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Multi Meter Service
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#106116 06/11/05 07:19 AM
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Quote
What do you think about these?

NORCAL


[Linked Image]


[Linked Image]



[This message has been edited by electure (edited 06-11-2005).]

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#106117 06/11/05 09:43 AM
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How is that fasened to the wall? - it looks as if the top cable supports it

#106118 06/11/05 10:45 AM
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I dont know how it is fastened,there are more pictures to go w/ this.

#106119 06/11/05 05:01 PM
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Its David copperfield at work!!!

#106120 06/11/05 05:23 PM
Joined: Mar 2005
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With his floating neutral!
Alan


Wood work but can't!
#106121 06/12/05 12:01 AM
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Am I imagining things or do I see three services to a residential building?!?

And what POCO in their right mind would have set the meter in that second pic? (Notice the nice new lockring and seal.)


Stupid should be painful.
#106122 06/12/05 02:07 AM
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Its not a resi. building, its a former 2 room church school,the POCO is PG&E.

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#106123 06/12/05 07:00 AM
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More from NORCAL

Quote
Here is another one, the #2 AL going to the 50 A 2 pole C/B are coming into the panel through 1/2" romex connectors


[Linked Image]


[Linked Image]

#106124 06/12/05 11:15 AM
Joined: May 2005
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And they continue on through knobs and tubes, eh?

In the upper of these two photos, there's a loose romex at the left. I'd hate to see that bare ground get bumped over onto the bus bars.

#106125 06/12/05 12:29 PM
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Why was Zinsco so popular in California (and other western states???) Was there a manufacturing facility there?

I have never seen a piece of Zinsco equipment here in the northeast. (thankfully!)

Peter


Peter
#106126 06/12/05 01:55 PM
Joined: Mar 2005
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Do my old eyes decieve me, or has someone snipped some of the wires, ( red/black) in pic 4 in order to get them to fit?
Alan


Wood work but can't!
#106127 06/12/05 09:34 PM
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If you look at a old (pre GTE Sylvania)Zinsco,it will say "Zinsco Electrical Products Los Angeles Calif."and one of those really old clay pigeon substitutes,will say "Magnetrip".

P.S. I suspect they had more national distribution after GTE bought them in the 1970s. They were very popular in apartment buildings,trailers and other structures wired by bottom feeders. [Linked Image]

#106128 06/13/05 12:15 PM
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Kinda ironic...using the term "bottom feeders" when referring to Zinsco. [Linked Image]

Mike (mamills)

#106129 06/13/05 07:16 PM
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Quote
I have never seen a piece of Zinsco equipment here in the northeast. (thankfully!)

Unfortunately, this is compensated for by all the FPE panels we have around here.... [Linked Image]

#106130 06/13/05 07:57 PM
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The best thing about that Zinsco Panel is: The plaster job that surrounds it. This guy cared enough to insatll metal chanel around it so he wouldnt' plaster the door shut with the new finish depth.

Rob

#106131 06/13/05 09:22 PM
Joined: Dec 2000
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So, what would have been the good choice for a panel like this in the '60s?

Remember. at that time they didn't know what we know now about these problems.

And I'm no carp/fan of Zinsco or FPE, either [Linked Image]

#106132 06/13/05 11:28 PM
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Best service in the 1960-70s IMO would be I-T-E,Cutler-Hammer,and SQ D*.


* Around here SQ D would be a BAD choice since no local support, [Linked Image] but their resi. equipment was well built.

#106133 06/15/05 06:02 AM
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Cutler Hammer would have been a non-choice in the '60s.
The type CH/CHB breakers weren't introduced until about '72 or '73 [Linked Image] Even then, they were considered by many as too new to be trusted.

Sort of narrows down the field, huh?

#106134 06/15/05 08:03 AM
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The "CH" was introduced in the late 50's, the time the "CHB" came on the market I dunno.

#106135 06/16/05 06:12 AM
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#106136 06/16/05 06:32 PM
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How about Murray?

#106137 06/16/05 07:18 PM
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That panel is a Murray in the 2nd pic. [Linked Image]

#106138 12/15/06 05:44 PM
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Quote
Why was Zinsco so popular in California (and other western states???) Was there a manufacturing facility there?

I have never seen a piece of Zinsco equipment here in the northeast. (thankfully!)

I, of all people here, have. Coming soon to an ECN Post Near you...

Ian A.


Is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?
#106139 12/15/06 08:08 PM
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I understand we have the "Z-Virus" around here in CA so bad..., but we've no shortage of FPE junk either, which if I recall correctly, comes from the crown jewel of the Garden State... Newark [Linked Image]

PS. Wadsworth and Frank Adam are rare breeds here though...

#106140 12/16/06 12:46 AM
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Turns out my father worked at Federal Pacific in Newark NJ way back in the early 50's as an accountant. He was building our house back then, and he used FPE panels for subpanels. One was a stab-lok panel, which has since been replaced by a Square D. I doubt that my father knew of any issues with stab-loks back then, as he wanted quality stuff for his house.

#106141 12/19/06 04:54 PM
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The meter pedestal that serves the townhouse I own is made by Zinsco (in Fredericksburg, VA). It's in the utility right-of-way and has electric meters for 5 houses in it. I'm pretty sure it's the power company's problem. They (Dominion Power) disclaimed any responsibility for it but after I got off the phone with them telling them that many of those meter pedestals/enclosures are in poor condition with missing lids and locks etc. which could allow contact to the buss bars for someone who wasn't careful, they came by and fixed all of them.

Or maybe that was just a total coincidence and they were going to do it anyway..

#106142 12/19/06 09:37 PM
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Zinsco was quite popular in Florida as well. Alot of houses near where I lived had these installed, including Zinsco MAIN discos and meter enclosures.


Cliff
#106143 12/19/06 09:46 PM
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Brian:

Where do you live in Fred Vegas? I live in the Salem Fields area and commute to Lorton.

My best friend is an operations manager for Dominion and he has told me about those Zinsco pedestals. I saw them years ago in Springfield, but VEPCO at the time took most of them out.

If they are giving you a hard time, let me know and I can pull a few strings. PM me over at Tech Talk if interested.

Back to the matter at hand, we rarely see FPE or Zinsco around here. I used to work for a service company and we were required to keep basically every size and brand of breakers on the truck. I can honestly say that in four years, I only encounterd a dozen Zinsco panels but plenty of FPE's. Seems like most are gone now.

I do have a question about the first pic though. Does the mast go inside the wall for the right-hand service? That would never fly around here, not to mention a flush-mount meter base. An outdoor panel is almost never done unless there's no other choice and still never integrated with the meter base. POCO gives us the meter base; we supply our own panel and the conduit/cable to connect them. They do the upper half (SE cable and drop) or the lower half on underground (conduit). I guess we have it made here.


---Ed---

"But the guy at Home Depot said it would work."
#106144 12/20/06 12:18 AM
Joined: Feb 2004
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The first pic is a good example of what California services tend to look like. (minus the extra riser on the roof)

The left being a surface mount, the right being a semi-flush mount (yes, the riser is in the wall, using RMC)

The first time I saw an east coast service, I was kinda shocked as well [Linked Image] SE-R cable doesn't happen here in CA,

#106145 12/20/06 01:21 AM
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Have never seen SE cable as being allowed in the PG&E Greenbook.

#106146 12/20/06 11:29 PM
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It's the complete opposite here; you really only see masts for services if the building isn't tall enough to maintain clearance. It's perfectly acceptable here to attach the drop to the building if clearances can be maintained.

Then again, most services here are underground, at least for the past 40 years or so. I guess the mast requirement in California has something to do with earthquake issues?


---Ed---

"But the guy at Home Depot said it would work."
#106147 12/21/06 12:00 AM
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I actually live in Manassas, Va--the townhouse in Fredericksburg,Va is in Olde Greenwich. I rent it out to my brother.

Interesting that VEPCO saw fit to get rid of those awful pedestals in Springfield but not in Fredericksburg.

What did they end up replacing them with? I looked on a number of websites and it doesn't appear that anyone makes a multi-meter pedestal like that anymore.

They're in really bad shape, being over 30 years old. Let's just say that the meter seal did not need to be cut in order to remove the meter to turn off the power to do my panel upgrade!!!


[This message has been edited by brianl703 (edited 12-21-2006).]

#106148 12/21/06 09:58 AM
Joined: Dec 2000
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Quote
...most services here are underground, at least for the past 40 years or so. I guess the mast requirement in California has something to do with earthquake issues?

Not really the mast/earthquake issue, but maybe a little insight:

Overhead service in SoCA is pretty much limited to existing urban areas and rural areas. Anything in a new area is underground. Utilities are in a continuous process of replacing OH sytems and putting them UG. Even a OH service replacement in most areas will be required to have the capability for future underground feed, or might be required to change from OH to a UG lateral to an existing pole. The idea is to NOT do what was done in a couple of areas in the mid/late '70s, when UG started to become the norm.

[Linked Image]

Our conditions and history are different here than in most other areas. We don't have the issues of ice on OH lines, and lightning is a rarity. OH utilities and service were a natural for us when the place built up like a wildfire. Nobody really realized the magnitude of what was to come. By the time the smoke cleared, there was an OH infrastructure. Great, until someone looked up.

Putting the power and other utilities UG in OH districts is more a matter (besides funding) of disruption to roads and the like than the physical relocation itself.
The effect is somewhat like putting a shovel into an anthill.
There's no heaves or frost line to contend with, so minimum cover requirements up to 35KV can be as little as 30".

#106149 12/21/06 08:01 PM
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 806
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Re the pic in electure's post:

I've seen a lot of those "flying gutters" to convert the OH to UG.

I've also seen the remains of a few buildings (and services) when the top of that gutter rots off or is left off..and a bit of rain and watch the fireworks begin!!


Stupid should be painful.
Joined: Apr 2002
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bump


John
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RE: Electures pic above.

Is this still an approved method of OH to UG conversion. And are you still allowed to have partially recessed meter pans/stacks??


John
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 4,294
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Boy, this is an oldie smile

I haven't seen one done like this since I took the photo, so I don't know the answer. It would fall under the POCO's rules. It was fairly common during the '70s and early 80's, but just in a few areas.


The semi-flush (partially recessed) meters, and panel boards are the norm here. There are nailing flanges meant to be nailed directly to the studs.

[Linked Image from homedepot.com]

The photo is of a combination Meter, Main, and Panelboard.


laugh Yes, we have have the service masts run through the structure. They are usually GRC or IMC, occasionally EMT.
SE cable is unheard of here. I've personally never seen a piece of it.




Joined: Feb 2002
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CT,

Here in northern NJ I used to see Zinsco quite a bit. They also used ITE, FPE and Murray, and has anyone seen a Wadsworth? ( I believe that is how it was spelled)

I believe that most EC's around here used what ever they could to keep the costs down and win the bids.

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Another walk down memory lane...
Yes, Wadsworth.

Also, good old Bulldog Push-a-Matics
Bryant was around, and Challenger


John
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,438
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I've only seen Wadsworth panels twice, and once was on a cabin Big Bear, CA wayyy up in the mountains. I found it after we inadvertently plugged 2 space heaters into the same circuit. Breaker never tripped, but made a hell of a buzzing sound after a while.

Bulldog/Pushmatic is fairly common around CA in installs from the 50's/60's (The house I grew up in had Pushmatics and was built in 1958).

Joined: Jul 2004
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The current house in NH has a Pushmatic breaker panel. I believe they are fairly prevalent around here in the older structures. You also see a number of dual meters on single family houses. I believe these are leftovers from Day/Night services. The second meter socket is usually blanked off.

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There are still a few SFDs that have the two meter setup, from way back. Some were setup for off peak electric water heaters.

All that I have seen, the second meter pan is blanked off.

Next time I come upon one, I'll get a pic.


John
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