Midwest meter/disconnects ring to ringless?
- Thread starter weather77
- Start date
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meternerd
Senior Member
- Location
- Athol, ID
- Occupation
- retired water & electric utility electrician, meter/relay tech
Are you sure about ring to ringless? Ringless is not as popular as it once was. Removing covers to pull meters is an additional hazard in the opinion of many utilities, including mine (we don't even allow ringless). Safety sockets are pretty much the norm. Maybe that's just a west coast thing, though. I've never heard of any kind of adapter.
- Location
- Massachusetts
Around me I am pretty sure most power companies are requiring ringless sockets.
And meter sockets for non-dwelling services here have to be lever bypass type so you must open the cover anyway.
But your point about safety is a good one, maybe things will change because of that.
- Location
- Illinois
- Occupation
- retired electrician
Here everything, even dwellings are lever bypass now.
meternerd
Senior Member
- Location
- Athol, ID
- Occupation
- retired water & electric utility electrician, meter/relay tech
We're just the opposite...no residential meters are allowed to be bypass type, and non-residential commercial are required to use the test/bypass system requiring bypass jumpers on studs with a disconnecting means to electrically isolate the meter for testing, not lever bypass. Guess it's just a local preference. We require the ability to install locking meter rings and ringless sockets only allow for installing a locking type cover screw or seal. Not good enough for us. Since the remote read meters came along, visiting every meter more than once or twice a year is not considered cost effective. Cut seals and meter tampering can go a long time without being discovered. Locking rings help. My personal issues with lever bypass meters is the need to remove the cover to pull a meter (as mentioned above), the meter jaws releasing when the lever is raised to the bypass position, allowing the meter to fall out if it's not held in place, and the possibility of the lever being lowered accidentally, breaking load with no cover in place. Being a small utility, we allow meter readers to pull meters up to 200A single phase non-commercial. Lever bypasses add a whole new set of hazards, which, in my opinion, would leave meter readers unqualified.
- Location
- Massachusetts
Here they add a big lock on the cover if they feel the need, I will try to post a picture but you would have to destroy the enclosure to open it.
Now with smart meters does it really matter?
peter d
Senior Member
- Location
- New England
Interesting. What poco is that? Northeast Utilities/Eversource in Connecticut and Massachusetts requires all meters including residential to be lever bypass as well.
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