Looking for a little clarification regarding a main service panel with two main breakers. I’ve been doing inspections for 11-years and have never seen this before. The home was a new build, only 2,800 SF. Could anyone please tell me why there are two breakers for what appears to be a 200 amp service?
To feed a sub panel elsewhere maybe?
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That meter main combo comes the factory that way. Its cheaper to have two 200amp breakers then one 400amp breaker when doing a 400amp service. Code allows up to 6 main breakers on a single service.
If the electrician’s calculated load came in under 200amps then having only one of those breakers serving the whole home is totally fine.
The good news is that If someone wants to add any substantial load to the property (or even solar) they have a whole extra 200amps they can take advantage of.
Here are some similar meter mains:
Here is one where you can add 4 main breakers of your own:
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I see them quite often in larger homes
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Thank you Martin!
That makes sense. It looks like they’ve planned well for any future additions.
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They did have a sub-panel in the garage, but it was being fed from that 1st 200 amp main. I believe they just planned ahead for any additions in the future.
Thanks David!