I have a long triplex wire run with a smaller neutral to my place from the utility entrance, and I do end up with a large load on one leg often. When another large load is on the other leg to balance the legs, it reduces the voltage drop dramatically. The voltage on the one leg rises when I balance the load on the other leg. I have a 120v septic pump, yes it should be 240v, but at the time I installed it I had a single 120v inverter. From now on I'll use 240v loads whenever possible. When I redo this line I will be using a full sized neutral, or maybe a balancing transformer if that is cheaper. I have many 120V only loads and currently have them arranged to be on opposite legs as much as possible, but it's hard to make sure they all are.
Brad On Sun, Sep 23, 2018 at 7:10 PM jay <jay.pe...@gmail.com> wrote: > HI Drake and all, > > Thanks for this. > > As I understand this better now, maybe. Neutral sizing changes between > supply side and load side of main service panel. > > Others have chimed in with an argument that can be made that if the > neutral wire is sized for a 200 amp service then it should be OK even if > the ungrounded wires are larger. Yes there would be higher VD than with > the 500mcm but this would only be at fully 1 phase loaded which is highly > unlikely. However the wire ampacity wouldn’t be in question even in a 100% > 1 phase load. > > This project the owner decided that rather than fight the county, he had > the money to install the 500mcm as a neutral. > > I have been just trying to educate myself for future projects and as often > is the case with me and the NEC, its more complicated that I thought. > > jay > peltz power > > > > > > > On Sep 23, 2018, at 10:26 AM, Drake <drake.chamber...@redwoodalliance.org> > wrote: > > <38555f75.jpg> > > > At 09:47 PM 9/21/2018, you wrote: > > Hi all, I’m wondering if there is code reference to size of neutral vs > power conductors. County is requiring neutral same size as mains 240vac. As > it’s 500 mcm due to VD (200 amp service) it’s a non trivial expense. I > know that where I live, the utility brings in a smaller neutral than L1/L2 > Thanks in advance Jay _______________________________________________ List > sponsored by Redwood Alliance List Address: > RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Change listserver email address & > settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > List-Archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html > List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out or > update participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Change listserver email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List-Archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html > > List rules & etiquette: > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out or update participant bios: > www.members.re-wrenches.org > > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Change listserver email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List-Archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html > > List rules & etiquette: > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out or update participant bios: > www.members.re-wrenches.org > >
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