twice burnt bus.

[wankster]

Here is the situation:

a 200 3 phase main breaker meter panel with bypass blocks lost a phase when the nut bridging the bus apparently became loose and began the arcing process. it was found that someone had replaced the original bus with what appeared to be a homemade aluminum bus which was 1/8" stock vs the original 1/4". anyway, that's neither here nor there as the home made bus and burnt bypass block was replaced with a proper bus and a new block. fast forward a few weeks and the same bus is burnt again, 4 days after the meter was swapped out by the poco. I have a sneaking suspicion that the poco worker neglected to tighten the nut when he changed the meter. my question is: has anyone ever experienced a situation like this where it was likely the poco's fault but difficult to prove? are they decent to work with, or will they simply tell the customer tough cookies? the building owner seems to think they wont help and it isn't worth the headache and time to try and have them repair the panel. I believe so cal edison is the poco.

 

[Cow]

I can't answer your question about the poco, but maybe regular infrared scans would help prevent some problems?

Obviously, if the poco work left the nut loose you wouldn't of caught it on a scan before it was too late, but it still helps.

 

[wankster]

I can't answer your question about the poco, but maybe regular infrared scans would help prevent some problems?

Obviously, if the poco work left the nut loose you wouldn't of caught it on a scan before it was too late, but it still helps.

It actually has been getting checked about every 2 weeks since the first bus bar was replaced. it was a little over a month after the bus was replaced that the meter was changed so it got checked twice before the second incident.