On Jul 9, 1:27*pm, "RBM" wrote:
"Wayne Whitney" wrote in message

...

On 2010-07-09, Steve Barker wrote:

And it's all the same building. *Actually, the panels are only about
8 feet apart, but in different rooms.

gfretwell is exactly right about the need for the disconnects to be
grouped, I missed that. *Whoever installed the second panel installed
a violation which should be fixed. *So the second panel should be
converted to a subpanel of the first main panel, which would require a
4-wire feeder from the first main panel. *Hopefully it wouldn't be too
hard to do since it is only 8 feet away.

Cheers, Wayne

Those disconnects on the house are not service disconnects. The only service
disconnect is on the Pole.
At least by current code it should be done as John Grabowski describes. The
ground rods should be installed at the pole and attached to the service
disconnect. Four wires should be run from the disconnect to the sub panels
at the house.

Don't forget that the house also has to have a main disconnecting
means that meets most of the rules that apply to a service. It also
is required to have a fully compliant Grounding Electrode System. On
the yard pole the best practice is to make the Grounding Electrode
Conductor connection at the top of the pole to the first accessible
point on the neutral past the power company splices. Under most
public utility rule schemes the power companies ownership ends at the
top of the pole before the Service Entry Conductors run down to the
meter enclosure and the Service Disconnecting Means. What confuses
many people is that the meter belongs to the power utility and in some
States so does the meter enclosure. In most States that does not
change the location of the service point which is still at the point
were the service drop connects to the Service Entry Conductors. Since
the transformer is also mounted on the same pole the service point may
be elsewhere on the pole in this case. The location of the
transformer suggest that the pole may be utility owned in which case
that may also change the location of the service point for regulatory
purposes.
--
Tom Horne