Quote:
Originally Posted by winni83
I frankly have no idea as to why the main breaker is at the meter box, but I can tell you with certainty that if the main breaker is turned off, the whole house generator immediately comes on and supplies power to the entire house. It may have something to do with having a long distance between the meter box, where power enters the house and the location of the circuit breaker box, which in my case is quite a distance.
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Here is a copy and paste from an electrical DIY forum on this topic. The National Electrical Code (NEC) requires the main panel to be as close as possible to the meter and depending where you live it varies how far away it can be.
"The panel (aka the "service disconnecting means" on a main breaker panel) must be located immediately at the nearest point of entrance of the service conductors. See 230.70(A)(1). If you wish to locate the panel elsewhere, then you'll simply need to install a main breaker disconnect at the service entrance (inside or out).
The concern is not the FD. It's a safety issue long before the FD could ever get there. Electricity moves a little faster than firemen. The cable is "unprotected" until it hits the main breaker. The only protection upstream is the utility transformer primary fuse, and it can take a while a blow. If there were an internal short in the service cable inside the house (fire, lighting, screw, nail, rodent, etc...) then it would sit and burn until the utility fuse blows or the power is cut.
I have seen houses burn because this very scenario."