# Feeders From 2 Different Meters In Same Conduit



## swimmer (Mar 19, 2011)

I'm working on a 2 unit apartment. The service panel has 3 meters.
Meter 1 is common area
Meter 2 is the large apartment
Meter 3 is the small apartment.

A common area sub-panel will be installed in the common area laundry room. This will be fed by meter 1.

An air-conditioning system will be installed in the large apartment and it needs a 40A circuit to the outside compressor unit. This will be fed by meter 2.

No work will be done on the small apartment fed by meter 3.

The outside compressor pad is located between the 3-meter service panel and the laundry room so I'd like to run the compressor wires and the laundry room panel feeders in the same conduit. As noted above, the laundry room panel is fed by meter 1 and the compressor is fed by meter 2. Is it permissible to run these wires in the same conduit?

Thanks


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## HackWork (Oct 2, 2009)

It is very common in old installations for them to use a single service entrance raceway for both sets of service entrance conductors. I don't know of any code prohibiting it. I looked around a few years ago and couldn't find it.


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## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

I know you cannot do that for service conductors but I am not sure that is an issue with feeders or branch circuits. They must be marked at the jb's as to where they are fed from. I, personally, think it is a bad idea but I cannot find anywhere that would require separate conduits


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## HackWork (Oct 2, 2009)

Nevermind, my mistake.


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## joebanana (Dec 21, 2010)

Is there an OCPD after the meter's? Or they 3 combo's?


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## swimmer (Mar 19, 2011)

Dennis Alwon said:


> I, personally, think it is a bad idea but I cannot find anywhere that would require separate conduits


Because 
1. Wires have to be derated?
2. Causes problems for 2 apartments if feeder for 1 apartment needs work?


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## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

Here is the only thing I found related to this but it clearly is not what the op is doing



> 210.25 Branch Circuits in Buildings with More Than One
> Occupancy.
> (A) Dwelling Unit Branch Circuits. Branch circuits in each
> dwelling unit shall supply only loads within that dwelling unit
> ...


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## ktny (Jan 21, 2020)

not sure if i am fully following what you are saying however the way it sounds to me is you want to run your air condenser circuit through the same raceway as service feeders coming from the meter to the panel, in which case no you can not run any fused branch circuits/feeders through any raceway sharing with service conductors unless somewhat of a divider is installed, which you can only really sometimes do that in a trough.


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## telsa (May 22, 2015)

Unnecessary complexity. Any time you cobble up something really unique -- you screw-over the next guy coming along. 

This notion is at the heart of EUSERC. So Cal Edison and PG&E finally had enough of 'clever' Services. They were killing IBEW members in their employ.

It's this reasoning that caused EUSERC to stop ungrounded Services -- unless their EEs agreed that circumstances demanded such. ( Paper mills, web-presses, various chemical plants.)

&&&&&&&&

Twenty-years ago, my employer came up with his idea of a really clever way to reduce raceway expense. He routed #4 feeders (12 conductors + 4 #6 bonding) through existing hot troughs -- then this then that -- boy, it looked good on paper// the CRT.

It was a nightmare. Four runs of 1" EMT to each RTU could've been cranked out in 1/3rd the time required for his genius. 

Clean means quick. 

Clever means quite the engineering budget... but no-one is paying you for it... the engineering, that is.

Then what happens when the AHJ finds that you missed something... that you have to rebuild it?

The statistics say that it's not worth it.


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## swimmer (Mar 19, 2011)

joebanana said:


> Is there an OCPD after the meter's? Or they 3 combo's?


 Each meter is followed by an OCPD in the meter panel enclosure.


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## CoolWill (Jan 5, 2019)

If everything is on the load side of each meter, I can't see a code reason why not. Somewhere there is a code against fused and unfused conductors together, but this ain't that. The utility likely has a spec forbidding metered and unmetered conductors sharing a raceway or trough, but this also ain't that.


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## CoolWill (Jan 5, 2019)

telsa said:


> Unnecessary complexity. Any time you cobble up something really unique -- you screw-over the next guy coming along.
> 
> This notion is at the heart of EUSERC. So Cal Edison and PG&E finally had enough of 'clever' Services. They were killing IBEW members in their employ.
> 
> ...


This also an "on-paper" flight of fancy. Yes, given perfect labor and environmental circumstances, running direct conduit will win. But down on Earth, sometimes we have to jump througb our own asses to get a single data cable to a modem or switch. It happens.


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