disconnect power

Your local power supplier?

How brave or lucky do you feel?

I do mains breaker swaps live but I have experience in working with live power.

I would recommend contacting your utility company and having them come by and pull the meter for you. Arond here they dont charge anything for doing it.

If you have everything set up and ready a breaker swap only takes a few minutes. The utility service person will likely just wait while you do it.

thank you for reply,i do all the time live but will lern how to do

Good luck with that...

just pull the meter. no meter, no power TO the main breaker.

Some power companies impose stiff penalties for "just pulling the meter". Around here an electrician can have his license suspended for it and a customer may be charged 6 monthes of average use for a penalty plus a re-connect fee. At least check with your power company first. -- JHF

Don't pay the bill they will cut it off for you.

This really falls into the "get a professional to do it" category. There are folks who do this stuff all the time. They know what to expect when they open up the box. They can even tell if there were previous mistakes. To top it off, they will get it right the first time. In electrical systems, the second chance may not exist, or it could be an expensive one. Also, there are occasions where the failure of the first try is not evident until the whole thing goes up in smoke in a few years.

This particular task is probably not the best introduction to electricity.

If you are not licenced electrician then you should not work on live cables, it is very risky.

Suresh Sharma.

it's very good servent, but very bad master

Why insist of doing it by yourself... may be because you don't like to spend a single penny?.. its a job of a license electricians... Telling you what to do in the air is not effective way of learning. Why waist your time?

Well.. if you to shake your brain and hardened your hair... do it by yourself... if you don't.... please leave it to yhe expert to do a job for you.

Ony birds has a guts and dared to rest and singing on HT transmission line...Find out what happen to bird then...

P.S.

Live elect. wires and bullets respect no boss.

This type of meter has a screw in the ring that goes around the meter and the housing.In most states it has A nunbered seal on it.The wright thing to do is call your power co, they will send a serivce man out and pull the meter out for you.In my state there is no charge for this.

I've pulled meters before. It's a simple task.

Remove the ring clamping the meter

Turn OFF the main breaker

Pull the meter out (it plugs in).

In my locality all KW-H meters are sealed with metal strip by the electric company. Once you pulled it out without informing them it will immediately alarm. If in your case... your elect. meter is not sealed by any means.. then its easy to remove the meter by removing the ring around, if it is done just turn-off the main breaker for safety... then start working to change your damaged circuit breaker... Hallelujah!!!

Replace the circuit breaker with similar configuration so that it will fit in.

Some electric companies use a locking ring around the meter. I've never tried picking the lock on one but, a set of universal keys can be had on eBay for a couple of bucks.

If you pull the meter without utility around here they will fine you heavily. Do it right and call them out.

That might work but there will be two service charges involved. But we are talking about a fifteen minute job so, what they don't know won't hurt them?

Call a licensed electrician. If you remove the meter to turn off power you will have to break the seal. In breaking the seal the fine the utility company may impose on you most likely will exceed the cost of the electrician. If you just call the utility company they mostly will want one there anyway or the will call an inspector and more fines.

Zorandodo, before you condemned your main circuit breaker, did you check the FLA(full load amperage) on the CB? If I remember right,(years ago), as a rule of thumb, your FLA should not exceed 80% of what the CB is rated at, 100 amp CB = no more than 80 amps under full load. Ive seen 40 year old main breakers work just fine until a microwave oven was put on line, then the problems started. Also do you have aluminum wire feeders from the meter to the main breaker? If you do, check and make sure that the wire is not oxidized and the lug connections on the CB are tight. Very common problem with aluminum wire, why it was outlawed here in the states for use in side residential homes, but you still see it feeding the main panels and still causing heart aches. And while you have your main panel open, you might want to do a little PM work and re-torque all of your circuit breaker lugs. you'd be surprised even copper wire works loose over time. The heat generated by loose connections could thermally trip a breaker.

If you don't already have a clamp on amp meter, invest in a cheap one and check your amp draw at the main CB. You may find you've exceed the limits of the main CB and need to change out your main panel or make adjustment's on your electrical loads inside the building

Either way, have your power company pull the meter and stand by for 15 minutes, so there's no question about liability if you do change the main CB. If they give you any gruff about needing a licensed electrician, tell them go sit in their truck while you do a little preventive maintenance work! dj

Just don't let it be a "SHOCKING EXPERIENCE" for you

Go for it, Dude.You have all the nescessary qualifications:An insulated brain, and a grounded butt.Just make sure your life insurance is paid up.

Why do you want to change the main in the first place?

That was the question I was getting at, "Why"

Comments #19 is a good point... Changing the main CB it is not just like changing clothes you wear. Meaning that before changing the main CB into next higher rating(for example), it needs to figure out the existing connected load first, also check the size of the main feeder cable if it still at the ample size and capable to carry such loa or else after changing the main CB , the next headache is possible is feeder cable... Like other said... the smart move you gonna do is coodinate with the power company in your locality to avoid heavy penalties. One thing is under the international Law particularly U.S.A., only a qualified licensed master electrician can perform such job...violating this Law and protocol of a Power Company as well... means its your liabilty... imposing heavy penalties or might be landed behind the bars.

Tight connections..... no sparks....no fires... no fire fighters.....Do what is legal and right job.

In most areas it is not illegal to do the job for yourself (your own home that you live in, not rental property). There is usually a provision for a home owner to do his own work. Some authorities require some sort of test or quiz by an inspector to see that one has sufficient knowledge to do the job safely. What is illegal is cutting the the seal on the meter. The power company looks at that as stealing power and thus the penalties before they will re-connect. -- JHF

ZORANDODO

You haven't responded as to WHY you need to change your main breaker...? Also, if you need to ask how to pull your power meter it would seem that your residential electrical knowledge may be little shaky..? I would recommend that you solicit the skills of a qualified electrician. Better safe then sorry.

Check with your local code enforcement officer or authority for details. Even if you know how do it yourself, local laws may require a licensed electrician. This is quite often the case especially in urban areas. You may also be required to have an inspection before power can be restored. Get ALL of the details before you start.

If you're allowed to perform the work yourself, let your power supplier pull the meter for you. There is usually a coded seal that needs to be replaced so let them do it so you can't be accused of tampering with the meter. This will save you the heartache of paying fines or worse! Plus, if you drop the meter and break it guess who pays for the replacement...?

At the very least, buy a book like "Practical Electrical Wiring" - The book is well worth the price. It may also be available at a public library. (Of course the usual disclaimers apply to my recommendation and the actual use by you of the information contained there-in.)

In addition to the other comments...

1 - Check the fault current interrupting rating of the circuit breaker. Your utility can tell you the approximate fault current at your location. This is not load current but available fault current. Do not go by the existing breaker rating, it may or may not be rated for the presently available fault current.

2 - Pulling and re-installing the meter is not a job for the un-trained or inexperienced. I witnessed a 120/240 volt meter fly across the meter room along with a blue streak of light in an apartment complex. The electrician claimed the fault in the apartment wiring had been corrected! If the utility crew member had not properly installed the meter by following procedures and been wearing the required safety equipment he would have bee seriously injured.

3 - Utilities are increasingly installing the "smart meters". If your meter is unplugged, the system may report the meter missing on the next scan. So if you are foolish enough to do pull your own meter, work fast before the utility crew shows up. Even so, they will note the missing or broken seal and do an investigation. Realistically, the meter probably will need to be missing on several scans before anyone is dispatched.

Safety First

thank you to all for comments and wories,special thanks for bobrog for good advice.

i did do work and all went well

I am glad to hear that all went well