It's surprising to me as well. Usually the NEC seems to overprotect wiring
and equipment. Every time I, as an electrical contractor need to add a load
to one of these types of services, I have to do a load calculation, just to
be sure that the homeowners and electricians before me, didn't overload the
mains


"Wayne Whitney" wrote in message
...
On 2006-10-22, RBM wrote:

The NEC doesn't require the main service conductors to be equal or
greater than the sum of the up to six main disconnects. It does
however require the calculated load to be less than the size of the
service conductors.

So nothing protects the service conductors from overcurrent. This
surprises me, but I guess if the main service conductors overheated
due to overcurrent, they are far less likely to start a fire in an
enclosed space compared to a branch circuit or feeder. I suppose that
is also the the reason that the distance the service conductors can
travel within a building before the main disconnect is restricted.

Cheers, Wayne