ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Photos for General Discussion Meter Drip Loops

submitted by trublu832:

Many would call that a service loop.

There is still some conductor left if the connection goes bad you can cut it back and remake it.

Is a service loop common practice for many ec's? Or just the pocos

It's required in the telecom industry for servicible equipment so that you can rack it out. They even have special spring-hinged bars to attach the cables to to make it cleaner.

Funny how the POCO isn't held to the same bend radius requirements that we have to uphold (assuming the poco's aluminum conductors are the same type aluminum as SE).

Shockme,

They do have bending radius to follow, maybe they just don't always enforce it.

Do 600 volt conductors have bending radius restrictions?

I thought bending radius restrictions where limited to cables.

I believe the intent of the loop instal was to allow for soil and conductor movement.

What happens sometimes is the ground settels or frost movement. The conductors get pulled to tight. The meter gets pulled from the wall. Meter guts crack and come close to shorting out.

Anyways around here for resi any work and the utility wants you to change from a pipe and meter to an underground meter set up (they call em wire ways). The point of the underground meter besides being an easy install is it allows room for the conductor to zig zag a few times before landing. No extra conductor zig zag then you can have the same problem of the conductors pulling things apart.

Here's a stupid question, which side is the line side? I would say the left, but I don't know if the POCO would have a disco or not.

Ian A.

Ian:

Line side is on the left. Notice the lugs lead to bus bars connected to the top clips.

Generally speaking, the top clips of a "Form(n)S" meter (Where (n) is a number representing the configuration and voltages) are always line side, the bottom clips are load side.

A Form 2S is the common residential meter, being 120/240 volt, single phase, 3 wire.

Now as to the pic:

Was this posted as being a violation? Or just for discussion? Despite the sticker on the pipe below the can being red (orange?) it looks like it says "Approved" on the top line.