Older Apartment Service

[Gogreen100]

Hello All!!

I was recently called by an apartment owner that wanted his overhead service to the apartment trenched underground. The existing is 2 parallel riser pipes with 4/0 in each coming down the exterior wall and LBing into an interior gutter just inside the wall. It is 5 old meters and 5 100A disconnects mounted on the bottom of the gutter. All the wiring feeding the meters are split bolted to the service entrance conductors in the gutter.
There are a few code problem like,
-Not the proper clearance.
-Disconnects mounted to high.
-Not grounded properly.
I'am sure there is more, these are just the ones I seen without opening any covers.
Questions-
1-Can the old service be reconnected just like it is with new service latteral into the gutter?
2-Once I touch it does everything have to be brought up to code?

I did work up a price to upgrade the hole service (it needs it) but the owner was not too excited about it.
I really hate putting a band aid on a wound that won't heal.
Should I walk?

Thanks

 

[mdshunk]

Your questions can only be answered at a local level. Questions such as yours can sometimes involve a site visit by the inspector ahead of time. That's certainly the route I'd take if I didn't know how things work locally. In my area, I know I'd be replacing the whole shebang, whether I wanted to or not. With a reluctant owner, I'd still get the inspector to look at it ahead of time to have someone to "blame".