MEP Sizing Help

[GREENMV]

15Kw 240/60/1 would be great if you could find one? No such Military Beast without Mod. If they made one I would defiantly get It. 10Kw Is fine watching Load.

 

[eatont9999]

I am guessing that a 15kw will be better suited. By his description it sounds like an older all electric home, and my guess is an older well motor with no soft start ability so the well by itself pegs a needle about 4k on a start. I think he would be gobbling up a 10k and running the chance of kicking the overloads. Only way to know is to get a clamp over amp gauge, and set it to peak hold, and just run the casa a couple days

I think the clamp over amp gauge will be the best way to see what kind of load I am looking at. I'm glad you mentioned it because I was thinking about doing just that but I was not sure it would work. I will see what Amazon has to offer in the line of clamp meters. Any precautions I should take while getting so close to the main line? That much power makes me nervous.

The house was built in the early 70's. I doubt many electrical items are original but there's no telling until I can inspect each one.

 

[Dwnorton1]

My suggestion is if you a wary of the line side feeders, call your utility or an electrician friend. Respect for arc flash is of upmost importance. People are afraid of being shocked, when in reality arc flash is likely a more serious issue.

 

[eatont9999]

What if I just put the ammeter around the conduit at the power meter outside the house? Opening the breaker box is my last resort.

 

[Dwnorton1]

On a 240vac feed you will have to put amp clamp around each 120vac leg of feed to get amp readings. No way to avoid distribution box.

 

[Guyfang]

My suggestion is if you a wary of the line side feeders, call your utility or an electrician friend. Respect for arc flash is of upmost importance. People are afraid of being shocked, when in reality arc flash is likely a more serious issue.

Yes, the flash is way more dangerous. I had first and second degree burns on my hands, trying to remove a cable I thought was no longer powered up. Lost a little hair around my hat too!!!!!!! It brought new meaning to the statement, "a significant emotional experience".

Having said that, I don't think you need to worry. Just watch what you are doing, and KEEP YOUR LEFT HAND IN YOUR POCKET. If possible.

 

[csheath]

Harbor Freight sells an inexpensive 7 function Clamp-On Digital Multimeter for $16.99 that has a peak hold function. They also have two others that do not have the peak hold function so make sure and get the 7 function model if you go that route. The one I bought read about 4 amps low compared to a high dollar Fluke. Ironically the Fluke did not have a peak hold function so buying an expensive brand name meter doesn't guarantee it will do what you need.

As long as you are careful and don't do something stupid like stick a pair of uninsulated pliers on a connector or something you should be fine. We had a guy at work create an arc flash pulling a fuse with a pair of channel lock pliers. Everybody had to endure arc flash training every 3 years after that.

 

[csheath]

If you are wanting uninterrupted service during an outage just look at the main breaker in your panel. You most likely have a 200 amp panel so a 48KW single phase generator would fix you up. Hardy Diesel Generators sells a 40KW Perkins for $13,423 and a 55KW unit for $14,100. I don't see enclosures listed for those so that would probably be extra. Might as well go with professional installation and auto change over switch which would cost another grand or so. I would venture to guess the total would come in around $18,000 for fuel tank and all. This is what we would ALL like to have but in reality cannot justify the expense.

I have a small 1200 sq ft home with a 200 amp panel. It is all electric and has a 3.5 ton heat pump ac unit, a 1.5 HP well motor, 50 gal hot water heater with 2 4500 watt elements, range has a 50 amp breaker and dryer is on a 30 amp. I can run anything I need when I need to with my 803A but would not attempt to leave all breakers on at once. When I start my generator I usually turn all the double pole breakers off then take turns using the utility I need. I tend to leave the well on with any one of the other double pole breakers except the water heater. When I heat water I will turn all other double pole breakers off as the 9KW it consumes is near the max for the 803. The upside is it only takes about an hour to heat the water and it will last my wife and I all day and into the night. If we have an outage lasting for days I will heat the water first thing in the morning then turn the water heater back off and the well back on. Make sure you do not use any water while the water heater is on and the well is off.

 

[jimbo913]

I have a Geospring hot water heater and leave it on all the time in heatpump mode. Runs on 500w after the initiation sequence, which fires the 5500w resistance heating elements to verify they are working. It only take a couple minutes to run the sequence, so I turn that breaker on first before the others.
I bought the geospring to save on electric costs and so I could run the house on my 5000w Yanmar diesel genset, but I learned the hard way about the startup sequence wattage requirements and thats when I upgraded to the 803.

 

[155mm]

15Kw 240/60/1 would be great if you could find one? No such Military Beast without Mod. If they made one I would defiantly get It. 10Kw Is fine watching Load.

This one isnt a 15kw, but it was military.

csheath, is this what you were looking for? it is in an enclosure, the enclosure is an old minute man missle control box.





This is will be my backup when it gets all wired up. We would have used it for a snow storm but I only had the cable in the ground and not tied in to genny.

 

[csheath]

This one isnt a 15kw, but it was military.

csheath, is this what you were looking for? it is in an enclosure, the enclosure is an old minute man missle control box.

View attachment 683163

View attachment 683165

This is will be my backup when it gets all wired up. We would have used it for a snow storm but I only had the cable in the ground and not tied in to genny.

I saw a set similar to that a while back. I think it was 45kw single or 60kw 3 phase or something like that. It had a 4cyl turbo diesel. Went for about 2600. If I hadn't already bought the 803 and had it all sorted and connected I would have tried to buy it.

The enclosure I was referring to was for the perkins generators sold by Hardy. They price all their sets open and charge extra for enclosures.

 

[RetiredNavy]

If someone had a 804 genset and wanted to convert to single phase, sewerzuk has videos on how to do it. He goes step by step. 15K should be plenty to take care of the creature comforts.

 

[155mm]

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[155mm]

If someone had a 804 genset and wanted to convert to single phase, sewerzuk has videos on how to do it. He goes step by step. 15K should be plenty to take care of the creature comforts.

I dont think that mod will work on an 804, they are only 10 wire generators, must use an 004, its a 12 wire head

 

[98G]

I dont think that mod will work on an 804, they are only 10 wire generators, must use an 004, its a 12 wire head

Dave, you are correct.

The 004 single phase conversion won't work on an 804. It's been tried...

 

[98G]

But what's to stop you from dividing up your house and using 2 separate MEP803's, each with their own circuits?

 

[Dwnorton1]

3 phase does not have to be feared. It is actually more efficient. Just planning to balance loads and a 3 phase distribution. Power your house from A&B phase and run 120vac from distribution C phase
to garage to keep beer cold. Use an inductive load like an electric heater on C phase as load bank. A,B,C phase do not have to be exactly pulling same amps, but the closer the better but not show stopper.

 

[csheath]

But what's to stop you from dividing up your house and using 2 separate MEP803's, each with their own circuits?

You would need two home panels.

 

[DieselAddict]

Or modify your panel if it has feed through lugs.

 

[eatont9999]

We are hopefully closing on the house tomorrow, so I will be able to get some more details on the electrical items soon.