Please explain to me the process of pulling permits, inspections, etc...

[HayZee518]

if you back out the screw on the neutral I'm sure you'll find two pieces under the clamp. the newer meter sockets have extra room for wires. if you are having this job inspected I'm almost sure the inspector will demand that you change the socket. the old sockets are NOT compatible with aluminum. I told you that from the beginning. As far as torqueing the breaker screws, yeah tighten them as best you can and re-tighten after a little while.

[DKAudio]

ok, so if I have to replace the socket, the electric company will have to come back out and disconnect from the pole pig?

Can you get meter sockets at Home Depot or do I need to go to a supply house?

Would this include a new encosure or just the guts?

Thanks

[HayZee518]

the whole thing - you wouldn't find the guts to fit an old trough.

[DKAudio]

I talked to an electrician 1 county over (friends family member). He said to do the bonding bushing for the conduit and that 1 piece of wire should go from the driven ground rod to the panels neutral/ground buss, then to both sides of the water meter, then right where it enters the wall. I was still un-sure since I have heard so many different grounding/bonding procedures.



We are keeping the meter socket and everything as is, if they don't pass it then they will spend the money and I will do the work. However, we are putting new wires in from the weathercap to the meter and then meter to the panel. Home Depot had 4 AWG CU for $1 per ft, we are going with that. Do I still need to use No-Alox with copper mains?

The neutral is 1 solid piece by the way, they just stripped a couple " section and clamped it down in the meter case.

Tom, if you don't mind I have some questions just because I want to learn...

What kind of wire is it where it looks like AL but you can scrap it off or when you cut it and look at the end it looks like CU? Is this a AL/CU clad? This is the type of wire that the old mains were.

Finally, how do those SEU line splices work (the ones from the power pole to the line side of the meter). When the electric guy came out to clip the meter he disconnected the line side too by removing the splices. I went on the roof and looked at them. It appeared to just be a AL tube (almost like a big butt connector) and then a plastic snap case to go over it. How do these "grip" the lines and how do they remove those hot?

Thanks Tom, learning a lot.

[HayZee518]

the splices are crimp on splice tubes. some have just one bolt (9/16") hex bolt that draws up a two part clamp. the line side goes in one side and the service into the other. then a snap over plastic cap insulates the whole thing. that wire you looked at is tinned copper wire. has a tin coating along its entire length. yes use no-alox on any service terminations. doesn't have to be aluminum specific, it works just as well with copper terminations. the butt splices go on with a hydraulic press that indents the conductors. there's a no alox compound inside each tube.

[DKAudio]

Ok, he must have set new splices on the roof then because I saw no crimp marks or bolts. That is why I was wondering how they attach, I did notice the no-alox inside of them.

I guess their old mains were copper then, just tinned. If they used to tin mains for the same reason they tin audio wires it is because it retards any oxidation or corrosion on the conductor. I guess they don't do it now to cut costs.

We are moving along very nicely. I decided to replace their weathercap and put in new wires from the weathercap on (4 AWG CU). The old neutral was bonded to the metal conduit near the weathercap with a clamp. It was so rusted (along with the weathercap) that I had to cut it off with a angle grinder. The new weathercap is AL and the clamp I bought is bronze. Will bronze be ok out in the weather and should I bond the neutral with this clamp to the metal conduit like it originally was?

Everything else is going great. I feel confident in replacing the whole meter box if need be.

Thanks for your patience.

Dan

[HayZee518]

Didn't I tell you that it would be rusted? The old weather cap didn't have to be grounded, its really better to not bond the metal on a weathercap. Are you running new conduit to the weathercap or just using #2/3 SEU thermoplastic service entrance cable. I forgot to ask you, is the building's exterior wood clapboards or brick.

[DKAudio]

The houses exterior is cedar shakes. The meter is mounted on their wall in the back yard. It has 1.25" metal conduit that runs from the weathercap (about 5' over the roof), goes into the attic and then exits through the houses soffit and down to the meter box. On the roof there is a mast that holds the neutral and too hot legs from the power pole. Therefore, I was going to run 3 seperate 4 AWG CU lines through the weather cap and down the conduit to the meter. The neutral was originally striped and clamped to the metal conduit (with no breaks in the neutral). You're saying I don't need to do that?

[HayZee518]

you don't need to bond anything at the weathercap, the mast screws into the hub on the meter socket and is made up wrench tight. mark one wire with the red tape at the ends, mark the other with white tape at both ends. the reason for the bonding is to continue the ground through ( around ) joints made by locknuts alone. the biting surfaces (points) of the locknut ground the conduit but can't really pass fault current if a short in a piece of equipment occurs. the locknut point(s) would just heat up and melt. Now that I know what ype of service you are doing I can help more. I was under the impression you had a thermoplastic or jute fiber seu conductor. Now that I know your doing a conduit job, that'll make things easier. At least we're on the same page.

[DKAudio]

Ok, thanks, I will not bond the neutral with a clamp on the 1.25" conduit then. If that is not bonded, then do I need to do a 6AWG stranded wire from the weathercap to the meter box (clamped near the weather cap and then a bonding bushing in the meter box)? I know I have to do 2 bonding bushings on the conduit from the meter box to the breaker panel with 6 AWG inside.

By your last post I was starting to think that you thought I didn't have conduit through-out. That caused a lot of confusion, sorry about that.

I was going to do the red (phase B) and white (Neutral) tape on 2 of the conductors. It doesn't matter what line is red and what line is just black, right; it is just to differentiate.


Thanks Tom.

[HayZee518]

ok, disconnect everything at the house hook. be very careful as there is no fusing between your house and the pole top or crib line. remove your whole old service. mount your meter box, install the hub. measure and screw together your mast. feed it up through the roof soffit. install the roof cap. install the weathercap. take the top off the weathercap and feed your wires down into the meter trough. bend the wires down into the insulated part of the weathercap - hots up top, neutral or ground through the bottom hole. now replace the upper insulator and screw on the weathercap top. In the meter trough make up the red and black to the upper meter terminals. the ground is stripped and goes on the middle terminal. install the rest of your conduit run to the basement panel box. at the conduit going to the basement from the meter socket install one bonding bushing, at the panel install the other bonding bushing. use a piece of #6 bare copper in the lugs on both bonding bushings. feed the cable inside the conduit. install the rest of your meter to panel run, black, red and heutral. at the meter location drive the ground rod, use the smallest knockout and feed the ground rod ground into and with the service neutral on the middle clamp. so you should have a wire along with the service conductors inside the pipe and bonding both bushings together. the wires at the panel go to the neutral strip, which is bonded to the case with a jumper or screw and the two hots go to the breaker. the waterpipe ground wire goes to the neutral strip.

[DKAudio]

Thank you, I understood everything but have one question.

I am pretty sure I know what you are saying but just want to be sure.

The driven ground rod uses a seperate conductor than the bonding bushings, right? That means the conduit from the meter to the breaker panel will have 2 bare 6AWG stranded conductors (one from the bonding bushings on both ends and one from the driven ground rod which will go to the neutral/ground strip then to the water meter).

or

Does the driven ground rod conductor connect to the bonding bushings as well so my whole ground/bonding conductor is 1 piece?

Finally, no bare ground needs to go in the conduit from the meter to the weathercap?

You recommend using PVC for the conduit?

[HayZee518]

service entrance

look at the diagram. the ground from the driven ground rod is one piece to the neutral in the meter socket. another piece of bare 6 goes from the meter socket bonding bushing through the bushing's lug down in the conduit to the panelbox's bonding bushing's lug and through to the neutral strip. one piece of wire goes from the house waterpipe's clamp, through two clamps around the water meter all the way to the panel box's neutral strip. so at the panel box's neutral you will have one bare ground from the water pipe, one bare from the bonding system and one black/white tape from the meter neutral.

[DKAudio]

Perfect, thank you so much for all of your help. I will let you know how the inspections go. We want to get power to the panel now, then we can wire up the basement without using a generator.

I will keep you posted, thanks again, you were a huge help.

Dan

[KSever]

Electrical

Well how did it turn out (pass or no pass) ?