Had a real scare today

[reader2580]

I have a service disconnect switch next to my meter base. I recently replaced the meter base and added the service disconnect switch.

Today I pulled the ground wire out of the service disconnect to run it through a conduit to the ground instead of exposed. I got the work done and ran the ground wire back up into the service disconnect. I got the ground wire ready to connect and let go of it to grab my screwdriver to tighten it down. The ground wire fell down onto one of the hot terminals.

The ground wire got red hot and started popping. Eventually the ground wire burned through and a six inch piece fell to the ground. There was still a bit of popping where a short piece of ground wire was welded to the hot terminal so I pulled the meter. Once everything cooled down I discovered the ground wire melted right through the insulation on one of the hot wires. I decided to replace the wire since it was only about three feet long and I had leftover wire.

I was just glad I wasn't holding the wire when this happened.

 

[nadogail]

There are Old Electricians and Bold Electricians, but not many Old Bold Electricians.

 

[Copymutt]

Another man nicknamed SPARKY.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

shouldve disconnected the power first

 

[reader2580]

shouldve disconnected the power first

Yes, in hindsight I should have pulled the meter. I have to call the power company before pulling the meter and I didn't want to do that. The new smart meters will alert them that the meter was pulled.

My father was an electrician in high school and college. (Not licensed so he had to work with a licensed electrician.) He said he would have done the same thing and worked it hot.

 

[Jim greengo]

Yes, in hindsight I should have pulled the meter. I have to call the power company before pulling the meter and I didn't want to do that. The new smart meters will alert them that the meter was pulled.

My father was an electrician in high school and college. (Not licensed so he had to work with a licensed electrician.) He said he would have done the same thing and worked it hot.

If the power co came running out every time a meter was pulled nothing else would ever get done.
I pull atleast 5-6 meters a month during the process of doing my work,and reinstall the same meters when I'm done.
I put the tags I cut back on them when I'm done,and I can guarantee you that I can go back to 99% of those same houses a year later and the same cut tags I put back on are still there.
So when in doubt pull the damed meters out folks,its not worth risking your life over a meter tag.

 

[reader2580]

There is a $175 fine for pulling a meter without calling first. Now, I had called a week prior to let them know I would be pulling the meter to add a tap for solar so I might have been okay.

The power company encourages people to call if they pull a meter because they get an alert any time they lose communication with a meter. It is a small CO-OP so it isn't like they are monitoring millions of meters. I know from experience they will come out and reseal a meter if they see it being pulled. I had called about six weeks ago that I would be pulling the meter for a project. I pulled the meter multiple times on a Sunday. They came out on Monday and resealed the meter even though I had made arrangements for a power shutoff on Tuesday.

I have an electrical permit for this project. Before smart meters the power company would never have known the meter was pulled until the meter reader saw the broken seal.

 

[reader2580]

The service disconnect has the neutral and ground bonded in the disconnect. The electrical inspector insisted the ground wire from the ground rods go into the neutral bus on the line side even though the neutral bus is the same on line and load side.

If it were on the load side I would have just thrown the breaker. The line side requires pulling the meter.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

If the power co came running out every time a meter was pulled nothing else would ever get done.
I pull atleast 5-6 meters a month during the process of doing my work,and reinstall the same meters when I'm done.
I put the tags I cut back on them when I'm done,and I can guarantee you that I can go back to 99% of those same houses a year later and the same cut tags I put back on are still there.
So when in doubt pull the damed meters out folks,its not worth risking your life over a meter tag.

Not true for my my PoCo. and they have 100,000+ accounts

our local Co-Op actually has a metering dept where thats mainly what they do.

When a meter is tampered with and/or pulled they get notification and they do go out to each and every one. They can tell with the cut meter seal.

They fine the customer or homeowner as they do not allow meter pulls to be done by anyone but themselves. They actually have a dedicated phone number and answering machine where they leave a message with the meter number when they pull meters...

The service disconnect has the neutral and ground bonded in the disconnect. The electrical inspector insisted the ground wire from the ground rods go into the neutral bus on the line side even though the neutral bus is the same on line and load side.

If it were on the load side I would have just thrown the breaker. The line side requires pulling the meter.

it makes no difference

 

[JJ13]

My meter tag was damaged (opened) when I moved in back in 2007. It's never been replaced and I neef to update the breaker panel. They better not try to fine me! I wish I'd taken a picture when I moved in for the time stamp

 

[TRWham]

...
When a meter is tampered with and/or pulled they get notification and they do go out to each and every one. They can tell with the cut meter seal.
...

We were just starting a renovation/addition a few years ago and the electrician pulled the meter for reasons I no longer recall. The PoCo rode up about 5 minutes later. They must have been in the neighborhood.

 

[SweetD]

Glad you're ok.

 

[Jim greengo]

There is a $175 fine for pulling a meter without calling first. Now, I had called a week prior to let them know I would be pulling the meter to add a tap for solar so I might have been okay.

The power company encourages people to call if they pull a meter because they get an alert any time they lose communication with a meter. It is a small CO-OP so it isn't like they are monitoring millions of meters. I know from experience they will come out and reseal a meter if they see it being pulled. I had called about six weeks ago that I would be pulling the meter for a project. I pulled the meter multiple times on a Sunday. They came out on Monday and resealed the meter even though I had made arrangements for a power shutoff on Tuesday.

I have an electrical permit for this project. Before smart meters the power company would never have known the meter was pulled until the meter reader saw the broken seal.

If it's a smart meter chances are they normally dont even get out of the car to look at it,they're drive by meters.
We/electricians pull meters all the time on jobs,not a big deal around here in neb/iowa I guess.

 

[Jim greengo]

Not true for my my PoCo. and they have 100,000+ accounts

our local Co-Op actually has a metering dept where thats mainly what they do.

When a meter is tampered with and/or pulled they get notification and they do go out to each and every one. They can tell with the cut meter seal.

They fine the customer or homeowner as they do not allow meter pulls to be done by anyone but themselves. They actually have a dedicated phone number and answering machine where they leave a message with the meter number when they pull meters...



it makes no difference

Of course you're in commiefornia,I'm in Nebraska and iowa working most of the time..
I could spend a day driving around taking pictures of meters without tags,or cut tags that are just stuck back on after the fact.
And yes we have a meter reading dept at oppd also,but they dont spend their days looking at tags.
Hell I've got a service I installed midtown Omaha 7-8 mos ago.
Got an inspection and did a temp hookup from mast to pole
,drove by the other day and it's still temped in with jumpers across the meter lugs waiting for power co to get around to putting a meter in it.
I'm not too worried.

 

[readhead]

In my area electricians are not allowed to pull meters anymore. They can lose their license.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Of course you're in commiefornia,I'm in Nebraska and iowa working most of the time..
I could spend a day driving around taking pictures of meters without tags,or cut tags that are just stuck back on after the fact.
And yes we have a meter reading dept at oppd also,but they dont spend their days looking at tags.
Hell I've got a service I installed midtown Omaha 7-8 mos ago.
Got an inspection and did a temp hookup from mast to pole
,drove by the other day and it's still temped in with jumpers across the meter lugs waiting for power co to get around to putting a meter in it.
I'm not too worried.

ours doesnt spend their day driving around looking at tags either. They dont have to when the meters send them a tamper alarm wirelessly

 

[Terry D]

Practices are different for pulling meters across the country. I pull meters all the time. When i was first licensed, i would call everytime to let them know. Since then. I haven't called in years. There is one county here where we are not allowed to pull them. We have to schedule a disconnect and reconnect. And they are all smart meters

Sent from my SM-G960U using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[Boatman62]

No pulling the meter in our PoCo coop.... they lock the meter covers. When they came out one time I needed the meter pulled I asked why no just a seal. The guy told me that "people steal the meters all the time". Never heard of that before. At one of our previous houses I did a bunch of rewiring and a new panel. Pulled the meter myself and when I was done called the PoCo. The rep that came out to reseal gave me a handful of seals so I wouldn't have to call them again.

 

[reader2580]

If it's a smart meter chances are they normally dont even get out of the car to look at it,they're drive by meters.
We/electricians pull meters all the time on jobs,not a big deal around here in neb/iowa I guess.

Before smart meters were installed back in 2016 and 2017 the meters had to be read manually. The CO-OP didn’t have remote reading meters until smart meters were installed. I got the first smart meter in my city because they didn’t want to replace my meter twice when I added solar. The meter readers would look for broken seals when they read the meters.

About four years ago they added a $175 fine if a meter seal was cut without calling first.

 

[dcg9381]

I just pull the meter too (small co-op). I put it back after - no fine so far.. They do eventually end up with a new seal on them so they get checked eventually.
My guess is that a meter going off/on with no consumer complaint isn't high priority.

 

[Jim greengo]

Practices are different for pulling meters across the country. I pull meters all the time. When i was first licensed, i would call everytime to let them know. Since then. I haven't called in years. There is one county here where we are not allowed to pull them. We have to schedule a disconnect and reconnect. And they are all smart meters

Sent from my SM-G960U using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[Jim greengo]

I just pull the meter too (small co-op). I put it back after - no fine so far.. They do eventually end up with a new seal on them so they get checked eventually.
My guess is that a meter going off/on with no consumer complaint isn't high priority.

What he said.

 

[Bigblockyeti]

I had a 2/0 copper wire between to 6V batteries wired in series melt on me when I had a 3/8" ratchet wrench flop onto the block from the positive terminal feeding the starter solenoid on a towmotor. At first I freaked thinking I could do something about it given the limited voltage (and massive current) but realized it was too hot to touch within milliseconds of contact. It put a pretty good weld mark on the block and annealed the pawl spring in the ratchet rendering it useless. It was a preventable mistake and I knew better but was trying to save time. Luckily it was only that one wire and the ratchet that suffered, nothing else was worse for the wear but I got out of the blast zone quickly to avoid acid should one of the batteries have exploded, ironically they both seemed unfazed and still had a combined 12.5V after the incendent and before any charging.

I hadn't thought about the meter seal but at some point if I need to pull my smart meter, I'd rather not have to call the PoCo and wait for when it's convenient for them. If I were thinking, I would have cut the seal the day I bought the house and taken a picture of the missing seal with that day's newspaper.

 

[reader2580]

I just pull the meter too (small co-op). I put it back after - no fine so far.. They do eventually end up with a new seal on them so they get checked eventually.
My guess is that a meter going off/on with no consumer complaint isn't high priority.

The CO-OP here monitors things pretty closely. I pulled my meter multiple times on a Sunday (after informing them), and they sent someone out on Monday to reseal the meter. After my incident last Thursday they sent someone out on Monday to reseal the meter.