eepete
Platinum Member
I also live in NC, and in 2006 built my house which has 400 amp service. As it was explained to me (so this probably had some pick and choose from the code for my situation):
If there was more than two feet of conduit between the meter base and the breaker panels, I had to have a 400 amp disconnect switch and then that switch would feed the breaker boxes.
In my case I also had a generator. So the configuration was the meter base, the disconnect switch, a panel before the transfer switch, the 200A disconnect for the generator, the generator transfer switch (400A switch), and then the wire went to 3 200A breaker boxes with a trough below them where each panel got its feed. The two disconnected switches had to be within 8 feet of each other.
I actually had conduit run from the meter base under the garage and then it came up in the basement where all the disconnects, switches and breaker panels lived.
The big honking cable that carries the 40A was something like $12 per foot- I had about $3500 of the stuff. Note also that this let me move the breaker boxes in the basement to a location that made the runs a lot easier to do than if I had the breaker panels right up against the outside of the house where the meter base was. The added complexity of the generator and panel box before the generator also brought about the need for all these extra boxes.
All in all, the total cost of "all this stuff"was about $9K. But for that price I have conveniently located panel boxes, the automatic generator transfer switch and the panel before the transfer switch so the generator size is more manageable. I've got a 45 KW generator. The 400A switch came about mostly because of the 3 heat pumps having 10KW resistive electric backup. Two of the three geothermal pumps have the 10KW strips on the panel before the generator.
Pete
If there was more than two feet of conduit between the meter base and the breaker panels, I had to have a 400 amp disconnect switch and then that switch would feed the breaker boxes.
In my case I also had a generator. So the configuration was the meter base, the disconnect switch, a panel before the transfer switch, the 200A disconnect for the generator, the generator transfer switch (400A switch), and then the wire went to 3 200A breaker boxes with a trough below them where each panel got its feed. The two disconnected switches had to be within 8 feet of each other.
I actually had conduit run from the meter base under the garage and then it came up in the basement where all the disconnects, switches and breaker panels lived.
The big honking cable that carries the 40A was something like $12 per foot- I had about $3500 of the stuff. Note also that this let me move the breaker boxes in the basement to a location that made the runs a lot easier to do than if I had the breaker panels right up against the outside of the house where the meter base was. The added complexity of the generator and panel box before the generator also brought about the need for all these extra boxes.
All in all, the total cost of "all this stuff"was about $9K. But for that price I have conveniently located panel boxes, the automatic generator transfer switch and the panel before the transfer switch so the generator size is more manageable. I've got a 45 KW generator. The 400A switch came about mostly because of the 3 heat pumps having 10KW resistive electric backup. Two of the three geothermal pumps have the 10KW strips on the panel before the generator.
Pete
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