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e57

e57

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San Francisco, CA
Looking to get an opinion on something - going to show someone else - so answer honestly....

Underground service, apparently office full of people working - service conduit and meter relocation - live - no disconnect - 4 hours....

What say you? Honestly....

An Estimator put this on a schedule for tomorrow - I'm yet to see it - but if you heard this over the phone what would you say?

(Paralleling a temp feeder to the main to keep the office going - then demo existing - reconnect new - live)
 
e57 said:
Looking to get an opinion on something - going to show someone else - so answer honestly....

Underground service, apparently office full of people working - service conduit and meter relocation - live - no disconnect - 4 hours....

What say you? Honestly....

An Estimator put this on a schedule for tomorrow - I'm yet to see it - but if you heard this over the phone what would you say?

(Paralleling a temp feeder to the main to keep the office going - then demo existing - reconnect new - live)
Click to expand...

Its going to take a lott longer than 4 hours .

And there are safty issues with doing it live:roll:
 
Relocation live? How the help are you going to do that?
This is why we are always wondering how the price is so low!
Have him take you to the site and show you how he thinks it should go.
Unless I'm wrong:
1) back hoe unload in full parking lot 1/2hr.
2) move cars in way of digging 1/2hr.
3) dig out area 1-1/2hr.-3hr.
4) look at pipe and try to think how you can make the wire longer, HOT, and pull it in and out of the pipe work. 10hr.
5) call 911 and go with your partner to the ER 16hr.

We might need more info.!
 
Not so much work moving the underground (from what I understand) - but removing the panel from the conduit.... ;)

When I mentioned this being unorthodox his reply was 'I used to do it all the time...'
 
Id say schedule an outage...rather that than an unscheduled outage caused from a fault, with everyone screaming at you because they lost the report that they were working on. Or worse...an OSHA outage because one of your employees is laying unconcious next to the live meter.
 
e57 said:
Not so much work moving the underground (from what I understand) - but removing the panel from the conduit.... ;)

When I mentioned this being unorthodox his reply was 'I used to do it all the time...'
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Oh, well that is a lot better. Just have the estimator deliver all job materials, tools, etc to job on his time. It's free right? have him bring his gloves & hot suit along.
 
I did some service work at an office a couple months a go. We could not interrupt the office operations. So, we bid accordingly. For Saturday work. Utility came out after-hours on Friday to disconnect,we temped security and essential items. Showed up Saturday at 7:30, got to work. Done at 5PM. Utility came Sunday afternoon to reconnect.

Happy customer, Happy contractor/employees. OT pay, no conflicts.
 
e57 said:
Not so much work moving the underground (from what I understand) - but removing the panel from the conduit.... ;)

When I mentioned this being unorthodox his reply was 'I used to do it all the time...'
Click to expand...

We used to clean our tools with PCB oil too.
 
I've always scheduled all day for a service change, probably never had one take more than 5 hours, but those were resi too. I always wanted to cover my self for the unexpected on a commercial, I would just tell the owner to give everyone the day off or do it on a weekend.
 
you_want_it_when_poster-p228185605463508513t5ta_400.jpg


:grin::grin:
 
fridaymean said:
I did some service work at an office a couple months a go. We could not interrupt the office operations. So, we bid accordingly. For Saturday work. Utility came out after-hours on Friday to disconnect,we temped security and essential items. Showed up Saturday at 7:30, got to work. Done at 5PM. Utility came Sunday afternoon to reconnect.

Happy customer, Happy contractor/employees. OT pay, no conflicts.
Click to expand...

This is the right plan IMO.
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
I just would not do it. There is no safe way to do that kind of work with the service energized.
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It doesn't even sound legal. To move a service I would normally have to schedule a shut down with the power company and a temp. power inspection with the AHJ.

So you have OSHA that's not going to like what you are doing, not safe.
The power company is not going to like it at all.
Even the AHJ will be upset if all the correct paper work is not filed and an inspection scheduled.
 
cowboyjwc said:
I've always scheduled all day for a service change, probably never had one take more than 5 hours, but those were resi too.
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For an underground I have had the power company on the job for longer than that. I have spent 5 hours just talking to different engineers about the job ( if you count travel and everything it's possible to get a great deal of time in on one of these jobs).
 
growler said:
For an underground I have had the power company on the job for longer than that. I have spent 5 hours just talking to different engineers about the job ( if you count travel and everything it's possible to get a great deal of time in on one of these jobs).
Click to expand...

Well that's true and that's why so many of you pay me overtime to inspect commercial service changes on the weekends.:) And what's really funny is each one of those inspections takes me at least 2 hours. Don't worry I'm not cheating you guys, you pay for a minimum of 4 hours, but I only get paid for the time I'm there.:roll:

And it is a relocation and they tend to take longer. You could do all of the digging, pipe work, and install the new service, then just do a switch over after hours. Sooner or later the power has to go off.
 
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