3 Attachment(s)
Adding a 3 Ganged Meter Socket
Hello
I have a 4 unit apartment building with 2 meter sockets and 2-150Amp breaker panels. The entire building is fed from these 2 meters and I would like to add a 3 gang meter socket and separate all the apartments and have one extra meter for Landlord use.
I checked with the power company and I was told I can simply leave what is already there and add the additional meter socket. My plan is to mount the proper sized conduit next to the existing conduit and bring one line down to the new 3 gang meter socket. From the bottom of this meter socket I would like to bring the 3 feeds out in one conduit into a trough and then from the trough go out to each individual breaker panel. The trough will have stubs coming out of the back into the area were the new panels will be mounted. I would like to just stub into the house and not run conduit all the way into the panels but am willing to do that if necessary. The Panels will either be 125amp or higher, which ever is cheaper since my local store is running a special on certain sized panels right now.
The panels will feed 1 apartment each and the apartments will have electric baseboard heat, 50amp ranged and various general outlets and lights.
I have several years experience as an electrical laborer and have no problem getting the equipment and installing everything. I am not very familiar with calculating loads, what and if you can de-rate anything, what size and what kind of wires I would need for the services I plan on installing.
I have included some pictures on the outside and inside as well as a drawing to help visualize what I would like to do. My questions would be:
1. What size and what kind of entrance wire do I need from the mast to the meter socket?
2. What size conduit do I need for the entrance line?
3. Can I run one piece of conduit from the meter to the trough since there will be 3 feeder lines going from the meter to the trough and then to the panel.
4. What size and what kind of wire would I need coming from the meter to the panels
5. Can I use the same ground wire and ground rods from the other panels, I just drove to new one 2 years ago and they are in good shape