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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 54
G
Member
Found this article, and thought you all should know about it so that you can help me "edit" it. This DIY crap is getting out of hand. talk about giving homeowners a false sense of "no big deal".

http://www.wikihow.com/Upgrade-Your-House-with-a-200-Amp-Electrical-Service

This is really bad people!

Last edited by goodwill; 10/15/07 12:40 PM. Reason: the more I read, the madder I got!
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 329
I
Member
HOLY !@$%
Pulling the meter may kill the house wiring. But the drop is still wery LIVE and more than happy to kill someone. Someone needs to flag this to the Wiki Moderator as dangerously flawed information! Hopefully no one has yet to kill themself or burn thier house down.

Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 329
I
Member
I can't seem to find a moderator link there. I did try to put a warning in there, though. I hope that it will save somebody.

Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 54
G
Member
everytime I try to post warnings on the webpage, 2 minutes later they are gone. tried to warn the admin board too, and that also disappeared!

Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 329
I
Member
Same happened to me. I registered and reworded my comment. It seems to have stayed, for now.

Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 9,923
Likes: 32
G
Member
When I did this at my house FPL handled all the service conductors beyond the meter. I provided the wire, they hooked it up. I wasn't sure if this was a safety issue or if they were just worried I might have a tap in the riser. I suggested to the engineer that I would pull in the SE, he said they would pull it out anyway. The guy in the bucket truck said he just likes to see the identification of the neutral at both ends before he hooks it up.
This may just be an "owner/builder" process.


Greg Fretwell
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 812
Member
That's worse than the suicide-cord-on-eBay-scam!

I say worse because this is free! mad

Ian A.


Is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 806
Member
Stupid, stupid, stupid!!! The advice on how to pull the meter is about the worst part of that whole mess!! I've personally had a meter EXPLODE on me while removing it in a manner similar to what they describe, and all the POCO service guys I've met have told me that removing a meter is THE MOST DANGEROUS THING they do!!

And if that wasn't bad enough, the advice on cutting the drop, starting with the NEUTRAL, is really dumb!!

I didn't read any more beyond that as, like the OP, the more I read the madder I got.


Stupid should be painful.
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 482
Z
Member
Regardless of the obvious technical issues, irresponsible posting is definately the main concern. The article might as well be called "how to get a darwin award".

Step 1, the disclaimer, if you wanna call it that, is doubtfully going to stop anybody from doing what they think they can do anyway. I see huge lawsuits. I see blown up meters. I see dead people...

Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 745
E
Member
#6 copper or #4 aluminum to the ground rod? I've never seen that #4 AL can be legal in my 30+ years in the industry. Sounds like some know-it-all has found a few tables in the code book for AL/Cu ratings and feels that they apply across the board.

That's the most MINOR bad information that I saw given.

Wow, that entire post is an accident (and subsequent lawsuit) waiting to happen. I sure hope that someone figures out a way to squelch it before something really bad happens.


---Ed---

"But the guy at Home Depot said it would work."
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