POCO finally believed me

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Jim W in Tampa

Jim W in Tampa

Senior Member
Location
Tampa Florida
Been telling POCO for over a year that my #2 drop was too small. It melted in 2 last night on one of the lugs. Not sure just what there conductors are rated at in free air. Have piece of it in front of me . No lettering ,7 strands ,seems to be an alloy of alum and steel.
They will likely replace the drop with 1/0
200 amp service about 250 feet from transformer. This is 3 rd time with melting promlems.
Any idea of its rateing ?
I do have a huge demand on Saturday nights.
 
Saturdays Hot tub, blender, wide screen, etc. ? Sucks to be shown your wright by a failure. POCO doesn't like to listen to us know nothing trouble making electricians do they.
 
Jim W in Tampa said:
Been telling POCO for over a year that my #2 drop was too small. It melted in 2 last night on one of the lugs. Not sure just what there conductors are rated at in free air. Have piece of it in front of me . No lettering ,7 strands ,seems to be an alloy of alum and steel.
They will likely replace the drop with 1/0
200 amp service about 250 feet from transformer. This is 3 rd time with melting promlems.
Any idea of its rateing ?
I do have a huge demand on Saturday nights.
Click to expand...

The most it could be would be 185 amps, and that is bare and in free air.

If it is triplex, much less, probably around 100 - 130.

(I just did some math and at 13 cents per kwh, 150 amps costs $4.68 per hour!!!)
 
It is triplex so was not bare ,but is now.
I had about 60 people. Yes hot tub, sound equipment, dance floor lights,bar area lights, Commercial pop corn maker,4 crock pots, all the yard lights, add that to 17 tons of AC, water pump, water heater and yes one very large load for 6 hours. Averages about $20 @ 14 cents per kw hour. I did trip the 200 amp main a couple times last winter. Had hoped i had solved that by using propane to heat a 500 sq foot screened in room and removed 11 kw load.

They like to assume houses do not go over 150 amps of actual peaks. Guess my parties are above normal. I do get some that come from 200 miles away.

I was not totally surprised that it happened. Quick thinking found problem fast. Was scared for a few minutes cause i had some very dim lights in several areas such as we would have with open neutral. Quick check showed 120 on working circuits. At service we quickly spoted the dangling wire. In the middle of the loop it was melted in 2. Would been fun to have seen it glow.
Only way to get fast action out of POCO is tell them its sparking, otherwise they take there sweet time responding. If you push the number for a line down you get automatic answering machine that they are closed. Now that is scarry.
 
Jim W in Tampa said:
It is triplex so was not bare ,but is now.
I had about 60 people. Yes hot tub, sound equipment, dance floor lights,bar area lights, Commercial pop corn maker,4 crock pots, all the yard lights, add that to 17 tons of AC, water pump, water heater and yes one very large load for 6 hours.
Click to expand...

So what it really boils down to is if you did a proper load calcultion for this service it would be larger than a 200 amp service but you feel it is the power companies fault that you overload your service. :grin:


They like to assume houses do not go over 150 amps of actual peaks.
Click to expand...

They assume that because they have years of data from thousands of services.:grin:


Guess my parties are above normal. I do get some that come from 200 miles away.
Click to expand...

Cool sounds fun but it also sounds like you should upgrade the service. :grin:
 
Jim W in Tampa said:
It is triplex so was not bare ,but is now.
I had about 60 people. Yes hot tub, sound equipment, dance floor lights,bar area lights, Commercial pop corn maker,4 crock pots, all the yard lights, add that to 17 tons of AC, water pump, water heater and yes one very large load for 6 hours. Averages about $20 @ 14 cents per kw hour. I did trip the 200 amp main a couple times last winter. Had hoped i had solved that by using propane to heat a 500 sq foot screened in room and removed 11 kw load.

They like to assume houses do not go over 150 amps of actual peaks. Guess my parties are above normal. I do get some that come from 200 miles away.

I was not totally surprised that it happened. Quick thinking found problem fast. Was scared for a few minutes cause i had some very dim lights in several areas such as we would have with open neutral. Quick check showed 120 on working circuits. At service we quickly spoted the dangling wire. In the middle of the loop it was melted in 2. Would been fun to have seen it glow.
Only way to get fast action out of POCO is tell them its sparking, otherwise they take there sweet time responding. If you push the number for a line down you get automatic answering machine that they are closed. Now that is scarry.
Click to expand...

How come the rest of us wasn't invited to this party?:grin:
 
iwire said:
So what it really boils down to is if you did a proper load calcultion for this service it would be larger than a 200 amp service but you feel it is the power companies fault that you overload your service. :grin:




They assume that because they have years of data from thousands of services.:grin:




Cool sounds fun but it also sounds like you should upgrade the service. :grin:
Click to expand...

If i had the full 200 amps that my service is designed for I would not had a problem.
My part of the service to weather head is 4/ 0 alum. Not my problem that they fed it with 150 amp wire.
As to the load calculation it would pass but not my much.
Several loads no not apply for my Saturday nights.
2 washers, 2 dryers, dish washer, cook top, oven all are off , so i do actually end up well within my 200 amps. The clincher was from me making popcorn, that pushed it over the limit.
My main breaker was not even hot.
I am an unusuall load but it is there problem to supply the 200 amps if i do need it.
A 320 / 400 would not helped any.
 
Did you ever notice voltage drop issues in the past? That long of a drop and #2 (aluminum?) will have voltage drop problems even at lower load ranges.
 
kwired said:
Did you ever notice voltage drop issues in the past? That long of a drop and #2 (aluminum?) will have voltage drop problems even at lower load ranges.
Click to expand...

Not really any voltage drop problem. Is flickering/ diming issues sometimes.
Few months ago we went thru system tightening lugs. POCO guy was friend so we checked everything and even put it under there load meter.
Will be calling them Monday to see what they plan to do. POCO guy last night said he would put paper work in to change it to 1/0. Not sure what amperage that is on triplex in air.
I just want it fixed. Been doing everything i can to lower loads.
 
I vote next meet and greet be held at Jim's house.:grin:
 
When I did a 200 amp service on my house many years ago, I was there and when the POCO unrolled their regular triplex (#6) I told them that I had a workshop in the garage, electric stove and central A/C going in, and that I would end up burning down that drop, they rolled it back up and gave me a 1/0 drop. :grin:

My lights NEVER even flickered under the heaviest load as the transformer was also only one pole away. :)

I bought the crew a 12-pack as a thank-you.
 
Let me ask this.

How many service drops have actually melted out?

I am not asking about bad connections.

The power company knows how to do the work on their side of the service point.:)
 
iwire said:
Let me ask this.

How many service drops have actually melted out?

I am not asking about bad connections.

The power company knows how to do the work on their side of the service point.:)
Click to expand...

I agree that for normal people (Jim is far from normal ) the drops they supply do handle the loads. They use small wire to save on wire cost and can't blame them for trying. Sort of proves that nec often has us sizing our service too large. Why force me to install 200 amp service on my side if they supply only 100 amps. One would think nec would not allow me to be fused higher than the supply wires.

Very few melt or at least we seldom hear about it.

So after what happened here does it look like "The power company knows how to do the work on their side of the service point" ?

I have 200 amp service and need it all
A mustang does not need a 5.0 to drive in the city.
 
Jim W in Tampa said:
I agree that for normal people (Jim is far from normal ) the drops they supply do handle the loads. They use small wire to save on wire cost and can't blame them for trying. Sort of proves that nec often has us sizing our service too large. Why force me to install 200 amp service on my side if they supply only 100 amps. One would think nec would not allow me to be fused higher than the supply wires.

Very few melt or at least we seldom hear about it.

So after what happened here does it look like "The power company knows how to do the work on their side of the service point" ?

I have 200 amp service and need it all
A mustang does not need a 5.0 to drive in the city.
Click to expand...

The POCO's small drop has an additional benefit that few see. It will drop the AIC down to a value on residential and or commercial small service that 10k breakers will be legal. Some of you enginering guys can elaborate in more detail.
 
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