Meter/Main Question

[camp10]

Hi guys, I’m looking for a little advice upgrading my meter/breaker and adding a main lug panel for my house & garage. I have a few questions, but I will start with just the first one. The flush mount Homeline 200 amp "all in one" is being replaced, note the attached picture.

What I would like to replace it with is a Cutler-Hammer CMBE88B200BTF flush mounted and, for convenience, connected to the existing 2" rigid conduit service feed. The main problem that I am dealing with is the 2" knockout for the service feed on the Cutler-Hammer meter/breaker is not centered on the top of the box as it is with the Homeline box. So, what are the issues with me cutting my own 2" hole with a knockout punch on the top of the Cutler-Hammer product I'm interested in? Forgive me if this is a crazy question, and thank you for your time.

Sean

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Theres no problem at all. Its done all the time.

 

[camp10]

Great, thanks for the advice.

One more question on my setup. Located directly behind the 200 amp meter breaker will be my 200 amp sub-panel. I will run 3/0 CU and #4 ground from the feed-through-lugs to the main lug panel, through a short rigid 2" ******. Do I have to put bonded bushings inside of each panel on the ends of the rigid ******? And if I do, do I connect the same #4 ground running from the meter breaker to these bonded bushings as it runs to the ground bar in the sub-panel? Thanks again for your time.

 

[Barnabas]

That sounds like a local code question.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

How short of a distance between the panels. Would you have enough room to put two PVC fittings with a section of PVC in between (even if the two fittings butted up to each other with a piece of the PVC inside that didn't show?)

This would eliminate the need for the bushings and bond wire.

Charles

 

[Mustang51js]

I'm still trying to figure out why you just didn't use a small meter pan outside and a main breaker panel inside, what you have now is just more work for the same thing. But the issue your going to have with them back to back is what are you going to mount the panel to,you can't screw into the back of the meter. You will have to fur out the space or some Sheetrock with plywood on top. Around here if you have a room above the meter you need fireproof paint on the wood.

 

[camp10]

How short of a distance between the panels. Would you have enough room to put two PVC fittings with a section of PVC in between (even if the two fittings butted up to each other with a piece of the PVC inside that didn't show?)

This would eliminate the need for the bushings and bond wire.

Charles

I hadn't thought of PVC, there will only be about two inches between the boxes. Thanks for the tip, I'll run it by code enforcement.

 

[Norcal]

I'm still trying to figure out why you just didn't use a small meter pan outside and a main breaker panel inside, what you have now is just more work for the same thing. But the issue your going to have with them back to back is what are you going to mount the panel to,you can't screw into the back of the meter. You will have to fur out the space or some Sheetrock with plywood on top. Around here if you have a room above the meter you need fireproof paint on the wood.

Because almost no one does it that way, CA is the land of the all in one panel. Not saying one way is better then the other, just the way it is.

 

[Mustang51js]

Because almost no one does it that way, CA is the land of the all in one panel. Not saying one way is better then the other, just the way it is.

Yeah around here it's the opposite,maybe it has to do with the weather but you rarely see the meter and panel built together in a residential building.

 

[camp10]

Even though there is no requirement from the PoCo or the City, the head building official would like to see a main shutoff outside the house. He told me it is for the fire department, then I reminded him that I work for the fire department. That did not change his point of view, and he still wants it his way, so I complied with his wishes and am using an 8 space all in one feeding the main lug panel behind it. I want my breakers inside my garage, and what I did come up with is redundant and $300 more, but complies with the building official and my wants as well.

 

[Norcal]

Unless he can cite a code section or locally adopted regulation, the building official cannot require you to do it, what he "wants" does not cut it.

 

[Junkman]

They make a meter socket with a 200 amp breaker at the bottom, just for situations like this. They are not cheap, but they are available. The one that I had was made by Milbank.