overhead service raceway

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JoshBuoni

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my knowledge is fairly limited to new construction in my area (which is a typical underground service entrance directly to the dwelling). I recently did a job for a family member of mine. witch involved setting a poll with a panel for an overhead entrance from a transformer on a PG&E poll, then i ran a 200 amp service underground to the panel on the dwelling... anyways the question being, after all was said and done PG&E wont hook up the overhead service because i used a ridged metallic conduit for the overhead raceway and entrance. this doesn't make since to me. I have seen many metallic overhead raceways on man different applications. why can i not do it on mine?

Thanks for any help.
Josh Buoni
 
Overhead Fed Underground

Overhead Fed Underground

What Size Conduit Did You Use In Which State, Some States Require A Specific Size For Entrance Feeders. I Have Never Heard Of A Service Being Failed For Using Ridid Metallic Conduit .short Of Bonding And Grounding.
 
2" w/ 3/0 Cu should be fine, I've hooked a few of these up under PG&E and they always remark how the Ridged is so "old school" (talking about non-periscope here!). If you are doing a periscope, it's either ridged or IMC)

As others said, if you are doing a periscope service (riser supports the drop insulator), you need to read the green book and check siz vs height vs guying. There are a lot of right answers with this, and I'd get a clarification on why they won't hook it up. Also, make sure you leave at least 18" of wire past the weatherhead for them to splice to, and provide enough secure supports of the conduit. As I said, there are a lot of things that they can cite you for!

mike
 
I don't know where you are but I do know that years ago I set a service on a building at the coast in SC and the power company would not hook it up if you used PVC. They said the sun would break down the PVC so I had to used RMC. This was 20 years ago.
 
Ok... i got clarification from the PG&E tech. that is hooking it up. it still dose not make since to me, but he wants a PVC head on the Ridges metallic conduit. im going to do it as per his wishes, nut i would think that after a few years a pvc weather head would start to break down
 
PG&E doesn?t want the riser to be conductive. They require SCH 80 PVC or you can cover a metallic raceway with a wood box. I don?t know why you were told that only the weather head needs to be non-metallic since that is incorrect information. They will actually accept metal or PVC weather heads on PVC risers.
 
By riser, I hope you mean a pole mounted riser...you can use metal for a riser for a service (building mounted). As for the PVC weatherhead, that makes no sense at all, though I can't see it being a terrible problem. If you look in their green book, you will find all the rules you (and them) need to play by. It seems like a large book, but there are only about 15 pages that are going to affect you for residential services. I'd read them with a highlighter and stickies close by.

Mike
 
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