I've been spending my days in the bootheel region od Southern Missouri, and two recent events remind us of some of the assumptions we might make - to our own risk.
"Job Bismark," like the ship of the same name, needs to be sent to the bottom of the ocean. An 1840's hotel, the recently re-done service has NO main disconnect or overload devices. The owner / occupant / remodeler asserts that his area has no permit requirements, it passed inspection, the PoCo loves his arrangement and complimented him, that he has some engineer school, and all his engineer buddies have blessed his work. Huh?
Details? A pair of 320/400 amp meter heads outside. No disconnect at all. Each feeds an interior splice box, where it appears 2/0 wire is spliced to multiple #2's, to feed various sub-panels. There is NO overcurrent protection until you reach the main breaker (back fed, of course) at the sub-panel. Sub-panels are scattered about various locations of the building.
The second 'gremlin' I discovered when I was hanging a ceiling fan in a carport / patio that connected two buildings. Each building had it's own service, and was fed from different PoCo transformers. Yet, when I turned off the breaker in building 'A', the lights went out in building 'B'.
The lesson here is that you cannot rely upon even removing the meter to 'kill' ALL the power in a building. BTW, the fan circuit also ahd the neutral switched. (Gee those little volt 'tickers' sure are nice).
The moral to both these stories is: watch yourself. You simply cannot rely upon things having been done 'right,' despite whatever assertions have been made.
