Torbero
New Member
This may seem a little odd. I am in the process of building a small home in a resort town in Mexico. The customer, in this case me, is required to provide all equipment and wiring up to service mast.
Let me be clear that I'm not an electrician but have done many panel upgrades and wiring installations in California, mostly for friends, and I do have a general contractors license.
Here is where I'm stumped. The electric company requires 6AWG for the wire to the mast to connect to the overhead utility lines. Based on my load, I'm installing a 150 amp breaker for the service disconnect to the house panel with 1AWG wire. At least that's the plan.
While is common practice in Mexico to use 6 or even 8 AWG to connect to the overhead utility lines, will that wire provide enough amps to supply the 150 amp breaker? How do they get away with that size wire without causing amperage issues? I'm sure it does as this is their practice, but I just wanted to know the technical reasons.
Another questions would be; if I decide to bypass using a service disconnect and install a main breaker panel inside the house (about 15 or so feet away from the meter base), do I need a separate grounding rod? And do I still need to bond the Main panel? Kept in mind that they also required that a grounding rod is install by the meter base and the ground wire connect directly to the meter base on the 5 jaw, which is attached to to neutral.
I appreciate everyone that responds taking your time to answer what I hope may be simple answers.
Let me be clear that I'm not an electrician but have done many panel upgrades and wiring installations in California, mostly for friends, and I do have a general contractors license.
Here is where I'm stumped. The electric company requires 6AWG for the wire to the mast to connect to the overhead utility lines. Based on my load, I'm installing a 150 amp breaker for the service disconnect to the house panel with 1AWG wire. At least that's the plan.
While is common practice in Mexico to use 6 or even 8 AWG to connect to the overhead utility lines, will that wire provide enough amps to supply the 150 amp breaker? How do they get away with that size wire without causing amperage issues? I'm sure it does as this is their practice, but I just wanted to know the technical reasons.
Another questions would be; if I decide to bypass using a service disconnect and install a main breaker panel inside the house (about 15 or so feet away from the meter base), do I need a separate grounding rod? And do I still need to bond the Main panel? Kept in mind that they also required that a grounding rod is install by the meter base and the ground wire connect directly to the meter base on the 5 jaw, which is attached to to neutral.
I appreciate everyone that responds taking your time to answer what I hope may be simple answers.