I've read a few other posters running into similar problems as this but not quite this annoying. :furious: or take this long to explain.
Here's my project: I'm changing over to a new 200a service from a 100a service thanks to a large multiple story add on. I won't go a mile deep into the details but I need to find the following:
Nema 3r ("Outdoor", or "Rain Tight") load center, 200a main breaker.
No meter - the meter is on a rear building
*BOTTOM FED* - the feeds will come underground from the aforementioned meter on a rear building and up into the box.
Possible Square D model just for example:
QO140M200RB (or QO130..., or QO120...)
Conduit from all over the house will converge and enter the load center from both under the house/into the bottom of the box and out a soffit space/down the sidewall/into the *top* of the box. I showed my inspector a bucket full of Red Dot brand rain tight field add hubs and he said they're fine (i.e. rain tight enough) for top exit on an outdoor box as long as I punch the right size holes. (Like, Duh. Thanks for that.)
Here's the fly in my particular ointment:
It seems that *nobody* makes a Nema3, Main Breaker equipped load center with a rotatable inner buss frame like in so many Nema 1 (indoor) panels. I went so far as to get on the tech support line with Square D and the very nice phone person even read to me from a tech note they have been given on this very subject. Words to the effect of "The Nema3 version of Square D QO120, 130, and 140 do not feature rotatable inner panels for bottom fed applications - the gutterways to the left and the right of buss frame are wide enough to accomodate feeder cable in addition to normal wire entry".
Oh. Really now. I've heard that one before - and I end up trying to make it all fit and put a huge 180 in the 3/0 feeder? So I call my local elec. trade supplier I like to buy from (NOT a big box home center...) and he makes the phone rounds too. Same answer. Square D, Cutler-Hammer, Murray-Siemens, etc. don't let you spin the insides of a 200 amp panel around in a nema 3 box. So, he's got for me a price on a Panel Board that does what I want it to do - put the main breaker/lugs at the bottom of the damn box. However it's only available with bolt-on breakers. That doesn't scare me and they even sell the breakers at "oem" prices which are only a little bit over retail if you order them with the box and they bolt them in at the plant.
So here's my question to the wise and experienced among us: What am I missing? Does everybody really NOT offer a Nema 3 200amp breakered load center that you can cleanly feed from the bottom? Is the Square D tech support note really true and the gutters are plenty roomy to allow the mains to travel up and around and not interfere with the regular work that has to go on in there? I just find that so hard to believe what I need doesn't exist but I sure can't find a retail/residential solution.
Please don't tell me "just fly the feeds to the weatherhead like normal and feed thru the top" because it's a long story why the cables have to be reworked to come off the pole and stop at the rear building, hit the standalone meter, then come to the main house underground.
The punchline to this little joke this project is playing on me is this: The ordered-to-spec panel board price from Murray-Siemens is actually about $250.00 cheaper than the suggested retail on the Nema 3 40 space 200 amp QO loadcenter I mentioned above.
Egads, and sorry for the novel of a post.
William
Here's my project: I'm changing over to a new 200a service from a 100a service thanks to a large multiple story add on. I won't go a mile deep into the details but I need to find the following:
Nema 3r ("Outdoor", or "Rain Tight") load center, 200a main breaker.
No meter - the meter is on a rear building
*BOTTOM FED* - the feeds will come underground from the aforementioned meter on a rear building and up into the box.
Possible Square D model just for example:
QO140M200RB (or QO130..., or QO120...)
Conduit from all over the house will converge and enter the load center from both under the house/into the bottom of the box and out a soffit space/down the sidewall/into the *top* of the box. I showed my inspector a bucket full of Red Dot brand rain tight field add hubs and he said they're fine (i.e. rain tight enough) for top exit on an outdoor box as long as I punch the right size holes. (Like, Duh. Thanks for that.)
Here's the fly in my particular ointment:
It seems that *nobody* makes a Nema3, Main Breaker equipped load center with a rotatable inner buss frame like in so many Nema 1 (indoor) panels. I went so far as to get on the tech support line with Square D and the very nice phone person even read to me from a tech note they have been given on this very subject. Words to the effect of "The Nema3 version of Square D QO120, 130, and 140 do not feature rotatable inner panels for bottom fed applications - the gutterways to the left and the right of buss frame are wide enough to accomodate feeder cable in addition to normal wire entry".
Oh. Really now. I've heard that one before - and I end up trying to make it all fit and put a huge 180 in the 3/0 feeder? So I call my local elec. trade supplier I like to buy from (NOT a big box home center...) and he makes the phone rounds too. Same answer. Square D, Cutler-Hammer, Murray-Siemens, etc. don't let you spin the insides of a 200 amp panel around in a nema 3 box. So, he's got for me a price on a Panel Board that does what I want it to do - put the main breaker/lugs at the bottom of the damn box. However it's only available with bolt-on breakers. That doesn't scare me and they even sell the breakers at "oem" prices which are only a little bit over retail if you order them with the box and they bolt them in at the plant.
So here's my question to the wise and experienced among us: What am I missing? Does everybody really NOT offer a Nema 3 200amp breakered load center that you can cleanly feed from the bottom? Is the Square D tech support note really true and the gutters are plenty roomy to allow the mains to travel up and around and not interfere with the regular work that has to go on in there? I just find that so hard to believe what I need doesn't exist but I sure can't find a retail/residential solution.
Please don't tell me "just fly the feeds to the weatherhead like normal and feed thru the top" because it's a long story why the cables have to be reworked to come off the pole and stop at the rear building, hit the standalone meter, then come to the main house underground.
The punchline to this little joke this project is playing on me is this: The ordered-to-spec panel board price from Murray-Siemens is actually about $250.00 cheaper than the suggested retail on the Nema 3 40 space 200 amp QO loadcenter I mentioned above.
Egads, and sorry for the novel of a post.
William
