electrical panel size?

[agr077]

Hi there,

First off, apologies if this post is in the wrong category.

I'm the process of making some decisions about the components that I need for a GEM in my house and in the process had a conversation with an electrician who I would use for the installation.

He raised an issue that I was surprised by given that I don't think I had seen it mentioned in any of the posts I have read on this forum.

The issue is with the size of my panel and that there would not be enough room inside for the CTs and wiring without exceeding the allowable capacity of 70%. He has suggested that my 200 amp Siemens panel would need to be switched out for a commercial panel tub with a 5 3/4 inch depth and 20 inch width. My current panel is roughly 12 inches wide I think. Picture is included in this post.

Is this assessment correct? What am I missing? What might he be missing?

[Teken]

I would ask him to site the NEC which he speaks of. I am not sure how this relates to adding CT's to monitor the circuit in the service panel.

I have never heard anyone speak about box fill in a service panel before. Does the service panel have a (spare) slot for the CT wires to exit?

If the answer is no, this may be what he is speaking about.

[agr077]

Forgot to mention that I am in Canada so NEC is not the code here. However, I would imagine the NEC and CEC are quite similar.

I don't think that he was referring for a slot for the wires to exit. He talked about the heat/temperature in the box.

[Teken]

Forgot to mention that I am in Canada so NEC is not the code here. However, I would imagine the NEC and CEC are quite similar.

I don't think that he was referring for a slot for the wires to exit. He talked about the heat/temperature in the box.

Not sure what your electrician is going on about. But, installing CT's in the service panel will have no impact to generated heat or otherwise.

As long as the CT's are properly routed, secured, and do not touch any exposed channels in the service panel. Along with exiting the panel with an approved grommet.

There are no issues in the CEC with respect to the Brultech GEM.

[ben]

I'll ask Paul about this tomorrow, did you happen to get a picture when the panel cover was removed?

Ben

[agr077]

No i did not.

[depasseg]

Has he seen the size of the CT's and wires? Is he talking about 70% of volume of the box? I can not imagine that being an issue, since your 40 amp panel is bigger than mine.

The only references I could find (google) to 70% were related to ampacity (current) in the panel.

[ben]

Has he seen the size of the CT's and wires? Is he talking about 70% of volume of the box? I can not imagine that being an issue, since your 40 amp panel is bigger than mine.

The only references I could find (google) to 70% were related to ampacity (current) in the panel.

With most installs, the CTs you'll be using throughout most of the breakers are these ones here:

http://www.brultech.com/home/store/prod ... product=45

If going with a higher accuracy, these ones:

http://www.brultech.com/home/store/prod ... roduct=115

Your electrician might be under the assumption that the size of the CTs are a lot bigger as a lot of our competitors use fairly large CTs.

Ben