On Tuesday, December 16, 2014 5:16:20 AM UTC-5, Mikepier wrote:
If there is no main breaker that is sized to the service, what
prevents one from creating an overload in the panel with the sum
of the 6 breakers exceeding the capacity? If I have a 100 amp panel
with various breakers, all the breakers collectively could exceed the
100 amps, but the main breaker would trip. If I put six 30A breakers
in a panel, I could pull 180 amps, overload the service conductors,
but nothing would trip. Am I missing something?

Is this where the 6 breaker rule comes into play?

Anotherwords, if you have 6- 20A breakers, then you can only pull 120A max.

So as long as the feed from the meter to the panel can handle 120A, your good?

Yes, that's what Gfre said. The disconnect(s) have to be sized to the
sevice capacity. With a main breaker, the main breaker serves that purpose,
so then the individual breakers can add up to more than that main breaker.
With no main breaker and 6 separate breakers serving as the disconnect,
then the 6 have to sum up to equal to or less than the service capacity.

To be technical, it would not only be the feed from the meter to the panel,
it would also be the feed, service to the meter as well.