Service Entrance

Tom M

Electricans I need Help. I recently did a remodel that replaced all the exterior siding. The new material thickness did not fill the space from the previous layers. The local building inspector failed the job for not reattatching the meter to the house. The meter is recessed in the wall cavity and the exterior meter is directly opposite the panel. I cant screw from the outside because I will go into the panel inside---usually the meter would be piped with hard conduit into the panel inside but is not. The utility company wants me to remove the globe and fasten the box and so does the inspector. I have never heard of this before. This is dangerous I am not an electrican number one and number two what utility company want people removing there tag and tapering around their equipment. What should I do? I advised the customer to call an electrican but he keeps requesting me to do it.

GregS

Why does the customer keep requesting that you do it as opposed to a licensed electrician? Do they think it will cost more?

Why not call an electrician yourself and subcontract it and bill the customer?

macmikeman

Do not attempt to do this. Get an electrician.

Tom M

I have not done this yet. It is ridiculous have you ever heard of a utility company doing this. I advised the customer 6 months ago when the job was completed to get an electrican. I guess he thinks this is my responsbilty since the inspector returned 3 times to check.

mdshunk

Have you been paid in full on this job? Will this go against your bond (if any) if you don't attach it? In any event, this is certainly the realm of the electrician's work, as others have said. It seems like, in your case, it is unclear who exactly will be paying that electrician. What you're describing is normally only a 15 minute job, but it can take much administrative hassle to get things arranged to actually do the work.

Sparky Joe

Power company won't do anything to a persons house(period) even run 4 screws into the wall, for liability issues. And in all honesty; it's not their problem and they are a completely different breed from construction electricians.

So I'm assuming you removed the meter socket from the house to remove the siding? Did you notice how the meter can was attached before? Is there any reason why the meter can't be pushed against the house(you mention there was no conduit between meter and panel). Can you do any sort of "bump out" to allow the meter to be attached the same distance from the wall as it was before and to spread the mounting points far enough away from the panel on the opposite side and also to allow you to do it your self?

Speedy Petey

I am waiting for meter pans with external mounting lugs so this does not have to happen EVERY time!

Why has no one (manufacturers) thought of this yet????

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Sparky Joe

I'm not following Pete......explain?

mdshunk

Many of the 60 amp round meter cans had external mounting tabs. Not since then, however, and that is a shame.

Speedy Petey

You know. Tabs sticking out from the sides of a meter pan to mount the box. Like most weatherproof boxes have, only on a larger scale.

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Sparky Joe

huh

I'm sorry, I'm just not around the stuff.
Perhaps a picture for a moron?

Speedy Petey

OK Mr. Industrial, this is my last try.
Picture an iron FS box with external mounting lugs/tabs. Meaning no screws through the inside back of the box.

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Tom M

Sparky,I did not have to remove the screws prior because there wasnt any. The box sat at an angle or a thick layer of wood shakes that have been since removed. The straps were on the utlity wires so to attach this box flush against the haouse again I would need to shorten this wire. I couldn't repoisition the meter to take up the slack because the eave was tight against the top of it. The cable was brought to the house from the front and wrapped around the house dowm the fascia board. I'll figuire it out. Thanks guys

Flying Monkey

My first thought is to have the utility co. come out and pull the meter at 11:50. They go to lunch. You screw in the pedestal. They return from lunch and replace the meter.
I don't know of ANY electrician who will pull that meter. It should be utilities responsibility. It will cost a bit, but be done in an hour.

RobertWilber

around here we pull the meters all the time, PECo will come remove a barrel lock if there is one but we have to pull the meter.

You don't want to go screwing around in a hot meter can!
I would cut the taps and reterminate the hots when I was done if I had to remount a can. [we do taps here as well]

Sparky Joe

Oh I get it now, screw holes outside of the box.

And does anyone actually use those little tab things that come with a weatherproof box?
I tried a few times but the screws always stripped out of that cheap tin when trying to attach the tabs to the box.

Speedy Petey

Yes, true. I was just using that as an illustration.

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Sparky Joe

You'd think manufacturers would realize their product didn't work and do it differently.
When I drill holes in the box I then have to caulk along the top to keep it waterproof.
If there were a better/simpler system I'd definetely go with that

dshcontracting

As RobertWilber said, Peco around here makes you hook the lines up to your weatherhead if you do a service upgrade. If you do a siding job, you can yank the meter too. they used to care about meter tags way more in the past, nowadays, they use cellnet meters that use IP technology over the power lines. They can turn the power off to a single house with the push of a button, they also know when you pull the meter! I do a decent amount of electrical when we do additions here, and I'm still not a fan of hooking up live pieces of 4 gauge copper!