mystery items in panel

**John Arnold** · 10-05-2009, 06:21 PM

Here's something for some of you to ponder until some smarty pants blurts out the answer.
Hint: It's in a condo.

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**John Kogel** · 10-05-2009, 06:35 PM

Originally Posted by John Arnold

Here's something for some of you to ponder until some smarty pants blurts out the answer.
Hint: It's in a condo.

I have an answer but I'm not a member of the smarty pants club.

**Gunnar Alquist** · 10-05-2009, 07:24 PM

Some kind of amperage meter?

**Rollie Meyers** · 10-05-2009, 07:35 PM

Current transformers, prob. for metering .

**John Kogel** · 10-05-2009, 08:08 PM

Those guys are both pretty smart.

Fred Warner · 10-06-2009, 06:33 AM

Originally Posted by John Arnold

Here's something for some of you to ponder until some smarty pants blurts out the answer.
Hint: It's in a condo.

Current transformers used for CT metering.

Also known in the trade as "donuts".

Steven Stafford · 10-07-2009, 01:23 PM

Would you guy's mind being a little more specific as to the actual purpose of these "doughnuts"? Are they for remote a meter reader? Are the common area lights run off of this service and are the "doughnuts" used to measure the difference in the electrical usage between the two loads?

**John Arnold** · 10-07-2009, 05:02 PM

It's in a 50 +/- year old apartment/condo building where the tenants/condo owners pay only the electric bill. Apparently, instead of having separate services and power company meters for each unit, they install these current sensors to meter usage.

Steven Stafford · 10-08-2009, 04:48 PM

Thanks for the info John, I have a few questions if you don't mind my asking.
I am assuming that in this set up that there is one electric meter and service for x number of units rated at x number of amps.
Questions:

does the owner/management have a separate bank of sub meters?
is there a bank of disconnects for the units that are setup this way?
is a "main breaker" at the panel shown not called for due to the age of the unit?