ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area service entrance cable length

What is the required length of the service entrance cable into a dwelling?

What code?

there is no required length according to the NEC

I would check with the local AHJ to see what there codes are

All the way from the service point to the service disconnecting means.

Sorry..


Are you are asking how far inside the building we can run SE cable inside a building?

There is no answer, it is up to your local AHJ.

Here is the NEC 2002 section for you.


You local AHJ gets to decide how 'far' "nearest the point of entrance" can be.

Bob

In addition to the AHJ, quite often the PoCo has some standards, as well. They are concerned not only about the potential hazards of unfused conductors inside the building, but in the case of any wiring before the meter, the ease of hiding power theft, as well.

Theres another one of those 'area' differences.

Here in MA the POCO does not have any rules on this.

They tell us where the meter will be but nothing about the service disconnect location.

Here in NJ we have 5 power companies and each has it's own rules, in my location it is not more then 2ft.

In our area the rule of thumb is 2 ft. Sometimes we have a prob and have been given the ok for 3 or 4. I once got permission to have 5' inside but the AHJ made it clear that they were only granting this permission because the panels (it was actually 20 townhouses in a row, all identical) were in rooms that were separated from the main house by 4 masonry walls, concrete floor and fire rated ceiling (furnace was in the room also).

you must hit your panel within 5' upon entering your building, here in ny

thanks yall

Just did demo on a grocery store here in SoCal, had a 2000 amp service with UG feed into the pull section. They continued the service conductors up through the pull section and into Rigid conduit that fed up to another 2000 amp service on the 2nd floor which is the service with the meter/main. From the meter main it was bussed to separate sections that then dropped down to sections in the original gear.

Was the strangest setup and I can't imagine someone setting 2000A gear without inspections. But I don't see how this didn’t violate 230.70, guess the code should be more specific