sealing weatherhead

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Cleveland Apprentice

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Cleveland, Oh
I have a problem with bees entering a weatherhead around the conductors and falling down and landing inside of meter base. Is ok to seal around the conductors in the weatherhead? I see no problem with it. Any recommendations on what to use? I was just going to use silicone caulk. Thanks.
 
Cleveland Apprentice said:
I have a problem with bees entering a weatherhead around the conductors and falling down and landing inside of meter base. Is ok to seal around the conductors in the weatherhead? I see no problem with it. Any recommendations on what to use? I was just going to use silicone caulk. Thanks.
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I think I would be OK with Silicone, but some might argue "approval". American Polywater, I think, now makes an approved spray foam sealant that I think would be good.
 
celtic said:
How often are you in the meter base that it's a "problem"?
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The OP was not asking for an opinion the merits of blocking the bees, rather how to do it.:)
Kidding aside, I've seen bees build a hive in some strange places and boy can it do some damage. I have neighbor that had them get in the wall and had to hire a bee keeper to bail him out. There was also some wall cutting involved to get it all.
 
texie said:
The OP was not asking for an opinion the merits of blocking the bees, rather how to do it.:)
Kidding aside, I've seen bees build a hive in some strange places and boy can it do some damage. I have neighbor that had them get in the wall and had to hire a bee keeper to bail him out. There was also some wall cutting involved to get it all.
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This has happen in our area (in-wall hives)!! To add, I was so lazy, I let them (wasp) build a huge hive under the eve of my house. I then had to have a bee keeper come out an knock it down. The bee keeper came at night (He informed me night was the best time) with red flashlights strapped to their head, and a very large bee suit on. They dropped the hive in a plastic bag, collected $70 bucks, and went rolling. I have a new paper nest forming as we speak. This ones coming down tonight!!!!

To get back on topic, I?m with Dennis, I figured the KO was for the same use. Note: It may be for drainage, but that doesn?t make any sense, as they install the same ko?s in Nema type 2 enclosures.

Edit to add: Someone posted something about drainage?this is why I posted something in response-then removed their post. Can we delete post?
 
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I know you are talking about PVC, but if you ever use SEU it's a real good idea to caulk that weatherhead with duct seal.(under the cover) I rarely use it, but had a serious water problem (almost serious) with a 200 amp service I did with SEU. A week after doing the service we went back to do other work. My helper took off the panel cover and I heard all these expletives. There was all water between the breakers. Move the breaker and water oozed out. The water got in the weatherhead, followed inside the sheathing, through the meter socket and into the panel. Very scary. It was a GE panel though so nothing tripped.:D
 
celtic said:
How often are you in the meter base that it's a "problem"?
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I saw a bunch of bees crawling around the weatherhead and wanted to check the service. I actually found some dead bees inside the panel. The bees dropped down from the weatherhead, into the meter base, and crawled through an 1 1/4" pvc pipe from meter base to panel. I want to try to eliminate the problem before it gets worse. The only part I haven't checked is under the cap of the weatherhead which I'm a little nervous taking it off.
 
resistance said:
Exactly!!!! In most cases (inside the can) they die from the excessive heat, or cold.
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Over time they start to pile up in there. Their decaying carcuses and a little moisture from condensation, other air born contaminants and you have a corrosive layer sitting in bottom of can, rusting it from inside out.
 
resistance said:
This has happen in our area (in-wall hives)!! To add, I was so lazy, I let them (wasp) build a huge hive under the eve of my house. I then had to have a bee keeper come out an knock it down. The bee keeper came at night (He informed me night was the best time) with red flashlights strapped to their head, and a very large bee suit on. They dropped the hive in a plastic bag, collected $70 bucks, and went rolling. I have a new paper nest forming as we speak. This ones coming down tonight!!!!

To get back on topic, I?m with Dennis, I figured the KO was for the same use. Note: It may be for drainage, but that doesn?t make any sense, as they install the same ko?s in Nema type 2 enclosures.

Edit to add: Someone posted something about drainage?this is why I posted something in response-then removed their post. Can we delete post?
Click to expand...

You can delete content in post during time allowed to edit (which is not very long - maybe 5 or 10 minutes). I don't think you can delete entire post once it is created - there has to be something in it.

Moderators have power of God when it comes to this kind of thing though. They can create and destroy with the click of a mouse button:) But they generally only destroy if content was inappropriate.
 
Sort of adds a new twist to "stinger service."

I have the same issue, only here it's wasps. Boy, do they get upset when you take the cover off the panel .... or open the light to replace a bulb, or ... well, you get the idea. It's especially fun when you're 20-ft. up a ladder.

Spiders are fun, too .... try to remove the cover from a splice box, and there are those little fuzzy legs pulling the cover back on ...

Enclosure wars? Sometimes the spider wins, sometimes the wasps. Bodies remain as evidence.

Which is why I seal EVERY little opening, apart from the little 'drainaige' seams at the bottom of some enclosures. A bit of tape on the inside .... though, for sealing a mast I'd go with spray foam at the weatherhead. They even make it in black (find it where you get pond supplies)
 
renosteinke said:
Sort of adds a new twist to "stinger service."

I have the same issue, only here it's wasps. Boy, do they get upset when you take the cover off the panel .... or open the light to replace a bulb, or ... well, you get the idea. It's especially fun when you're 20-ft. up a ladder.

Spiders are fun, too .... try to remove the cover from a splice box, and there are those little fuzzy legs pulling the cover back on ...

Enclosure wars? Sometimes the spider wins, sometimes the wasps. Bodies remain as evidence.

Which is why I seal EVERY little opening, apart from the little 'drainaige' seams at the bottom of some enclosures. A bit of tape on the inside .... though, for sealing a mast I'd go with spray foam at the weatherhead. They even make it in black (find it where you get pond supplies)
Click to expand...

instead of knocking out weatherhead punch outs when the conductor will be much smaller than the punch out I have drilled a hole close to size of conductor for this reason. 2" mast for support reasons and 100 amp conductors through the knockouts in average 2 inch weatherhead leaves enough room for small birds (almost) to get inside.
 
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