400 amp main

[Sean Fogarty]

Had a 400 amp outside fpe main shut off feeding 5 other main breakers that then fed 5 sub panels.

All wires were tied and taped togeather in a gutter before the wiring fed each individual main shut off.

Help!!!

The house also had two very old stablock panels. I have never seen ones this old before, house built in the 50s. NO heat and very clean panels for their age.

[Robert Meier]

So do you have some specific questions? How many condcutors were under one of those big taped up monstrosities?

[Sean Fogarty]

Originally Posted by Robert Meier

So do you have some specific questions? How many condcutors were under one of those big taped up monstrosities?

Several. I would say 5 or 6 for each leg.

That was my main concern. Is this kosher? The other was mainly all the single mains feeding the subs. Overall the panels themselves were clean but due to age of the wires and panels many lacked modern safety and wiring practices.

[Sean Fogarty]

other was the fpe panels. These were older than what I am used to seeing. Did they have the same problematic issues as the colorful red ones?

[Robert Meier]

Well if those are sub-panels then the neutrals and EGC's need to be on separate buses. Typically if those are split bolt connectors they're only listed for two conductors, not 5 or 6. I'm not sure about those CB's as to whether or not they're a known problem. The GEC should be at the 400 amp switch or somewhere up stream of that. The bonding jumper should be in the 400 amp switch.

[Sean Fogarty]

Originally Posted by Robert Meier

Well if those are sub-panels then the neutrals and EGC's need to be on separate buses. Typically if those are split bolt connectors they're only listed for two conductors, not 5 or 6. I'm not sure about those CB's as to whether or not they're a known problem. The GEC should be at the 400 amp switch or somewhere up stream of that. The bonding jumper should be in the 400 amp switch.

No bonding jumper. They just ran the wires into the gutter and connected about 5 to them each. Then to their respected boxes.

I know so many things either wrong or aged you dont know where to begin. I pulled the grounding wire from the 400 main out of the gorund. It was stuck in about 3 inches.

What should I say, start over??

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Based on what I see, I'd say everything in your first picture is service equipment. The 400A breaker is the service disconnect. The other breakers are OCPD's for the load-side equipment, but are still part of the service equipment.

5 or 6 conductors under a split-bolt is excessive. I don't know of any connector that would properly accommodate that many ungrounded conductors for a "splice."

The breakers are Stab-loks. No different than the red ones, just older.

In your last picture (the sub panel), as Robert stated, the EGC's need to be removed from the neutral terminal and bonded to the panel, while the neutrals remain isolated.

[Sean Fogarty]

Thanks Jeff.
Long night and longer inspection. My mind was fried and had to pick up this morning.

Yes, due to the age of the home there was a ton of grounding and bonding issues, but they just didnt do wiring the same then.

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Originally Posted by sfogarty

they just didnt do wiring the same then.

True, but the principles of electricity were the same.