Looks like a 'work in progress' ... one that was stopped before serious harm was done!

FWIW, here the PoCo would not let us use PVC pipe for an overhead feed.

I am puzzled by the extended time that the job is taking ... as suggested by the pictures. A job like this has but one way to do it - and that is, to kill all the power for the two or three days needed, and GET IT DONE. I've done such in sub-zero weather ... using a 'spider box' to keep the heat on and the fridge running.

In picture 6 that shows the PVC pipe running along the side of the house, what's the violation there? Is it that they went to the trouble to install their new entrance conductors over-top the old ones that should be getting demo'd? Or that they put their strut at an elbow?

And I haven't worked on many residential services, so I don't understand the violation in picture 7 either. I don't even understand the label: A 125A meter socket rated for 400 amps...? Is that 400 total and 125 per meter or something?

The rest of that, however, is obviously pretty nasty. It always rings alarm bells for me when I hear stories about electricians being called to "just finish a little bit" of someone else's work. There's usually a good reason that "someone else" isn't there anymore. Either they were fired for hack work or skipped out to avoid prosecution for hack work.

-John

Picture 6 shows a 2" conduit running to the 4 meter stack. The nameplate picture is for the four meter main buss (400A). By my calculations Table 310.15(B)(6) 400A copper is 400kcmil wire or a minimum 3 conductor feeder conduit size of 3" for the conduit(they used 2"). The conduit is coming from the junction box on the corner that is a nema 3R can mounted upside down. I am pretty sure without even checking that the can dimension is WAY undersized for that size wire, I would guess somewhere around a 24X24X6 without doing the calculation. One of the other pictures shows exposed PVC conduit running through the utilities gas piping which is a big no-no. As far as the PVC being legal overhead I don't think that is even allowed. I personally would have installed EMT or rigid for the installation.

This place reminds me so much of A Few Things That Blew My Fuse , it's not even funny.... Ironically also from when I was working in San Diego. (Old Town) Even worse, this looks like some shotgun little cottages that I remember taking a look at someplace around University/Euclid Ave. area... I walked away from that one, then drove away alot faster!

Randy

They taped the wire nuts, what else can you ask for

Was some of that temporary?? while they completed the job??

I want to see an over all pic of the entire wall. This is quite a bit of hackermanship. It's a shame cause thats not a cheap meterstack. apparently they forgot to pick up the how to change a service 1-2-3 book at home depot.

Wow....just wow! That's about all I can say for this fine example of how not to do it.

Did they actually expect this to pass?

I have a problem with the opside-down 3R can, and BIG problems with the way they made up the temp

What I do not have a problem with is the size of the pipe in relation to the meter pack, the proper way to do this would be to perform a load calc on the building, and feed the meter pack based on that. It looks like they're missing a clamp on that PVC right near the 90 because the conduit both has to be on top of that gas line, and to get the proper depth for the meter pack, I would have used deep channel strut to avoid both of these issues.

my $0.02
-Will

A 400 amp meter set needs a feeder capable of 400 amps. We can not control what someone might do in the future, therefore if it says 400 on the plate it should be able to carry it.

you can load that bank up to 500 amps (4x125) so should you feed it at 500 amps? I doubt this place draws more than a couple hundred amps, and you're allowed to base the service entrance conductor size on load calcs per nec 230.42(A)(1) so legally I see no problem, and IMO basing SEC size on the rating of the bussbars in the meter pack is both arbitrary and wasteful, if more capacity is needed later, more capacity can be added by a future EC.

-Will

Yes, do the calcs and feed it. Fuse it correctly and there is no issue. My thought.

That's the point.