The main disconnect at the main panel on this house is 200amp. The service entrance cables from the meter to the main panel are sized appropriately, however the cables from the drop to the meter are sized for 100amp by appearance. Nothing was legible on the insulation. I am going to call that overfused. Am I wrong?
Thank you
everyone.Around here the POCO (power company) is responsible from the mast connection to the pole. And the homeowner is responsible down the mast to the meter and into the house.
It may be different where you are…I don’t know.
You might refer a qualified electrician as the wires seem small in your opinion.
Just a thought.
It does appear that the SE conductors feeding the meter are smaller than the ones feeding the panel. If the panel has a 200 amp OCPD call it out as a defect.
Did you pull on the meter tag to see if it had been cut?
Thanks everyone for the replies. I did not pull on the meter tag. Pardon my ignorance but what would that have told me if it had been cut?
That someone probably upgraded the electrical service without a permit.
Around these parts you can not get a meter without a permit. But no telling.
Saying cable ‘by appearance’ can get you in trouble, no doubt.
Feeder cables are in a mast per usual.
The metering box was locked.
This becomes a limitation.
Note what you could measure.
A: SE feeder conduit diameter both above and below the metering equipment. B: Feeder cable size at the disconnect.
Just my 2 cents.
The wire above the Meter Box is not fused. If you call it overused you will look foolish in the eyes of who ever comes out to check.
Now if you want to say the SEC is may to be not large enough to support the homes 200 amp service, then fine.
I see what you’re saying. I called it a 100amp service because of that one part of the SEC, therefore the disconnect is overfused. I guess you can go about it a couple different ways.
Thanks everyone once again.
The over current protective device (OCPD) located in the service panel was oversized to protect the service entrance conductors installed between the service drop and the meter.
You might want to mention the single ground rod while you’re at it.
What if it is connected to the copper water line? Around here the grounding typically consists of a single ground rod and an attachment upstream of the meter on the incoming copper water line.
Here they’re supposed to have both for new installations. It was grounded at the water shutoff. Thanks again for all the comments. I do have have to use ‘appeared’ less. Thanks for the reminder.
For the past 5 or 6 NEC code cycles you need two ground rods or one that you can prove is 25Ω or less. Either way they need to be at least 8’ into the earth looks like that one has about a foot sticking out.
That’s not right. that looks to be a new meter on an old house, and I don’t see a final sticker on the meter,
