Attaching secondary from meter to house

[mrpizza]

Good Morning all,

I am getting ready to install my new main breaker panel and feed from the meter to the panel. Meter is about 75' away from panel, and will be buried in the ground. If I am understanding everything correctly, I need a 4/0 aluminum cable from the meter to the panel. 3 conductors, 2 hots and the neutral. Meter is grounded at the transformer from the POCO? Then two ground rods 6' apart, connected with #4 bare copper at my building?

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Hard to say what size wire you need without knowing the size of the service.

How many amps is it?

 

[theoldwizard1]

Some POCO and/or local building departments might require you to have a disconnect AT THE METER, even if you did not have one before.

 

[mrpizza]

Dangit, 200 amps. The meter has a 200 amp disconnect on it. Its a square box on the ground, i just had the privelege of paying them over 6k to run my primary underground 915 feet.

This is a brand new service, never been a building out here before.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Dangit, 200 amps. The meter has a 200 amp disconnect on it. Its a square box on the ground, i just had the privelege of paying them over 6k to run my primary underground 915 feet.

This is a brand new service, never been a building out here before.

Well that changes everything.

You need 4 wire. Cant run 3-wire since you have disconnect at pole.

What were the load calcs on the house?

4/0 al may be ok for 200a depending on load calcs.

You will need rods at meter pole AND rods at house.

House panel needs isolated neutral bus.

 

[mrpizza]

I was out there talking to the poco guys, they said 3 wire. I didnt do load calcs, but its going to be 1000 sqft, 1 bed 1 bath. Heat pump, usual garage stuff. Putting in 200 amp service so I wont be short. The disconnect at the meter just looks like a circuit breaker. They said the meter is grounded at its side when they install.

Where does the 4th wire get connected? Directly to a ground at the meter and to the ground bus at the panel, then separate neutral and ground?

 

[sberry]

The 4th wire gets connected to neutral at main service. If there is a breaker there its where it goes. The poco guys do not really work on secondary. not all of them are familiar with codes.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

I was out there talking to the poco guys, they said 3 wire. I didnt do load calcs, but its going to be 1000 sqft, 1 bed 1 bath. Heat pump, usual garage stuff. Putting in 200 amp service so I wont be short. The disconnect at the meter just looks like a circuit breaker. They said the meter is grounded at its side when they install.

Where does the 4th wire get connected? Directly to a ground at the meter and to the ground bus at the panel, then separate neutral and ground?

They dont know what theyre talking about.

Code changed in 2008 mandating 4-wire for detached structures after the first disconnect.

So you need 2 hots neutral and ground feeding your house. Also need rods at disconnect and house.

The neutral and ground wires get connected to the same neutral bar at the meter disconnect.

On the house side you need an isolated neutral bar and a separate ground bar. Ground rods at house will connect to ground bar.

 

[mrpizza]

Ok, Makes sense! My friend is an inside wireman, I will have him make sure its all up to code before turning it on.

Thank you everyone!