Apartment building with meter stack, Each meter has Main to feed each apartment. I feel main is Not required in each apartment . Your comments Please.
Yoopersup

That's how it's done all the time for condos around here, then just pull 4-wire to each unit.
one large main for the entire stack and the individual units mains all grouped and accessible at the outside the building.

As long as the disconnect for each apartment is accessible to each tenant, I don't see a problem but if this is locked up and they don't have a key, it would be troubling to me.

Most Apartments I ran into most useally have main breaker right below or next to the meter socket however you have to watch out the numbers of meters if more than 6 then you must installed a master or super main breaker / fuse before meter stacks or meter bank.

Once you have main breaker at the meter location and run 4 conductor to the apartment load center you don't need the main breaker at that location unless you got riser system now that is diffrent game to deal with it.

Merci,Marc

Yeah Greg,
I would certainly have mis-givings about a situation like that as well.
See, over here a Main switch is defined as the switch that gives a consumer the greatest degree of control over the supply to their installation.

Now, if you need to have to switch your power off in a hurry, you don't really want to be looking around for the main switch and most non-electrical people would in fact assume that it was in the panel in their apartment, that could end in tears.

I've always been of the idea that the main switch should be installed in the same "building compartment" as the actual installation.
I mean, if you had a house, you wouldn't put your main switch out on the front fence, would you? (or would you??)


Just my $0.02 worth

If it came in on wheels you would. (a post next to the home)

The condo I had on the beach in Pinellas County had all the meters and disconnects in the laundry room with MLO panels in each unit. They decided the laundry room would be locked overnight but I pointed out that each tenant needed a key so they could get to the disco, unless the management had someone on site and available 24 hours a day. Originally they thought that would be OK because there was a rule against "night laundry" and this would be a way to enforce it.

Our NEC only requires the branch circuit breakers be accessible to the occupants. Nothing is said about the mains.

Indeed. we commonly mount the main on the outside of the building, with the branch circuit panel inside. In apartment complexes, the main breakers and electric meters are often locked up, inaccessible to the tenants at all. Meter readers and firemen have 'key boxes' that let them have access at will.

Another common scenario, expecially in commercial locations, is for the main to literally be padlocked in the "power on" position. many of these locks are so rusty, I doubt they would open, even if a key could be found.

I don't see the issue; the tenant / occupant can kill everything but the panel feed from the panel.

Thank you, Greg, for the citation.

My 99 NEC has the same requirement. Yet, considering the rarity of this ability in the places I work on, I wonder: When was this added?

It said the same thing in 1975, my oldest book

From 1965 NEC....

230-75
Multiple occupancy.
In multiple occupancy building, each occupant shall have access to his disconecting means. A multiple occupancy building having individual occupancy above the second floor shall have service equipment grouped in a common accessable place, the disconnecting means consisting of not more than six switches or six circuit breakers. Multiple occupancy buildings that do not have individual occupancy above the second floor may have service conductors run to each occupancy in accordance with 230-2, Exception # 3 and each such service may have not more than six switches or circuit breakers.

230-72 in '65 is 'Connections to Terminals'

Oldest NEC in possesion

Look at this from a practical sense. You show up to a condo, doing a panel swap out and the manager with the key is nowhere to be found right then.
Do you want to work that feeder hot?
Does the customer want to pay your hourly rate while they try to find him?
Do you want to push your whole schedule down a day while you wait?

Greg:
Yes I remember a few times that I, or one of my teams had to wait for the 'Key Man'.

This is most illuminating.

Looking back, all of the places where I recall NOT having access to the main disconnect - the unit panels didn't even have main breakers - all date from the early 60's.

Let's see if we can backtrack this one a bit more ....

230.72(C) states that in a multi-occupantcy building the occupants required to have access to their service disconnect. Granted it is not black and white but the building main would not be consided the occupants main so in a round about way, I would say the NEC does require a seperate diconnect per unit.

I agree. I'm just confused by all the places I've seen that lack such an accessible disconnect. That's why I'd love to get a date on this requirement.

The 1947 NEC has 2371(c) that addresses "More than 1 building under single management", and states that the disconnects must be "accessible to the occupants of the building served".

I've got a '30's something NEC (lacking the front cover), that doesn't require the same.

I think the AHJs have a lot of flexibility on what "accessible" means. They may be saying that is long as you don't have to disturb the building finish it is accessible.
I would say if you have to "jimmy" the lock to get in the mechanical room you have disturbed the finish