messing with utility's triplex

[tkb]

In CT the electrical inspector will give you meter jumpers and blank meter covers so you don't put the meter in after you connect it hot.

 

[don_resqcapt19]

Larry,
I should have said that would be a judgement call by OSHA. I'm sure that if someone were to get hurt, their answer would be no.
Don

 

[dlhoule]

Don, I agree with you 100% on OSHA. I have seen many industrial facilities preach safetly all the time-- :x unless it is going to cost them some down time in their production; and at that point in time they are willing to disregard safety until someone gets hurt. Then it is they shouldn't have been doing that, we've told them about safety.

 

[ceknight]

In MA, n-star has in writing that it is the electrician's job to change over service drop on service change. I don't think N-Grid addresses it, but it is standard procedure in both jurisdictions.

NIMO (sorry, National Grid, old habits die hard) allows it both ways here -- they can do the changeover or you can. http://www.nationalgridus.com/niagaramohawk/construction/4_overhead.asp

Personally, I won't touch their stuff. I have always felt that it's their job, not mine, to reconnect.

Not that it matters much to me in practice. Seems like almost all of the upgrades I do are 200A on old houses with 60A fuse boxes, so I'm pretty much always having them replace the lateral as well. I just fax 'em the work order, call the morning of the upgrade, and they have always had a truck on site within a 15 minutes of my needing them for the disconnect. The line crew foreman always gives me his cell number and tells me to call after the inspection, and they are almost always out within an hour to string the new lateral and reconnect. It's not wasted time for me, I just clean up the job site and take a coffee break.

Did an upgrade a few weeks ago where the line crew actually showed up on their own, within minutes of the inspector arriving and before I had called them back out. They just took it on themselves to check on the job and see if they could reconnect before the shift change, and happened to be right on time. That's what I call great service, even if it robbed me of a perfectly good cup of coffee.

Chris Knight
Syracuse NY

 

[jeff43222]

It doesn't work anywhere near that fast around here, and it would be a major inconvenience if I didn't do the reconnect myself. When I call for an inspection (first thing in the morning is the only time the inspectors take calls), I can get the inspector out same day, but I have no idea when during the day that might be, so I really can't call for the inspection until the work is done. So if I do the upgrade one day, the earliest it would be inspected is the next day. Then the PoCo is notified that it's ready to reconnect. Sometimes the inspector does this, and sometimes I do it, depending on the locality. That puts the property on a list, and the PoCo will send out a crew sometime thereafter. I've seen this take months on some of the upgrades I've done. If I didn't do the reconnect myself, the homeowner would be without power for quite some time.

 

[sparky_magoo]

In my area, the EC never reconnects. Our POCO is great about coming out late to reconnect. I R&Red a 100 amp panel last week. The inspector signed me off after 3:00 pm. I phoned POCO and the HO was given an appointment between 5:00 & 8:00 pm, same day.

 

[paul]

In my area, the EC never reconnects. Our POCO is great about coming out late to reconnect. I R&Red a 100 amp panel last week. The inspector signed me off after 3:00 pm. I phoned POCO and the HO was given an appointment between 5:00 & 8:00 pm, same day.

Same goes for here. I've never had a problem with scheduling the local POCO's to disconnect in the morning and reconnect in the afternoon on a service change. Often times the lead guy for the POCO's service crew gives me his cell number to call when I'm ready. We all want to go home to our families after work. Just because someone may be without power doesn't necessitate the risk for working a hot service drop.

Don,

You're 100% right on the mark with this one.

 

[Matt Harp]

The cost or inconvience of having the utility kill the power does not make it "infeasible".
Don[/quote]

Tell that to the guy that I fixed a few months ago. POCO didn't have a crew to send and he was out of oxygen. He NEEDED that O2 generator, or a visit from EMS.

I put on the PPE that OSHA requires and made the tap just like the retired POCO lineman taught me to. ( Except that I put on the PPE. He just used a pair of leather gloves and wispered a prayer not to be shocked.)

I would definitely call leaving someone without the use of necessary life support equiptment because the POCO had all their linemen in Mississippi fixing hurricane damage and couldn't get to it for a while "infeasible."

 

[peter d]

In MA, n-star has in writing that it is the electrician's job to change over service drop on service change. I don't think N-Grid addresses it, but it is standard procedure in both jurisdictions.

NIMO (sorry, National Grid, old habits die hard) allows it both ways here -- they can do the changeover or you can. http://www.nationalgridus.com/niagaramohawk/construction/4_overhead.asp

That must be a hold-over from the NiMo days, because National Grid''s New England operations (Mass Electric, Narragansett Electric) does just as J Erickson describes. We do it all, cut and reconnect. NG never comes out unless they need to take off a barrell lock and that's just a meter tech, not a line crew. Personally, I think the utility should always do this work, as they have the training to do it safely. Most of us don't.

 

[luckyshadow]

In my part of Maryland the poco ( BG&E - Baltimore Gas & Electric) will rip you a new one if you mess with the lateral ! I pulled a meter once in order to change out a panel. Next thing I know the meter reader is looking for the meter. She didn't find it humorous when I told her it was sitting on the pool table.( Just my luck - pull a meter minutes before they come out to read it)

 

[don_resqcapt19]

Matt,

Tell that to the guy that I fixed a few months ago. POCO didn't have a crew to send and he was out of oxygen.

In Illinois utilities are required to have a list of services that support medical equipment and provide priorty service for those services.
Don

 

[tshea]

Tell that to the guy that I fixed a few months ago. POCO didn't have a crew to send and he was out of oxygen. He NEEDED that O2 generator, or a visit from EMS.

You can bet a letter and phone call to the Public Service Commission is in order here!

 

[dlhoule]

Matt,

Tell that to the guy that I fixed a few months ago. POCO didn't have a crew to send and he was out of oxygen.

In Illinois utilities are required to have a list of services that support medical equipment and provide priorty service for those services.
Don

:?
Are you saying that every residence that uses an oxygen generator for a patient who uses oxygen gets priority service? Hospice is excellent about bringing out replacement units but they don't provide the power to run them.

 

[don_resqcapt19]

Larry,

Are you saying that every residence that uses an oxygen generator for a patient who uses oxygen gets priority service?

Yes, if the equipment is required to support life and if the utility has been notified.
Don

 

[dlhoule]

Don, that is great. I think some of IL stuff is a little off, though.