possible to introduce a switch device between the meter and the panel that will switch the power off outside the box.

beats me in the head why this is not a standard ? in my panel box, the feeder wires go into some kind of fastening nuts that are bare after you take the cover plate off and they are always hot - i tried with a multitester. as such, i do not feel comfortable replacing breakers, for example ...

what is the most economic solution to this situation ?

thx,

- a

Attached Thumbnails

   

jwhite

Beats me too. I often thought there should be a disconnect either before or after the meter.

The only reason for not doing it is the cost of the equipment. A main breaker panel is about the same price as a main lug panel. You could add a disconnect after the meter, making it the main panel, and use a sub panel to feed the rest of the home. The extra disconnect would cost about 600 installed.

__________________
Master Electrician

Speedy Petey

OK. I would like you to explain exactly what you mean by this. I am truly curious.



And as such you should NOT even be taking the cover off. If you cannot comfortably work with the small amount of live parts in a panel, and know what NOT to touch or go near, you have NO place working in there.

This is where training and experience comes in.

You want to work only in a panel that is completely dead, go and drop the several hundred dollars extra it is to have a main disconnect installed outside.
Remember, there will ALWAYS be someplace the power cannot be turned off on the customer (and POCO) side of the meter. This is unavoidable.

__________________
Sometimes I feel like if I answer any more questions it is like someone trying to climb over a fence to jump off a bridge and me giving them a boost.

amakarevic

speedy petey - i meant that it was a design to scare and discourage DIY-ers into hiring big money tradesmen to do a no brainer or to get the power company to make $350 for pulling a switch off and then back on for you.

Speedy Petey

I truly think this is one conspiracy theory that hold no water.

"Big money" huh? Yeah, I guess it does COST big money to run a legitimate BUSINESS.

Not all POCOs charge for cutting the power. In fact I'd venture to say very few do.

__________________
Sometimes I feel like if I answer any more questions it is like someone trying to climb over a fence to jump off a bridge and me giving them a boost.

amakarevic

PEPCO in wash., DC will charge to show up and pull a switch.

you may be living in a less greedy part of the country.

pruane

The "switch" is the main breaker at the top. However after reading your post PLEASE put the cover back on and NEVER take it off again. Electric is not a game, The reason Electricians get paid well (depends where), is because the KNOW how to do the work. A few 100 dollars is much easier to pay for than a funeral or new house would be.

amakarevic

NO - i will make my setup safe and do my own electric work because it is fun to do and i ain't paying anybody for the stuff i can do myself.

jwhite

According to the new rules under NFPA 70 E, which have been adopted by OSHA, noone should be doing any work (except for testing) in a panel that still has live wires. For testing a person should be in an arc flash suit.

The only way that we could comply with 70E is to either call the utility every time we add or remove a breaker, or install a main beaker only panel between the meter and the branch circuit panel.

This would make the branch circuit panel a sub panel. Neutral to ground bonding would need to be done in the new main breaker only panel.

__________________
Master Electrician

jdoherty

The issue is "Your Safety" and Protecting your home. I have NEVER found a power company that refused or even charged to come to the house and pull the meter and wait or come back so I could make repairs or conversions. Call them the worst that can happen is, they say "NO".

frenchelectrican

Huh ??? you say fun to do it ?? ,, I have no idea why you say that just wait until a arc flash or something short out and it will scare ya out of your mind.

keep in your mind the lugs above the main breaker i did see it that always be hot and UNfused or UNbreakered if that main wire short out there is good chance the house can burn down or POCO [PowerCompany ] transformer fuse kick out belive me they do nasty damage there.

That the reason why we the electrician do have extra time and training to deal with the system.

Most POCO useally dont charge for comming out and cut the power off in safe manner but some i say some will charge small fee for it.

350 bucks ? maybe little high in some area but 350 bucks for POCO to come out and cut the power off is better than the house burn down.

http://www.pieperpower.com/images/arc_flash.jpg

this link will show how powerfull the flash if something short out

http://www.spril.com/rapidan/Images/...PowerMeter.jpg

this link will show what the electric meter look like after fire damage


now you can understand how serious this is if you dont follow the code and safety here

Merci, Marc

Clutchcargo

I thought pulling the meter was the cut off. I didn't realize you could have a main cut off switch that wasn't the main breaker.
How would that work... Is it part of the meter assembly or a standalone box? Does it get installed in the interior or exterior of the house?
While I do a re-siding project on my house, I'm going to have an electrician come out to figure out what to do with the meter in the meantime. Is there any reason I wouldn't consider adding a pre-panel power cutoff?

__________________

J. V.

When in doubt get a professional.

JohnJ0906

Second that.

__________________
John from Baltimore
One Day at a Time
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

"Experience is what you get when you were expecting something else"
"The bitterness of low quality lingers long after the sweetness of low cost is forgotten"