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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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.
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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