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#119182 12/08/04 08:13 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
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Here are some photos of some poor services.

- Jim M
[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 4,294
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Jim, these look awful.
What does a neat job of this cable look like?
(And for once, I'm not just being sarcastic)
We don't use it out here in SoCA, & I honestly have never seen any.
I can't imagine anyone wanting this stuff run on the exterior of their home, but I guess it's all in what you're used to seeing.
Could somebody send me some pictures of some nice ones to post?

Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,716
R
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Jim, I agree with Electure.

Who (or does anyone) inspects these installations?

Roger

Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 943
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The cheesy wireing goes along with the cheesy vinyl siding.

Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 840
C
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I don't think any electrician is to blame here, although the bottom pictures shows a less-than-preferable way of entering the meter socket. [Linked Image]


The common element here is the vinyl siding. These cables were more than likely resecured (or not secured at all) by the siders who couldn't care less what the cable and service look like.

Cable is the preferred way of doing things here in the northeast, and all too often it is the victim of a siding crew. [Linked Image] [Linked Image]

Peter

[This message has been edited by CTwireman (edited 12-08-2004).]


Peter
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 466
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J
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Yes, most of these were inspected at some point. The siding jobs may be the cause of some of these. Although the weatherhead was not set below the window by a siding crew.

The first pic shows the cable run through the chimney.

As for the way the cables enter the meter socket the local POCO will not allow any cables to enter the top or back of the socket.

[This message has been edited by Jim M (edited 12-08-2004).]

Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 23
D
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What kind of AHJ is living it that area

Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 8,443
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What a shocker Jim!. [Linked Image]
In the second pic, are those joints in the two
wires leading into the weatherhead?.
Them siding guys have a lot to answer for, if it was them that did this.
The wiring's so crooked, you'd almost think a lawyer had done it. [Linked Image]

Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 518
J
Member
You know, one has a tendency to think everyone has to do it the way its' done in your town! These pics are proof of that!

The service drop is governed by the rules of the utility. Here in Reno, all our overhead drops come into the top of the meter enclosure, through 2" IMC (or RMC). The meter pretty much has to be directly below- none of the service "lateral" that you see on several of these houses. Use of SER is unheard of. If, in a service change, it is necessary to move the meter, the old circuits are extended with a gutter.

Even so, I've had to respond twice when the service "periscope" (of smaller RMC) was broken and the wires were making sparks. Once it was because the tree trimmer got careless, the other was when a truck backed into the meter box.
I can't help but speculate how often services like these are damaged.

Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,438
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Being here from the "Golden State" it did seem strange to see things like this... I lives in LI NY for a while & notices how odd it was to see the way things were done back there at first.... I'd only been there about a month & remember my girlfriends uncle needing a service upgrade & I went ahead & di the work for some extra $$$.... I did things the way I'd do it here & installed a 200A surface mount meter/combo panel that everyone here seems to have.. 2" RMC riser & weatherhead... I just made the basement panel into a subpanel.. The town inspector said as soon as he saw it "You must be from the west coast" Hehehe... He didnt have any problems with it & signed it off, but he said it was rare to come across the combo panels we use here... I honestly prefer the thought of unfused utility wiring attached to my house to be within something that can take a beating to at least some extent.... I also remember semi-flush installations being a rare occurance back east... On the opposite end... I came across an eerily east coast looking install over here... Meter socket on the outside stubbing into a panel in the garage with the main & distribution... Upon asking him about it, His EC brother from Vermont did the upgrade for him... Absolutely nothing wrong with it.... But seriously not the kind of thing you'd typically find in Lake Forest, CA [Linked Image]

Randy

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