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Just a reminder to everyone: check your breaker panel occasionally. Mine looks bad!

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I thought the anti-oxidant was melted aluminum :redface:. But when I looked at the old breaker after he took it out of the panel I touched it and it was a black greasy mess, and he explained what it was (anti-oxidant). He did not put any anti-oxidant on the wires as he terminated them in the new breaker, not sure why. If you guys think I should I'll get him back out there and put some on. I thought it was just to prevent corrosion. He said it wasn't needed and I didn't question him.


I just remembered somebody asked about the load - was I running near the rated load.

No. I have a very small house (1500 sq ft) and the biggest loads are the heat and the Tesla charger when the car is drawing power. The heat draws maybe 10kw (I'm getting this from the energy monitor on the house which shows about 10kw when the heat is on). What does the Tesla draw (embarrassed I don't know)? I'm guessing 6-10 kw? So, there is no way I'm near 150 amp draw is there?? Add to that, I set the Tesla at 20 amps limited, so its not ever drawing its full 40 amps at 240V. I do this just from general fear of electricity, and thinking its slightly safer to draw less power over a longer period.

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You can do it, but keep in mind that it just adds another pair of connections which can go bad. So in a case like this you can work on your meter, but there's nothing to say that the same problem wouldn't happen in that disconnect box. You already have a disconnect at the entrance to the panel (the main breaker) which usually has some shielding around it to keep it separate from the other breakers, so it serves the same purpose as your disconnect. In most cases there's no point to installing an additional disconnect.

Yeah, the more I think about it the less I like it. More wiring, cost and more points of failure. Only advantage would be making the panel safe without having to call the utility and get the lock removed from the meter. Not enough advantage.
 
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.... Most new CO-AL rated terminations work fine without it, but a lot of electricians treat it anyway (belt and suspenders and all).
That new-fangled Cobalt-Aluminum wire, huh? Color me expensive!!!!!!!!!!!!!:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

Phrasing my question another way - have you ever seen silicone caulk daubed into a lug the way I'm describing?
 
I thought the anti-oxidant was melted aluminum :redface:. But when I looked at the old breaker after he took it out of the panel I touched it and it was a black greasy mess, and he explained what it was (anti-oxidant). He did not put any anti-oxidant on the wires as he terminated them in the new breaker, not sure why. If you guys think I should I'll get him back out there and put some on. I thought it was just to prevent corrosion. He said it wasn't needed and I didn't question him.

It's not required and unless the instructions specifically call for it, no need.

Yeah, the more I think about it the less I like it. More wiring, cost and more points of failure. Only advantage would be making the panel safe without having to call the utility and get the lock removed from the meter. Not enough advantage.

Typically this is done where there is a regulatory requirement. There will still be a pair of conductors that are going to be live constantly, and rarely do you need to mess with the upper portion of your main panel.

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That new-fangled Cobalt-Aluminum wire, huh? Color me expensive!!!!!!!!!!!!!:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

Phrasing my question another way - have you ever seen silicone caulk daubed into a lug the way I'm describing?

No, and I don't know why they would do it, other than perhaps to protect from an errant tool when someone works in the box.

As for CO/ALR:

In the late 1960s, a device specification known as CU/AL was created that specified standards for devices intended for use with aluminum wire. Because of more rigorous testing, larger undercut screw terminals were designed to hold the wire more suitably. Unfortunately, CU/AL switches and receptacles failed to work well enough with aluminum wire, and a new specification called CO/ALR (meaning copper-aluminum, revised) was created. These devices employ screw terminals that have even deeper undercuts and are designed to act as a similar metal to aluminum and to expand at a similar rate. CO/ALR applies only to standard light switches and receptacles; CU/AL is the standard marking for circuit breakers and larger equipment.

(From Wikipedia)
 
I was too scared to go near them and called an electrician. He wore thick rubber gloves and taped the ends of the cables while he was installing the new breaker. We didn't pull the meter, which you really SHOULD do. But to pull it you have to call the utility and wait a month for them to come out and remove the tag, then call them back and get them to come back. Huge PIA.
My house has a 200A feed from the pole to a dual-meter pan. There are two meters, one for the hot water heater and one for the rest of the house (PSNH offers/offered a discount rate for HW heating). The main meter feeds a 100A breaker in the main panel; the hot water meter feeds a separate small load center with a single 30A dual pole breaker that feeds the HW heater. Both cables from the meters are AL.

When we're gone for a while, I switch off the HW heater by turning off the breaker. One day, after getting back, I turned on the HW breaker. As I walked away, I heard a brief, faint "pffft". I walked back to the panels, and it was clearly coming from the HW breaker. I pulled the cover, and saw arcing behind the breaker, on the input side. I called an electrician to fix. They came, pulled the HW meter, cut off the stripped end of the cable, and re-terminated with a new box and breaker.

Anyway, they didn't seem to care about getting the PoCo involved. They pried open the seal, worked the wire free, and then shoved the wire back in the mangled seal when done. I thought it was a bit amusing.

PSNH (now EverSource) just replaced our decades old meters with new remote-read digital meters.* They didn't bother to put new seals on them.

* - This region-wide meter replacement was preceded with letter that said, essentially, "These are not smart meters! Don't panic! These are safe! We are just implementing remote reading technology!" I couldn't tell if I should laugh or cry at their perceived need to placate the tin-foil hat wearing "smart meters are evil" groupies, especially since, remote-reading means RF transmission, which seems to be the biggest fear.

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Bah, humbug. NEC authors fail their periodic table test. Ruins my little joke.
That's OK, we all got it!
 
Another stupid question: I have a solar panel system (26 panels 5.5 kw). They connected to my utility feed cables by basically driving a nail into them. Meaning the cables from my solar panel disconnect come into my main panel and are connected to the utility feed cables with a stab into the utility cables. I had been expecting this to be done with terminals. The stabbing just seems kind of primitive. Any idea if this is normal or they went cheap on me? I'll post a picture if its not clear, let me know.
 
Another stupid question: I have a solar panel system (26 panels 5.5 kw). They connected to my utility feed cables by basically driving a nail into them. Meaning the cables from my solar panel disconnect come into my main panel and are connected to the utility feed cables with a stab into the utility cables. I had been expecting this to be done with terminals. The stabbing just seems kind of primitive. Any idea if this is normal or they went cheap on me? I'll post a picture if its not clear, let me know.

Certainly sounds like an unusual situation. Would love pictures.

Solar installations are either backfed through a breaker or using tap connections on the supply side. Tap connections are supposed to be done using listed connectors.
 
tap connections are actually a thing for this?? wow... the breaker makes so much more sense!

Usually supply-side tap connections are made to avoid the 20% limit on panel backfeeding (to avoid oversubscribing the bus). A 200A panel would be limited to roughly a 10 kW PV system, then.

You can tap supply conductors for much larger systems (as long as they're protected with an appropriate breaker).
 
Here are pictures of the connections for the solar panels. Are these called "taps"? I was surprised when I saw them - I had assumed all wires would be connected on terminals, but then I'm not an electrician so if this is normal, I'm certainly ok with it. Its worked ok so far.
IMG_4230.JPG
IMG_4229.JPG
 
Yes - those are taps and are legal for that application (but not legal for all applications). The code requires that there be protection for the smaller conductor from that tap.