Use of Temporary power from a temporary pole to supply a house

[Mr 3phase]

I am seeking some guidance on this issue....I wired a 'new home' that was gutted, had modular units set in place to form a second floor, and ultimately had to have the existing basement and garage rewired to bring it up to code.
However, when it came time to have the power company reconnect the lines to the new service on the house, there was a communications issue causing a delay in having the power reconnected to the house.
The contractor wanted me to run a line from the temporary power panel to the house panel and feed the house from the 't' power until the power company reconnected it properly. The reason being that the home owner wanted to move in as sson as possible and the contractor promised them they could do so, thus the need to power the house. I refused to provide power in the manner requested and installed a generator kit instead.
My belief was that it was a code violation and an unsafe practice to provide power to the home using a temporary feed because this would in essence make the main panel a 'sub panel', and the power company would not be happy to know this was happening. I was told by a local electrical inspector that this was fine , and not unsafe, and there was no reason to use a generator as the generator was no safer than just temporarily installing a feed from the temp panel to the permanent panel. Thoughts please?

 

[dbuckley]

Thius has been discussed previously (hasn't everything?) and my memory is that the opinion was you can't do this.

I seem to recall it was because (a) there would be multiple N/G bonds, one on the temp power, and one on the main panel, and (b) something to do with grounding and CATV / phone services etc.

 

[ceb58]

Thius has been discussed previously (hasn't everything?) and my memory is that the opinion was you can't do this.

I seem to recall it was because (a) there would be multiple N/G bonds, one on the temp power, and one on the main panel, and (b) something to do with grounding and CATV / phone services etc.

I agree with A but I doubt B would be an issue in this case. CATV/phone service probably not even on yet. My concern would be IF it were hooked up would some one qualified be there to disconnect the temp. feed before the poco did there hook up?

 

[iwire]

Around here the real issue would be the lack of a certificate of occupancy due to the job being incompleate.

As far as the NEC you could temp feed it but would have to lift the neutral to ground bond at the house.

 

[augie47]

Had you obtained a "final" inspection in the house and only lacked POCOs connecting ?

 

[Mr 3phase]

There was no Certificate of Occupancy issued at the time the people moved in. They wanted to move in because they had a few kids and were living in a cramped townhouse. My thought was that the main panel would become a sub panel in this situation, thus instead of rewiring the main panel, use a generator instead. The AHJ later told me I could use the temp power to feed the house. I can't find anything in the code book stating that you can't do it.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

There was no Certificate of Occupancy issued at the time the people moved in. They wanted to move in because they had a few kids and were living in a cramped townhouse. My thought was that the main panel would become a sub panel in this situation, thus instead of rewiring the main panel, use a generator instead. The AHJ later told me I could use the temp power to feed the house. I can't find anything in the code book stating that you can't do it.

I have done it but I do not like it simply because the temp poles can be 100 feet away. They usually want me to run cable on the ground--- I haven't done it in years. Around here you can get a temp power connected to the house if you connect a GFCI rec , a 240v rec and usually wire the heating or a/c. The reason they allow it is for conditioning the space. It works well.

I would not hook up the entire house for the family to move in without a CO. Around here that is big trouble for everyone. No CO- no furniture is even allowed in the space even if it is an addition.

 

[jim dungar]

The service entrance would be the temp service. The house would be a separate structure, which is handled differently than a normal 'sub-panel' inside of the same structure.

 

[iwire]

There was no Certificate of Occupancy issued at the time the people moved in.

Here that would be a huge problem and one I would not get involved with.

They could ask for a temp CO and we would help them with that.

 

[480sparky]

Using a genny to supply power changes nothing. It doesn't matter where the electricity comes from.... POCO, windmill, generator, PV, The Professer's bicycle charging coconut batteries for the AM radio on Gilligan's Island....whatever. They still need the CofO to make them being there legal.

 

[Mr 3phase]

I appreciate the input. I tried to get a 'straight answer' from the power company , and they simply played dumb and referred me to an engineer who works for them. he referred me to the AHJ. He said he saw no problem in connecting the temp power to power the house. Just seemed to me that it would be wrong. I appreciate the code references given.