[Arky217]

I understand that a meter box should be between 4' and 6' from grade and ideally 5'.
Is that measured from the bottom of the box, the top of the box, or the center of the meter ?

My real question, however, is:
If the meter box is mounted on the wall of a house that has a porch and the porch roof is over the meter, can the floor of the porch be considered grade ?

In other words, when the meter reader comes up on the porch and the meter is then at his eye level, is that ok ?

(The floor of my porch is 4' above grade, and if the meter was mounted 5' above grade, the bottom of the service panel would have to be about at floor level to be opposite the meter box)

Thanks,
Arky

 

[Jim Port]

You need to check to see if your power company will allow the meter over the porch.

My power compnay uses the height of the center of the glass.

 

[md2lgyk]

Is this new construction? In any case, the POCO has the final say on where the meter box goes. And sometimes they will approve something that isn't strictly to code. Mine is a good example. When I built my log house, I never got temporary power - I laid the conduit myself (125 feet) and had the POCO pull the permanent conductors. The meter and breaker panel were temporary and mounted on a post at the corner of the house. When it was time for the permanent installation, they at first said I couldn't put it where I wanted to because it would be too close to a window. But after telling me where it had to go, they realized the distance would be far enough that they'd have to pull new, larger conductors. They decided where I originally wanted to put it would be OK after all.

 

[oleguy74]

general rule is top breaker must be no more than 74"from what ever you call grade.as in if mounted above a deck,from where you stand reach up,you should be able to turn off top breaker.

 

[WillK]

Oh yeah, I had meant to post a response but it got lost in a loading error when I clicked submit.

Let me re-emphasize the importance of checking with the power company on this. In the process of planning out my service entrance move, I read my own POCO's requirements as well as several others I read for reference. It seems typical that the requirement will be from ground to the center of the meter face. However, different power companies have different height requirements. I've read some that specify a height and I've read others that require it to be within a range.

While you're asking, you can check about the porch.