# Single Gang to 5 Gang Meter Base



## Sutton88 (Mar 18, 2021)

I work primarily with commercial/industrial. I am in the process of upgrading a single meter base to a 5 gang for a 4 unit apartment building for family. As of right now the existing service goes into a basement panel and each apartment splits off from a 50 amp breaker. I will be running installing a 5 gang meter base, one for each unit and a house panel. Each meter will be going into a disconnect first, I want to get around having to run a new feed from the apartment panels to each disconnect and am wondering if I can use some sort of glorified marrett joint in the existing panel/a single panel to negate having a new feed or if I will have to have a sub panel for each.


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## LGLS (Nov 10, 2007)

From each new meter disconnect the cable can be spliced to the existing apartment feeder cable. Whether the existing panel is large enough to house all that (I assume you're going to gut it and turn it into a junction box) depends on it's cu.in. You could also pull the old feeders out of the existing panel and junction each individually in 4 11/16 boxes.


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## SWDweller (Dec 9, 2020)

Would it be out of the question to use a meter bank that has breakers in it? Or is there a reason for the disconnect? Meter packs

offered as a suggestion


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## Sutton88 (Mar 18, 2021)

LGLS said:


> From each new meter disconnect the cable can be spliced to the existing apartment feeder cable. Whether the existing panel is large enough to house all that (I assume you're going to gut it and turn it into a junction box) depends on it's cu.in. You could also pull the old feeders out of the existing panel and junction each individually in 4 11/16 boxes.


Thanks for the reply, I wasnt sure if I could gut the panel and use it that way or even if I could just marrett them like that in the same box


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## wiz1997 (Mar 30, 2021)

Did similar types of meter conversions when I first started out in the electrical trade back in the late 70's.
Often we would remove the existing panels guts and use it as a splice box.
Don't know if it was a code requirement or not but we had to screw the cover closed and label it so no one confused it for a breaker panel.


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## Sutton88 (Mar 18, 2021)

wiz1997 said:


> Did similar types of meter conversions when I first started out in the electrical trade back in the late 70's.
> Often we would remove the existing panels guts and use it as a splice box.
> Don't know if it was a code requirement or not but we had to screw the cover closed and label it so no one confused it for a breaker panel.


As far as I know here in Ontario you can't use a panel as a junction box like that. What did you do to splice, multi tap connector?


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## wiz1997 (Mar 30, 2021)

Sutton88 said:


> As far as I know here in Ontario you can't use a panel as a junction box like that. What did you do to splice, multi tap connector?


Once you take the guts out it is no longer a panel.
The covers had to be replaced and permanently labeled so they would not be confused as a panel.
Split bolts were used for the tap conductors.
Everything was designed by a company engineer and approved by the city engineers before any work began.
This was in 1978 and the meter conversions from a single meter loop and one breaker panel per building, to a meter loop and breaker panel per apartment, was just in its infancy, at least in Houston.
Every apartment complex presented its own challenges and some "on the fly" engineering.

Saw all kind of things while working in those occupied apartment complexes.
Is there an "R" rated section of this forum?


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## hornetd (Oct 30, 2014)

Sutton88 said:


> I work primarily with commercial/industrial. I am in the process of upgrading a single meter base to a 5 gang for a 4 unit apartment building for family. As of right now the existing service goes into a basement panel and each apartment splits off from a 50 amp breaker. I will be running installing a 5 gang meter base, one for each unit and a house panel. Each meter will be going into a disconnect first, I want to get around having to run a new feed from the apartment panels to each disconnect and am wondering if I can use some sort of glorified marrett joint in the existing panel/a single panel to negate having a new feed or if I will have to have a sub panel for each.


At one point I was on a team that was converting an apartment building with over 200 units to "Single out" the Meters. The Rental Housing Commission (RHC) had given a blanket exception to the rent control rules to encourage such conversions by ruling that the "Request For Supersedure" that the utility required from each lessee did not constitute a rent increase. Some Apartment Buildings cut the electrical consumption of the building literally in half. That wasn't the common result but even that a few had achieved that result impressed me. The average reduction in total consumption was around 20% and that is still a lot of power. From the landlords perspective it was a tremendous savings because all but ~5% of the electricity cost transferred to the tenants. Imagine the savings and the improvement to their bottom line. Through the wall heat pumps, supplied from the unit panels, were installed in each unit which also transferred the heating and cooling costs to the tenants. The landlords association justified the change in payee by showing the Commission video of the open apartment windows in the middle of winter when the landlord was paying the entire electrical bill. 

I did literally hundreds of meters worth of apartments during these projects. I don't know if it was the city or the power utility which required the use of non reversible splices for the feeders but someone did. Since the meters arrays replaced panels with feeder breakers in them we did have to extend a lot of feeders. The choices available to the contractors were non reversible connections or utility sealable enclosures from which the individual feeders had to originate. No common enclosures were allowed beyond utility controlled enclosures unless the spices were irreversible. Common enclosures and irreversible splices were much cheaper to do so all but one of the buildings had those. All of that was done during a bad slump in construction spending so I was dammed glad to have the work. 

Point is you need to ascertain what both the electrical utility service standard and the AHJ require for extending the feeders before you do it. You don't want to end up with the wrong equipment on the job because metering assemblies are done to order so any restocking charges may be quite steep.

-- 
Tom Horne


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