# 800 amp residential service



## Dennis Alwon

Find out the size of the CT. I did a 600 amp service and took 3 raceways with 3/0 copper. I suspect you can probably install 4- 200 amp conductors in the CT. Otherwise set a trough.


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## wildleg

get ahold of your poco and get the blue book (or green book, orange book, whatever they call it). It will tell you exactly how you need to build the service so you don't make mistakes.


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## ohiosparky99

They may be able to set your ct's at the weather head and you might not need a actual Ct cabinet, the cheapest route will probably be the 800 disc and finding some sort of lugs or someway to get 4 conductors out per phase, the best way but much more expensive is a 800 amp gear with 4, 200 amp breakers


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## Cletis

*4*

I'd just set a CT then pipe out back of it with 4-2" conduits into 4 (or more) - 200 amp main breaker 42 space panels and call it a day


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## ohiosparky99

Cletis said:


> I'd just set a CT then pipe out back of it with 4-2" conduits into 4 (or more) - 200 amp main breaker 42 space panels and call it a day


That's a good idea as long as the panels can be put right behind the CT cabinet


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## Cletis

*Well,*



ohiosparky99 said:


> That's a good idea as long as the panels can be put right behind the CT cabinet


If not, i'd pipe outside to where they can pop in. Oh, and use these in CT


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## Techy

around here the local poco's never use CTs with lugs, only the donut pass through style.


no splices in the CT Cabinet


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## McClary’s Electrical

Cletis said:


> I'd just set a CT then pipe out back of it with 4-2" conduits into 4 (or more) - 200 amp main breaker 42 space panels and call it a day





ohiosparky99 said:


> That's a good idea as long as the panels can be put right behind the CT cabinet


 
Dominion will not let you exit out the back of a CT cabinet


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## ohiosparky99

I don't know where he's planning on placing the panels but maybe he can come out of the bottom and LB in or something of that manner


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## ohiosparky99

mcclary's electrical said:


> Dominion will not let you exit out the back of a CT cabinet


Looks very nice, did you use Polaris lugs in the wireway to feed the disconnects ??


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## McClary’s Electrical




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## Hairbone

goooch said:


> i am trying to figure out this super house which is gonna need an 800 amp service. being only residential i have never done a service this big. i think i may have an alright understanding of it but i was hoping to get some more insight. i know that there will be a ct can involved. the part im most concerned about is to feed my loadcenters do i attach a gutter or something to the ct? i cant really imagine having several conduits coming out of it to feed each panel. i know that i could also use an 800 amp panelboard to feed my loadcenters but i still would have to use several conduits or a gutter to feed that. any help or pictures would be much appreciated.


Sounds like a cool installation. This place sounds very large for a house and it sounds like it will have it's own zip code. Are we to assume this is single phase?? And will this place have a genset and how many panels in the house do you figure?


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## mbednarik

if it is a big enough house to require a 800 amp service, they can pay for a 800 amp panel.


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## goooch

wow thanks for the help guys. its actually a "downgrade" from his 13000 square ft house now to a 6000 square ft. its what hes got in it that is using all the power. his a/v guys are asking for a 200 amp panel to themselves! 300 4" can lights! and his landscape lighting requires 5 or 6 50 amp 240v circuits or something like that. plus a pool and several big out buildings and so on. anyways i did check the power companys specs which is puget sound energy if anybody is from western washington, and that tells me which size ct to use, i think it was 24x36x11 or something. but here is the other tricky part that i forgot to mention (cause i had to rush out to get some christmas gifts) but the ct is gonna be remote from where the panels are. obviously he doesnt want all that big ugly service gear on the front of his big expensive house. so i imagine i will have to come out of the ct to a disconnect to the panelboard or loadcenters? the conduits will have to be run through the house somehow if he wants to keep pipes off of the side of the house. anyways this is all very interesting to me cause ive never done anything like it but frustrating at the same time for the same reason.


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## mbednarik

stub the pipes under slab. You are not inside the house until you come through the slab. Just keep in mind multiple disconnects will have to be grouped. otherwise a disconnect or panel.


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## goooch

mbednarik said:


> stub the pipes under slab. You are not inside the house until you come through the slab. Just keep in mind multiple disconnects will have to be grouped. otherwise a disconnect or panel.


i wish. a little late for that since the house is built and plumbers are in it now. thanks for the heads up guys.


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## sbrn33

Set a nice little I-line panel and feed your subs from there. Makes for a nice job. Make your supply house quote it and it will surprise you how cheap it is


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## electro916

sbrn33 said:


> Set a nice little I-line panel and feed your subs from there. Makes for a nice job. Make your supply house quote it and it will surprise you how cheap it is


If you do that order the panel full of breakers and pull the spares out and keep for stock.......you would be suprised on the deal you can get on a whole I line package........even if I need a few breakers for a job I get a better price when I order the tub, guts, and cover too....I must have 3 extra I line panels laying around.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Electrician Talk


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## Magnettica

goooch said:


> wow thanks for the help guys. its actually a "downgrade" from his 13000 square ft house now to a 6000 square ft. its what hes got in it that is using all the power. his a/v guys are asking for a 200 amp panel to themselves! 300 4" can lights! and his landscape lighting requires 5 or 6 50 amp 240v circuits or something like that. plus a pool and several big out buildings and so on. anyways i did check the power companys specs which is puget sound energy if anybody is from western washington, and that tells me which size ct to use, i think it was 24x36x11 or something. but here is the other tricky part that i forgot to mention (cause i had to rush out to get some christmas gifts) but the ct is gonna be remote from where the panels are. obviously he doesnt want all that big ugly service gear on the front of his big expensive house. so i imagine i will have to come out of the ct to a disconnect to the panelboard or loadcenters? the conduits will have to be run through the house somehow if he wants to keep pipes off of the side of the house. anyways this is all very interesting to me cause ive never done anything like it but frustrating at the same time for the same reason.



Hey Gooch... get us some pictures. :thumbsup:


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## joethemechanic

mcclary's electrical said:


> Dominion will not let you exit out the back of a CT cabinet


Who is the old guy standing next to the CTs in the top picture?


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## BEAMEUP

Hi Goooch, Welcome to the board  Glad to see A fellow PNW'er on here. Can you have the Artichoke design a dog house for the CT can somewhere? I would submit and RFI along with the POCO requirements to him/ her and see if they will go for it. It would save you some headaches if you didn't have to remote the CT's somewhere. 

Where is this house located?


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## mikeg_05

goooch said:


> wow thanks for the help guys. its actually a "downgrade" from his 13000 square ft house now to a 6000 square ft. its what hes got in it that is using all the power. his a/v guys are asking for a 200 amp panel to themselves! 300 4" can lights! and his landscape lighting requires 5 or 6 50 amp 240v circuits or something like that. plus a pool and several big out buildings and so on. anyways i did check the power companys specs which is puget sound energy if anybody is from western washington, and that tells me which size ct to use, i think it was 24x36x11 or something. but here is the other tricky part that i forgot to mention (cause i had to rush out to get some christmas gifts) but the ct is gonna be remote from where the panels are. obviously he doesnt want all that big ugly service gear on the front of his big expensive house. so i imagine i will have to come out of the ct to a disconnect to the panelboard or loadcenters? the conduits will have to be run through the house somehow if he wants to keep pipes off of the side of the house. anyways this is all very interesting to me cause ive never done anything like it but frustrating at the same time for the same reason.


Where in Washington is this? sounds like quite the project


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## Bkessler

mikeg_05 said:


> Where in Washington is this? sounds like quite the project


It's actually just a chicken coop in the back of Bill Gates property..


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## Wired4Life10

200A for the A/V? Good Lord! Sounds like the one I saw for one of the collegiate basketball coaches in the southeast. He had 21 TV's in his basement, a grid of 9 TV's in his upstairs, 5 behind his bar in the basement, a full 7.1 surround upstairs and downstairs along with whole house audio, network streaming content, and Lutron sensors in every room controlled from a URC remote...


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## noarcflash

single phase or 208Y ?

I'd do a 208Y.


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## acro

Sounds cool. Post some pics if you can


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## kub

I've done quite a few 6 and 800 amp services in houses. We always used an I-line panel and were all back to back with the ct cabinet in the garages. I suggest get the iline loaded cheaper that way. The one 800a I did was 208y and the ho purchased his own pad mount transformer and hired a company to run pipe for a primary underground across the street (cheaper than having the poco do it). All commercial bolt on panels were used cause the EE that drew the plans apparently didn't realize this was a residence and the ahj held us to it.


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## ray smith

Goooch,How did your 800 amp service go? I've got pretty much the same situation and looking at using an all-in one(swichgear, ct can, meter) from i-line(not to mention names)with no main breaker but one 400 a bkr and two 200amp bkrs feeding sub panels inside. Any advice or suggestions? Thanks,Ray


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## donselec

tell me that condenser is not staying there...


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## fastrack

*800 amp house service*



sbrn33 said:


> Set a nice little I-line panel and feed your subs from there. Makes for a nice job. Make your supply house quote it and it will surprise you how cheap it is


You got it! CT cabinet to Square d I- Line panel. Have 4-200amp mains installed at factory. Feed from I-Line to 4 subpanels located near heaviest loads. Caution!! Contact Power Co. and get the available fault current so you order the correct KAIC I-Line breakers.:thumbup:


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## papaotis

fasttrack, youre about 3 years too late!:laughing:


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## EPERINO

*600 amoere service*

Here are some photos of a 600 ampere residential service we just did. It has a CT cabinet and safety switch that sits 150 feet from the house. In the house is a 600 ampere distribution panel that feeds 7 200 ampere panels located in three electric rooms.


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## Meadow

Now thats what I call eye candy :thumbup:


Just wondering, what size is the MBJ in the disco?


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## Azspark

Awesome pictures!!! Would love to work on a project like that.


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## backstay

Here is a 800 amp RV park service. Underground feed is 4 runs of 250 AL from the ground tranny. I put gutters on each side of the CT cabinet to feed six, two amp load centers with feed tru lugs. It only has two mounted so far.


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## JPRO2

backstay said:


> Here is a 800 amp RV park service. Underground feed is 4 runs of 250 AL from the ground tranny. I put gutters on each side of the CT cabinet to feed six, two amp load centers with feed tru lugs. It only has two mounted so far.



Very nice, way nicer then the Rv park I work at frequently due to overloading. The one I service has 200a services scattered all over the place with way to many sites per service.

How many sites does that 800 amp run?


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## backstay

JPRO2 said:


> Very nice, way nicer then the Rv park I work at frequently due to overloading. The one I service has 200a services scattered all over the place with way to many sites per service.
> 
> How many sites does that 800 amp run?


They say 40 at some point. That's what their sewer permit is. I think 48 would be the max. 8 off of each 200 amp panel(there are 6) 8 sites x 9600va / 240 volts x .55 demand is 176 amps. It's a single phase service.


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## JPRO2

That is way better then what I have to work with this place is pushing 18 sites off of one single phase 125a disconnect. 

I put my clamp Meter on one phase and it was drawing 121 amps hence constantly tripping the breaker.


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## backstay

JPRO2 said:


> That is way better then what I have to work with this place is pushing 18 sites off of one single phase 125a disconnect.
> 
> I put my clamp Meter on one phase and it was drawing 121 amps hence constantly tripping the breaker.


This is a new park. I got to install it the way I wanted, except for the main disco. But the 6, two hundred amp MB panels work.


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## moviensongs1

goooch said:


> i am trying to figure out this super house which is gonna need an 800 amp service. being only residential i have never done a service this big. i think i may have an alright understanding of it but i was hoping to get some more insight. i know that there will be a ct can involved. the part im most concerned about is to feed my loadcenters do i attach a gutter or something to the ct? i cant really imagine having several conduits coming out of it to feed each panel. i know that i could also use an 800 amp panelboard to feed my loadcenters but i still would have to use several conduits or a gutter to feed that. any help or pictures would be much appreciated.


Hi, it is too old post, but I am in the similar situation 800amp service and four-200amp main CB panels inside garage. Service provider is going to take care of the pad mounted high voltage transformer that sit in the front yard. Need to lay underground lines for 800amp service from pad mounted transformer to side wall of garage, meter box at outside wall of the garage, 4-200amp main CB panels inside wall of garage. Can we connect all four 200amp CB panels to meter box directly, if required with some sort of lugs? Appreciate if anyone quickly share list of of equipment, and/or pictures. Thanks.


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## John Valdes

moviensongs1 said:


> Hi, it is too old post, but I am in the similar situation 800amp service and four-200amp main CB panels inside garage. Service provider is going to take care of the pad mounted high voltage transformer that sit in the front yard. Need to lay underground lines for 800amp service from pad mounted transformer to side wall of garage, meter box at outside wall of the garage, 4-200amp main CB panels inside wall of garage. Can we connect all four 200amp CB panels to meter box directly, if required with some sort of lugs? Appreciate if anyone quickly share list of of equipment, and/or pictures. Thanks.


Who's Allowed to Join ElectricianTalk.com


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## backstay

moviensongs1 said:


> Hi, it is too old post, but I am in the similar situation 800amp service and four-200amp main CB panels inside garage. Service provider is going to take care of the pad mounted high voltage transformer that sit in the front yard. Need to lay underground lines for 800amp service from pad mounted transformer to side wall of garage, meter box at outside wall of the garage, 4-200amp main CB panels inside wall of garage. Can we connect all four 200amp CB panels to meter box directly, if required with some sort of lugs? Appreciate if anyone quickly share list of of equipment, and/or pictures. Thanks.


Did you go through each post on this thread? I think the answers are all there.


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## mbednarik

Yes you can, but keep in mind you have to have exterior disconnects now. So you would need 4 exterior 200 amp panels and then sub panels inside.


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## Dennis Alwon

I hope it is a CT cabinet and not a meter base. There is only one 600 amp meter base that I have seen where the service conductors entered directly and it was made especially for a particular power company. There are small CT's inside the box


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## moviensongs1

Thanks everyone for quick reply. I only have experience with 200amp so far, never did 800amp. Finding single phase 800amp meter base is going to be an issue, let me talk to service provider and see.


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## Dennis Alwon

moviensongs1 said:


> Thanks everyone for quick reply. I only have experience with 200amp so far, never did 800amp. Finding single phase 800amp meter base is going to be an issue, let me talk to service provider and see.


There is no such thing. You need to get a ct cabinet--- yes you will have to talk to your power company.


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## oldsparky52

moviensongs1 said:


> Thanks everyone for quick reply. I only have experience with 200amp so far, never did 800amp. Finding single phase 800amp meter base is going to be an issue, let me talk to service provider and see.


How long have you been doing electrical work?


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## Majewski

This makes me giggle


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## Majewski

oldsparky52 said:


> How long have you been doing electrical work?


Oh they just started but dont worry, they stayed in a holiday inn last night


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## hornetd

Cletis said:


> *4*
> 
> I'd just set a CT then pipe out back of it with 4-2" conduits into 4 (or more) - 200 amp main breaker 42 space panels and call it a day


Some electrical utilities will not except any raceway connected to the back wall of a metering enclosure. They fear that would prevent immediate visual evidence of any attempt to bypass the metering. I've run into that several times. It can be in a local amendment to the National Electric Code (NEC) but is more often found in the POCO service standard. 

Be aware that if that is the case and it will markedly increases the cost of your job you may want to seek a ruling from whatever your State's utility regulating authority. It is sometimes true that utilities will add requirements to their service standard that have not been approved, as required by law or regulation pursuant to enabling legislation in most States, and a desist order is easily obtained because bureaucracies do not tolerate being ignored and will overrule any utility that does so just to make that point. No approval means it is not a service standard. No electrical utility, except perhaps the Tennessee Valley Authority is a law unto itself. All service standards must pass through a regulatory review process unless it is publicly owned and has been granted legislative authority pursuant to federal or state law. 

Yes you do have to judge whether the additional cost of an appeal and/or the resultant delay is worth the outcome you seek. 

-- 
Tom Horne


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## hornetd

I quoted the wrong posting.


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## hornetd

McClary’s Electrical said:


>


How is it that the enclosures tucked in behind that air conditioning compressor unit comply with the requirement for 36 inch deep working space in front of panels,switches...?

Tom Horne


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