Went in an electric room the other day and saw this.

It was apparent that it had been this way for a very long time judging from the dust on it.

Hmmm...
Looks like someone is getting some FREE Electricity

Bill

Bill, my guess is a bank branch.

This is not to far from you, New Rochell (sp?)

Bob

What's inside, Bob?

It is a 200 amp 480 volt meter socket with the bypass lever in bypass.

That lever prevents the real cover (presently tied to the EMT on the right) from being installed.

As Bill said free power for now.

Bob

New Rochelle? "Keep U Face Out" sounds more Brooklyn to me!

-Randy

For extra safety, wouldn't a ½-inch sheet of asbestos board under the sign do the job?

You have a BYPASS switch in your meterS??

This 'free power' is a bit in-your-face isn't it? At least over here we have the watchmakers drill and 5A fusewire...or a concealed supply tail behind the mounting board!!! That example is...taking the p***

Not all meter sockets have them. The bypass lever is used when changing out a meter. It allows the meter to be pulled without interrupting the downstream load, and is sometimes coupled to the jaws in such a way as to clamp/unclamp the meter blades when operated. The bypass lever also shorts the secondaries of CTs on CT operated meters to prevent high voltages from being developed.

The handle is arranged in such a way as to prevent the enclosure cover from being closed/sealed with the meter bypassed.

Thanks NJW, I was wondering what you'd legitimately use the bypass for!! I only realised you could 'unplug' your meters when looking at a pic on this site. Ya learn something new every day

In the UK we still go through the rigmarole of de-tailing, removing, replacing then re-tailing... No power for the duration!

At least I don't have to worry 'bout those jobs; utility's area, and they aren't too chuffed if we interfere with their toys Some of them get quite irate if we even cut the seals to put new tails to a d/b or suchlike...they'd officially rather we either got them out at ££££££ per go or left the live tails dangling whilst we work! yea RIGHT!

Thanks for your reply tho'!

UK,
I've learned in my time here at ECN that many U.S. PoCos aren't nearly as fussy about the demarcation between "theirs" and "ours" as in Britain. Have a look through and you'll see that in many cases our American friends actually make splices onto the overhead cables on the line side of the meter.

Paul:
Yes, your american friends do make the splices at the weatherhead, sometimes.

The actual meter is a utility co item, and the cabinet is sometimes utility supplied, sometimes customer supplied. 3 phase CT meter cabinets are utility supplied, but the CT compartment is customer supplied.

We have a lot of contradictory work practices between the two (2) utilities in the areas that we work in normally, sometimes it's tough to keep it straight.

Hot/cold sequence; CT installation (they always do the CT wiring); secondary conductor landing on pad mount xfrs; etc.

Have a great day (or nite)

John

Please note that HotLine's info is applicable in his area, and not necessarily everywhere here in the States.

Never say always, never say never ...S

Guess I should have mentioned that. A lot of people this side of the Pond don't realize that in the U.S. each state, county, and in many cases city has much more self-government over its own affairs than in Europe, where the tendency is for far more things to be centralized.

Just look at everyday things as examples: 51 different jurisdictions for car license plates and driver licenses, sales tax percentages which can vary from state to state, county to county, and town to town, clearly defined jurisdictions of city police, county sheriff, state police, etc.