Hello August and William,

One of my concerns is that the "electrician" that my client has said that is prepared to install a sub-meter on the source side of this sub-panel is prepared to do the work without pulling a permit or worse yet is unlicensed.

Rather than confront the "electrician", I hoped to get enough ammunition to convince my client that it is in his best interest 

(1) To replace the current panel with a 3R-rated 200 Amp 240/120 V panel + meter 

(2) To have a permit pulled with the County B&S Department and the work inspected afterwards

- Peter
On 11/11/2021 3:24 PM August Goers <aug...@luminalt.com> wrote:


Hi Peter - The cost for new equipment is a drop in the bucket compared to labor and just getting it right so it passes inspection. There's not much you can do if the front cover is missing and it looks like an indoor panel located in an outdoor location. Maybe you don't need an inspection? Even then, typically messing around with old equipment, finding breakers, etc, can easily negate the cost of just starting with new equipment. It may depend on how easy it would be to remove the old panel and install a new one.

A decent outdoor panel with likely required main breaker (per NEC 225.31 unless you meet 225.33) is less than $200:


I'm not sure about the sub-meter you're referring to - that's likely to add cost. Is that to meter the potential tenants in the RVs and mobile home? That gets a little complicated when you add solar.

August
Luminalt


On Thu, Nov 11, 2021 at 1:51 PM peter...@pobox.com <peter.parr...@calsolareng.com> wrote:
I have a long time customer who is looking to add a ground mount PV system ~5,500 Wdc to an existing roof mount system (also ~5,500 Wdc) which is tied into his main panel. 

He wants the new system to tie into a 150A 240/120 sub panel at his barn. He has two RVs and a mobile home used by ranch hands that are serviced by the sub-panel. He has lost the dead front, and I am not not sure the panel is even rated for outdoors. The label on the subpanel says

Underwriters Laboratory Inc. - Class 075 (?) - 0373 - P-150
CAT NO. TM1612RH Mod. 4
For use with TM1612RH OR TM1615RH 
Interior 150 AMP MAX

I have told client that he should scrap the sub-panel and put in a new 200 A sub-panel employing a sub-meter to boot.

I am getting push back and if these weren't long time customers, I'd walk away from this project.

If I told him that the subpanel is not NOT RATED for outdoor use and he needed to find another dead front (which may be difficult to do), he may see wisdom of scrapping everything and starting from scratch.

I do not see a NEMA 3R listing on the label, in fact the word "indoor" is located in the middle right hand side of the label.

Any thoughts?

I can provide photos of the sub-panel and the label -- if you provide me with an email address --  if that might help.

- Peter

Peter T. Parrish, Ph.D.

President, California Solar Engineering
1107 Fair Oaks Blvd Ste. 351
South Pasadena, CA 91030
(323) 839-6108


Peter T. Parrish, Ph.D.
President, SolarGnosis
1107 Fair Oaks Blvd Ste. 351
South Pasadena, CA 91030
(323) 839-6108

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_______________________________________________ List sponsored by Redwood Alliance Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Change listserver email address & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the other: https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/ http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out or update participant bios: http://www.members.re-wrenches.org

Peter T. Parrish, Ph.D.
President, SolarGnosis
1107 Fair Oaks Blvd Ste. 351
South Pasadena, CA 91030
(323) 839-6108

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