Heavy Storm Damage Inspections
- Thread starter Pierre C Belarge
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This reminds me of what happened after hurricane Wilma here in south Fla. Unfortunately there was absolutely no way for inspectors or county officials to keep up with the safety concerns as power was coming back on after repairs. In Broward county alone we had more than 500,000 homes without power (yes HOMES not people). Some of which due to trees and or wind taking out the services to peoples homes. Circumstancially FPL has taken a lot of criticism for not running power underground as opposed to overhead.
Although the original post and many responses has raised some serious concerns, there is really no way of making sure all is safe on such a catastrophic scale. (I can't imagine what they must be going through in Louisiana and the gulf region affected by Katrina).
This is a little off topic, but this post reminds me of one service call I went to:
Went to a home on which the service drop and riser had been ripped off the house from a large tree. Arrived to find no-one home. Called the owner at work and she was extremely concerned about how much the repair would cost. I tried to assure her that it shouldn't be more than a few hundred bucks (worst case scenario) as the riser and weather head was OK just pulled off the house. The triplex was still laying in the yard and was long enough to still reach the house. The meter can was damaged , but with a little tweaking was fine. She then told me she had called a contractor out and was told it would cost almost $4,000 dollars to repair! I couldn't believe this and I begged her to give me the name of the person responsible for trying to rip her off so that I could report them to the authorities. Unfortunately she couldn't remember for sure which contractor it was since she had called many trying to get her service back up.
The best we can do after a natural disaster is do our best, set an example, and report any unethical activity, because you only have control over your own actions.
Although the original post and many responses has raised some serious concerns, there is really no way of making sure all is safe on such a catastrophic scale. (I can't imagine what they must be going through in Louisiana and the gulf region affected by Katrina).
This is a little off topic, but this post reminds me of one service call I went to:
Went to a home on which the service drop and riser had been ripped off the house from a large tree. Arrived to find no-one home. Called the owner at work and she was extremely concerned about how much the repair would cost. I tried to assure her that it shouldn't be more than a few hundred bucks (worst case scenario) as the riser and weather head was OK just pulled off the house. The triplex was still laying in the yard and was long enough to still reach the house. The meter can was damaged , but with a little tweaking was fine. She then told me she had called a contractor out and was told it would cost almost $4,000 dollars to repair! I couldn't believe this and I begged her to give me the name of the person responsible for trying to rip her off so that I could report them to the authorities. Unfortunately she couldn't remember for sure which contractor it was since she had called many trying to get her service back up.
The best we can do after a natural disaster is do our best, set an example, and report any unethical activity, because you only have control over your own actions.
goldstar
Senior Member
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
Sorry to jump into this thread so late. I recently went out to look at a water damaged residence at a Wayne, NJ location that was under water. The water line was about 1' over the electric meter and breaker panel (about '5 all in all). The town issued an order to the property owner to have the entire 100 amp electrical service replaced along with all the devices (switches and receptacles) inside the house. Frankly, I don't know why they didn't condemn the entire house. It's in a flood plain area and this could happen again in a week, a month or a year. The service was live and still attached to the pole and transformer but was shut down at the main breaker panel inside the house
Anyway, I would be concerned with merely replacing the devices without replacing the wiring. In some cases there is armored cable that could still have water inside its jacket and could corrode in a short amount of time. Shouldn't there be concern for this as well ?
Anyway, I would be concerned with merely replacing the devices without replacing the wiring. In some cases there is armored cable that could still have water inside its jacket and could corrode in a short amount of time. Shouldn't there be concern for this as well ?
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