Had to help a lady out whose power can gone,she had a medical condition,by the time we got the juice back on the backup battery for computer and inhaler was about to shuffle off this mortal coil,Any how the problem was the consumer mains burnt out due to ingress of water over time to the old Class A turned conduit,providing a gap for water to get in,we rang Energy Australia,got permission to supply temporary power,and rigged up 2 lots of red 6mm romex,used to indicate fire detection equipment,a quick check with a clamp had the current at about 70a per phase,this drop had supplied 4 buisnesses with residences above,over the years it just grew but nobody replaced the mains,70a was well above the rating of 40,cable ran warm due to the high winds which dissipated the heat,2 days later we replaced these cables with 25mm cable,the inspector,complete with swagger stick,huffed and puffed bout cable overloading and not touching their equipment,do you think we did the right thing?
Helping the POCO
- Thread starter tek9
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IMO, you took a risk on a situation which could have gone badly.
If the lady could have been moved or a generator used until she could have been moved I think it would have been a better to have followed that route.
On the off chance there had been a fire or failure of her support equipmnet you can bet your "temporary" and non-inspected "fix" would have come into question and left you holding the short straw.
Just an opinion.
"No good deed goes unpunished"
If the lady could have been moved or a generator used until she could have been moved I think it would have been a better to have followed that route.
On the off chance there had been a fire or failure of her support equipmnet you can bet your "temporary" and non-inspected "fix" would have come into question and left you holding the short straw.
Just an opinion.
"No good deed goes unpunished"
We replaced the 20 amp 12 volt battery with 2 200amp traction type batteries free of charge,as she was a family friend,he also complained about us disconnecting the''White way''a street lighting setup consisting off 40 watt bulbs strung up every 6ft from steel wire,the whole system was useless with 1000w mercury vapour lamps on every pole installed in the 60s.
renosteinke
Senior Member
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I really don't know how to reply to this post!
"Romex" is US, and 'Tek" cable is Canadian. Never saw either with a red jacket.
Two distinct issues were brought up: water entry and an overloaded utility drop. The water issue didn't happen overnight, and the overloaded service wire didn't have anything to do with the failure.
You're licensed, got Utility permission, and the repair was temporary. Where does the inspector come in? I'm sure the final repair will be proper.
Nor do I see how simply replacing a cable repaired the water-damaged service equipment. As described, you would have needed to do a complete service replacement before you could power anything. If you absolutely needed to power something while you worked, you would have had to run cords to either a generator or a temporary panel as you worked.
The overloaded service drop would, at least in my experience, shown considerable voltage drop. That alone will damage equipment. In any event, the undersize cable is a utility problem.
"Romex" is US, and 'Tek" cable is Canadian. Never saw either with a red jacket.
Two distinct issues were brought up: water entry and an overloaded utility drop. The water issue didn't happen overnight, and the overloaded service wire didn't have anything to do with the failure.
You're licensed, got Utility permission, and the repair was temporary. Where does the inspector come in? I'm sure the final repair will be proper.
Nor do I see how simply replacing a cable repaired the water-damaged service equipment. As described, you would have needed to do a complete service replacement before you could power anything. If you absolutely needed to power something while you worked, you would have had to run cords to either a generator or a temporary panel as you worked.
The overloaded service drop would, at least in my experience, shown considerable voltage drop. That alone will damage equipment. In any event, the undersize cable is a utility problem.
their was a j box under the eves where university students wired in extension leads to get free power and yes all the cloth covered wiring bootleg grounds,no mbj,just a voltage operated leakage breaker,frankenstein switches,funny british outlets and ungrounded light ccts are going,even as we speak.The service drop is ok 4 0000 gauge wires,POCO fuses 500a at the POA,Voltage,even at the switches was about 247 under load.
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