Electric code

Mark.alan65 · February 14, 2018, 08:52:14 AM

Our town uses the 2003 version of the electric code. I would like to take the electric line from the pole to the house underground, and cannot find a clear answer for where to place the meter box. I know it needs to be between 4 to 6 feet high. The only other thing that I can find is that it must be clear around the box by 18 inches. I thought that at one time there were restrictions on how close to a door or window that the box could be located. I don't see that in the newer code.

Would anyone have a link to the 2003 code?

Thanks,

Mark

akwoodchuck · February 14, 2018, 12:41:24 PM

Your utility company should have spec sheets available for all that stuff....I'd call them first....

February 15, 2018, 02:56:57 PM

Agreed, the utility company in my area determines meter arrangements. I have wanted to have my meter installed on the service pole, then underground service to the house .... no such luck, meter must be stuck on house exterior say the people I must pay! Grrrr.

Don_P · February 15, 2018, 07:52:35 PM

Same here JRR, so now I have a meter on the house, and another at the sawmill. 2 service fees per month, and they want me to buy insurance on the can and service drop each month as well, yeah right.

NathanS · February 15, 2018, 09:52:44 PM

Quote from: Don_P on February 15, 2018, 07:52:35 PM
Same here JRR, so now I have a meter on the house, and another at the sawmill. 2 service fees per month, and they want me to buy insurance on the can and service drop each month as well, yeah right.

The electrical service engineer that came out to give us a hookup price warned us about that. He said run all our outbuildings from subpanels to avoid multiple service fees.

We have 200 amp, but he still wanted to know if we planned to heat with base boards. I can't remember the exact number, but the transformer doohickey on the pole really only supplies like 60 amps or something, which is standard. They will upgrade the doohickey to supply 200 amps at once if we ever were doing something that required that.

I have wondered about our electric hot water heater, it has 3x 40 amp breakers. Not sure if that doohickey could bottle neck us if we were taking 2 showers and doing laundry.

February 26, 2018, 05:13:03 PM

Is the water heater 120 or 240 vac ? The main breaker is 60A on a 200A panel and the pole is a 60A service drop? Something wrong here?

NathanS · February 28, 2018, 10:10:01 AM

Dave, everything in the house is sized and installed correctly.

My understanding is that most houses with 200 amp service will not actually have a transformer that can supply 200 amps at once. I don't know exactly what size ours is, but I am not sure it is actually rated for 120 amp 240v. Probability and all that, similarly if you add up all the breakers in the box I'm sure it exceeds 200 amps. It would be very costly to install everything to handle the 'max draw.' Same with plumbing...

When the engineer asked if we were using electric baseboards for heat, all I knew was we were going to install ductless minisplit.. .which only draws <15 amps @ 240v. At the time I was bailing water out of trenches for the footing for the house...

Dave Sparks · February 28, 2018, 10:37:12 PM

A 200 amp service should be able to supply 200 amps. It is what you pay for no matter if you use it or not! The utility wants you to use as much as you can safely.

MountainDon · March 01, 2018, 10:23:08 AM

My breakers do add up to more than the rated total amps but there is a master breaker that is the same as the panels rated capacity. I can not seriously believe that the grid system can not deliver that maximum rating to me if I needed it. If that was the case I would think that there would have already been a class action lawsuit or the regulators would have made a case. Look what happened over the hidden screen area on our TV's (back when a TV sold as a 26" only had about 25" unmasked).

March 01, 2018, 01:51:11 PM

I'm just repeating what the NYSEG engineer told me.

After doing some googling it looks like the transformer ratings are for continuous output, and that they can handle periods of spike usage. A 50kva transformer can supply 208 amps @ 240v.

People on this trade board say they run 10-15 houses on one 50kva transformer.
https://powerlineman.com/lforum/showthread.php?5579-Amperage-from-a-transformer

Our transformer has a "10" on it which I'm guessing is 10kva which I think would be rated for 42 amps continuous usage. I can see how the engineer would want to upsize if we would potentially be running baseboards continuously all winter.

Anyway I don't really know anything about all this and didn't intend to give any advice - other than run your outbuildings from subpanels if possible.

MountainDon · March 02, 2018, 12:05:29 AM

Most people probably never come close to drawing their full capacity at one time. I have wondered at times what our maximum simultaneous draw was. Whole house A/C going, fridge, arc welder, ... but we've probably never comes close to max. The lights never dim even for an instant.

Dave Sparks · March 03, 2018, 03:27:06 PM

Definitely agree Don, we never needed much until the fire danger got worse about 7 years ago. Running big pumps...
It is very normal to have more amperage in breakers as long as the main breaker is less than the service drop wiring ampacity and back into the transformer.