Main Electrical Service Panel Installation
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- So close to getting power ⚡ We're not electricians, but we successfully installed our main electric service panel and connected to the meter. All that is left is for the electric company to come out for the final connection!
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🔹 3" slip meter riser: amzn.to/3B9wfoR
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If you’re new here, WELCOME 👋 We have an entire playlist on our house project thus far so you can easily binge watch those and catch up to where we are now!
LINK TO HOUSE BUILD PLAYLIST: • Self-Building Our Home...
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ABOUT US: We are Alex and Elaina, a couple in our 20s who are currently living on the 3-acre farm in southern Pennsylvania where Alex grew up. We have a garden, backyard chickens, and build or fix anything that we need to. We still work corporate day jobs, but are working to eventually leave the 9-5 lifestyle in favor of a self-built, debt-free, homestead on 6 acres nearby.
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Gosh, brother, that rotary hammer was pretty impressive! I know I’m just catching up on your past videos, so I know you’re way further along on the home. Keep up the good work and let’s keep learning together.
Very professional!
I like the use of the vacuum cleaner for cable pulling and the fact you used grease for the aluminum wire!
Thanks! The lube definitely helps but I probably could've gotten away with it for this fairly short run after seeing what the power company people do without anything
Everyone is sn electrician. Yhsnk you home depot.
I recently discovered your channel, and am very impressed with what you guys are undertaking!!!
To respond to your comment elsewhere about grounding/bonding, I have found the practices vary by location, and your local utility or inspector may not allow you to do everything the NEC would otherwise allow to be done.
In short, the NEC will allow the grounding electrode conductor (GEC) to be connected at the service drop (for overhead service), at the meter enclosure (as I think RJ is saying below), or at the Service disconnect.
Here in my area of SE Florida, I have seen the GEC connected at the meter enclosure, and I have seen it connected at the Service (as defined in the NEC) disconnect. (I own 10 rental houses, and I have seen a variety of ways this is done.) And I know some inspectors will not allow the GEC to be connected at the meter enclosure even though the NEC will allow that.
I agree with you that your panel is located within 5 feet of the point where the Service enters the house as it is encased in concrete, and that connecting the GEC at the panel is in complete compliance with the NEC, but it would have been considerably less work to connect the GEC at the meter enclosure if locally allowed, and then, as you did, run three wires from the meter enclosure to your panel, and bond the ground/neutral at your indoor panel which is your "Service Equipment".
All but one of the rental houses I own have a 200 amp Service disconnect located outside near the meter, even though they were built from the 1970's to the 1990's, and an external Service disconnect was not required until the 2020 version of the NEC.
This is because the home's breaker panels are not immediately behind the meter enclosure and have the Service wires running in conduit through the house. In these houses, no matter where the GEC is terminated (at the meter enclosure or at the Service disconnect), three wires run from the meter enclosure to the Service disconnect, and four wires run from the Service disconnect to the home's breaker panel, which is considered a sub panel. The neutral and ground are bonded at the Service disconnect.
One house I used to own is like yours, with no exterior Service disconnect. The Service wires run under the concrete foundation similar to your installation, but in this house the GEC is connected at the meter, and three wires run to the breaker panel in the house which contains the main breaker, and is considered the Service Equipment, and that is where the neutral and ground bars are bonded.
The following Mike Holt video explains where the NEC (2014) allows the GEC to be connected. I do not believe this has changed with more recent code revisions.
ua-cam.com/video/wyPTtN6QjzQ/v-deo.html
The subject of where to land the GEC, and bond the neutral and ground, can be confusing to some people. Later, when I sold the house that had the GEC connected at the meter enclosure with no exterior Service disconnect, the buyer had the house inspected by a licensed home inspector and his inspection report explained that when the GEC is connected at the meter, the bonding screw should be removed from the breaker panel (because he claimed the neutral and ground are bonded at the meter enclosure), and a separate neutral and a separate ground wire should be run from the meter enclosure to the panel which of course caused the buyer concern. The inspector was trying to make the meter the Service Equipment, which was just plain WRONG, and we had a discussion about this. But my buyer was very confused and did not know who to believe.
I did not want to have to run a 4th wire from the meter enclosure to the panel and I suggested to the buyer and inspector to have a licensed electrician inspect the service, and that I would pay for the electrician (and run the 4th wire) I was wrong but if I was correct the inspector should pay for the electrician's time. The inspector paid (and learned).
As you said in your comment below, the neutral/ground bond has to be done at the main (Service) disconnect, but that does not mean that you have to run the EGC to the Service disconnect. When you installed your electrical service did your local electrical inspector or utility require it to be at your panel? If you could have connected it at the meter, was there a reason you decided to run it to the panel? Again, what you did is in complete compliance with the NEC, just more work than necessary unless your electrical inspector or your utility will not allow the GEC to be landed at the meter enclosure (which the NEC does allow).
And one last very important point: where ever the GEC is landed (meter or Service disconnect) the ground and neutral bond MUST be made at the Service disconnect, and nowhere else, wherever that is located.
Thanks for such a detailed comment! Yes, our local inspector wanted us to land the GEC at the main disconnect, which in our case is our breaker panel. The ground/neutral bonding screw is engaged there. I did leave a rebar ground sticking out of the footing where our meter was, just in case he wanted the opposite though. Of course this would have meant a separate exterior disconnect box & handle next to the meter, which we didn't want. Another point on this (upcoming video) is our propane gas manifold must be bonded to the GEC with #6 copper, which makes more sense in our utility room instead of having to run that all the way back to an external disconnect by the meter. Thanks for watching! I should call you up if I have any questions when I'm wiring the full house
i think there is a mistake at the 11:02, where you connect the ground wire to the ground rod. i believe it supposed to thread from the bottom up, and the the 2-3" excess gets bent down. that way there is no chance in hell it would slip off
Impressive!
Just a simple reminder, there should be no copper wire showing from your hot or common, I notice just a little on the hot side of your breaker. Looks great and once you start going on your electrical work, you’ll love it. A master electrician can make a ton of money 💰
Thanks! I'll make sure to do that on the rest
You weren't wrong. You do not need supplemental ground rods if you are attached to rebar thst is in the footing.
In my area you don’t run a bare copper ground to the main panel. You instead simply run the neutral to the main panel. That neutral is to be connected to ground before entering the house. The ground outside is to be run directly to ground rod. The ground neutral bond is supposed to be at only one location and that should be at the earliest possible location before entering the home
For us the neutral-ground bond has to be done at the main disconnect. I'm sure there's a good NEC reasoning why, but I don't know it off the top of my head. You're basically saying you run your ground to the meter can and bond to the neutral there.. sounds like the same idea but a better electrician could chime in on the why behind each methodology.
@@MasonDixonAcres you guys did it correctly. The neutral and and ground are to be bonded together at the first main disconnect. The meter is not a disconnect unless it has a disconnect built into it. After 2020 code though, every building is going to require a disconnect outside.
Article 250 of the code is very confusing. They take a simple concept and use 1890's English to baffle anyone trying to decipher it. NEC was first written by insurance agents, so it is all over the place.
Do you have any video of installing the pad mount for transformer
yep, check out the underground electric playlist
That riser up to the bottom of your panel should have been emt. You eould glue s female adapter where dtub comes up through floor then use emt set screw connectors on both rnds of the emt riser.
I'm surprised..you hire masons, framers, and concrete guys, but you do electric yourself! haha..That's a nope for me..I won't be messing with any wires..lol
I have two red and one black to one white hot wire. Its used then because i was unable to find black hot wire at reasonable prices and in short length. They are spliced to the main curcuit breaker panel. They are overheating and the plastic coating is a bit melted. What should i use so they don't over heat? Dumb question but is black hot wire from speakers ok too? Remember these are the wires that recieve the main power before the main breaker panel. Also would using one more red help with overheating? Any knowledge helps
Sounds like your wires are way undersized if the insulation is melting. Never use speaker wire for anything in a circuit breaker panel
Hahahahahahahah my life