Just making sure on this one, but I had one meter on one small house and the sub panel that I thought was a subpanel turned out to be live after I turned off the power in the first main panel. The line was split just off of the meter. These two panels are on different floors and separated by 30 feet or so not that that probably matters a whole lot. Again just to make sure, there’s no way that two mains from the same service are allowed, correct?
The first pic is the main panel in a bathroom by the way and what I originally thought was the only main panel. The second is another panel that had power after I threw the 200 amp ‘main’.
Two service disconnects are permitted but must be grouped at the same location nearest the entry of the service entrance conductors. There are several issues with the panels in the photos.
There does not appear to be any wire in the first panel as large as the feed to the second panel therefore we would expect the second panel to feed from the meter or even a third panel. If there was not a disconnect at or near the meter you should recommend “Sparky” evaluate. A good reminder to all of us that turning of the main may not be enough, always use your non contact tester on remote panels to be sure it’s dead and you are not
Thanks Don. That’s essentially what I did. Review permitting, have ‘sparky’ review this configuration. I did use my non contact tester and that second panel was still live. That, and I was still able to turn some lights on.
Was the meter outside? Was there a service disconnect at the meter at all?
Edit: That 2 pole 30A looks like it has 12’s in it… do you have more pictures of these panels and the meter area you can share?
That likely is an AC condensing unit.
No shut off at the meter, just a conduit coming out the side of the meter. I have pics but they’re in the program and I would have to dig them out.