New electric meter installation

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This wire normally carries no current. One of the other wires will be white or black with white or yellow stripes, or sometimes simply black. It is the neutral wire. It is connected to the "center tap" of the distribution transformer supplying the power. It is connected to the grounding conductor in only one place usually inside the main panel. The neutral and ground should not be connected anywhere else. Furthermore, there should only be one grounding system in a home. Some codes require more than one grounding electrode.

These will be connected together, or connected to the neutral at a common point - still one grounding system. Adding additional grounding electrodes connected to other portions of the house wiring is unsafe and contrary to code. If you add a subpanel, the ground and neutral are usually brought as separate conductors from the main panel, and are not connected together in the subpanel ie: still only one neutral-ground connection. However, in some situations certain categories of separate buildings you actually do have to provide a second grounding electrode - consult your inspector.

The other two wires will usually be black, and are the "hot" wires. They are attached to the distribution transformer from your utility company as well. The two black wires are degrees out of phase with each other.

This means if you connect something to both hot wires, the voltage will be volts. If you connect something to the white and either of the two blacks you will get V. Some panels seem to only have three wires coming into them. This is either because the neutral and ground are connected together at a different point eg: the meter or pole and one wire is doing dual-duty as both neutral and ground, or in some rare occasions, the service has only one hot wire V only service. Part of installing a new electrical service is mounting a main power panel or power meter.

We used a combination panel that had both. Utility companies will typically require a working space in front of your power meter similar to what is shown below. This allows service technicians or electricians to comfortably and safely work with your power meter and main service panel.

The diagram below shows your power meter is required to be 3' minimum from an entrance door, gas meter, or window opening. The meter should also be located within 10ft of the front corner of a residence.

These requirements are set by your utility company, in our case Pacific Power. This is pretty typical for installing new electrical services in other parts of the country as well. Wire Gauge and Voltage Drop Calculator.