Has anyone replace their service panel themselves?

[matt151617]

I just had someone do mine. The issue was getting a permit, inspection, and pulling the meter. The electric company came out to pull the meter but wouldn't reinstall it until an inspector signed off on it. The electrician I hired (referred through a friend) took care of the permit and everything, and knew the inspector real well. He planned everything out so that the prep work was done before the electric company came to pull the meter. He also planned to have the inspector come after the gut work was done, and called the electric company an hour before he was done to put the meter back in.

The major advantage of hiring someone was they did all this work for me. I probably would have been without power all day if I had made the calls myself. He also brought a generator for his lights/radio and offered to hook it up to the only really important circuit, the sump pump. Total time was about 4 hours, and I had no power for about 2 1/2 hours, so it wasn't enough to even affect the fridge or freezer. I paid $1100 to him for parts/labor and $120 for the inspector.

 

[Norcal]

A service change is not really a DIY (Destroy It Yourself) job, most PoCo's do not like people tampering w/ their cash register (meter) & there is absolutly no overcurrent protection between the transformer & the line side of the main breaker/ fusible switch, if there is a main at all, which has the making of a big mess in the hands of the wrong person...... Hire a qualified electrical contractor. Just IMHO.

 

[6768rogues]

If you use good equipment, it is a one shot deal. You made the right choice having someone do it. It is better to be alive and pay someone if you are not comfortable with doing it.

 

[jam022316]

I'm still on the fence. If everything goes right it seems very simple, just time consuming. $1100 sounds like average price I'm getting (that's a little cheaper), but they have two or three hours in it and say $250 tops in parts. It's just really hard for me to swallow that. Being really careful I don't see why I couldn't do it. Having to pay an inspector is ******** as well. Just one more way for the city to get cash. I wouldn't even consider it if I thought I was putting my family or myself at risk, but I really think I can do it. Only problem is it's kind of like doing a major repair on your main transportation. You can probably do it just fine but it would take you a lot more time than a pro. If I could guarantee to myself that I'd not be without power for more than a day, I'd do it, but I'll probably end up biting the bullet.

 

[pentavolvo]

I'm still on the fence. If everything goes right it seems very simple, just time consuming. $1100 sounds like average price I'm getting (that's a little cheaper), but they have two or three hours in it and say $250 tops in parts. It's just really hard for me to swallow that. Being really careful I don't see why I couldn't do it. Having to pay an inspector is ******** as well. Just one more way for the city to get cash. I wouldn't even consider it if I thought I was putting my family or myself at risk, but I really think I can do it. Only problem is it's kind of like doing a major repair on your main transportation. You can probably do it just fine but it would take you a lot more time than a pro. If I could guarantee to myself that I'd not be without power for more than a day, I'd do it, but I'll probably end up biting the bullet.

what town are you in

 

[mrobins297aaa]

Make sure if you do it you have a good pair of heavy leather gloves on when you pull that meter, when you grab it on the top your fingers will be awful close to those top lugs.

 

[matt151617]

Also be aware the newer electronic meters that they can read remotely may alert them if you pull the meter. If they send someone out to check... you've got problems. Same thing breaking the seal. I don't thinking pulling the meter itself is illegal but they could turn you in for not having a permit.

 

[Tom in Seattle]

Having to pay an inspector is ******** as well. Just one more way for the city to get cash.

That may be true, but at least in my area permits are not that expensive. That said, I started my big remodeling job without any... until I found out from my mortgage broker that due to new guidelines they wouldn't underwrite any mortgages unless you could show you had permits for any obvious work. I ended up pulling electrical, plumbing and mechanical, which was easy since they are all online.

I'm going to change the SE panel myself but will let the POCO deal with the meter, etc.

Update: I just downloaded a handbook from the POCO that explains all aspects of the electrical service. Quoting, "All electrical equipment and wiring on the customer side of the meter (including meter base and service masts) are owned and maintained by the customer. Therefore, you are responsible for any repair or replacement of storm-damaged or failed metering equipment. If you must repair/replace equipment of this kind, your service my need to be de-energized or disconnected."

Since I want to eliminate the existing gap between the PVC service mast and the meter socket box, I will be having everything de-energized.

 

[jam022316]

what town are you in

Greenwood

 

[jam022316]

unless you could show you had permits for any obvious work.

This is the part that I feel I have leverage on. I'm not changing anything but the box inside. How can they prove that it wasn't like that when I bought the house. I'd have to look but I don't think any paperwork with the mortgage has anything on it about how the house was when I bought it. That's something I've always wondered in general when it comes to doing things in your home (plumbing a new bathroom, running electrical, etc.)

 

[gdmclnh]

Big no-no in my state and town to break the seal and remove the meter. Also unless the town building inspector doesn't put a tag on the socket saying all is OK with the mods the poco won't put the meter back.

 

[Tom in Seattle]

Today I spoke with a Customer Construction Services Representative for Puget Sound Energy (Seattle area). I asked about de-energizing my service for SE panel replacement and possible repair work on the meter socket underground feed piping. If I want just the meter pulled they'll come out and do that for free, but to de-energize my feed at the underground transformer will cost $350.

This cost seems like a lot to pay to allow me to fix about a 1" gap between the entrance PVC pipe and the meter socket box... but I really don't like the way it is now (may not even pass inspection) since moisture, critters etc could find their way up into the box, so I guess this is the route I'll take as it's the only safe way to work inside the meter socket box... even if all I were doing is upgrading the feed cables to the panel.

 

[jam022316]

Today I spoke with a Customer Construction Services Representative for Puget Sound Energy (Seattle area). I asked about de-energizing my service for SE panel replacement and possible repair work on the meter socket underground feed piping. If I want just the meter pulled they'll come out and do that for free, but to de-energize my feed at the underground transformer will cost $350.

This cost seems like a lot to pay to allow me to fix about a 1" gap between the entrance PVC pipe and the meter socket box... but I really don't like the way it is now (may not even pass inspection) since moisture, critters etc could find their way up into the box, so I guess this is the route I'll take as it's the only safe way to work inside the meter socket box... even if all I were doing is upgrading the feed cables to the panel.

That's the exact kind of **** I'm talking about. Probably not an extra 10 minutes of work for them.

 

[Roots]

That's the exact kind of **** I'm talking about. Probably not an extra 10 minutes of work for them.

You're talking about what's likely 2 skilled tradesmen, a utility or bucket truck, travel time to and from the site, multiplied by 2 since they're have to perform the tasks and travel back and forth twice - unless you want to pay them to stand by. That's not factoring in dealing with the work order generation, dispatching, system supervisor or operator approvals and coordination.

 

[Aceman]

You're talking about what's likely 2 skilled tradesmen, a utility or bucket truck, travel time to and from the site, multiplied by 2 since they're have to perform the tasks and travel back and forth twice - unless you want to pay them to stand by. That's not factoring in dealing with the work order generation, dispatching, system supervisor or operator approvals and coordination.

When I do service changes it's one guy usually spending about 10-15 minutes unlugging the wires "hot" while trying to keep the wires for the other homes from coming loose since they are usually lugged up on the same bolt.

Ditto for the return trip to latch it all back up.

I deal with two power companies around here mostly, I've always had services disconnected for no charge as far as I know. And I've done it A LOT. Unless they're being sneaky and sending the bill to the customer behind my back, but I sure doubt it. So charging $350 to have it done is a little ridiculous....when you're already a paying customer....

 

[71flh]

Just curious, but assuming a panel surface mounted on brick outside a house, pretty close to the meter, with about a 2" ****** connecting the meter base to the panel. Wiring headed into the house all go through about a 2.5" nippled hole in the back of the panel.

If the panel is replaced, there are 2 big holes needed in the new panel where I'd guess they won't be.

Would an electrician use big punches to put holes where needed in the new panel?

I'm not planning to replace it, but I've been told it could stand being replaced when I called about running 240V and dedicated 120V circuits to the garage on the opposite side of the house. I haven't looked lately, but its a funny panel in that only some, or maybe no circuits are controlled from a main breaker. It dates from '81 and one electrician said something about a split panel, or split something panel.

I'm a bit off topic, so ignore as needed...

 

[Steves32]

I changed my 100 amp out to a 200 amp w/ meter. I did call in an electrician buddy to assist me on a Sunday (panel buss shorted), that was a bit too scary for me. Plastic 2" underground feed. To match the hole in the stucco we knocked out, we had to cut the PVC shorter & glue on a MIP adaptor on underground live feed to bottom of box (new panel much taller).

 

[gbrett]

Today I spoke with a Customer Construction Services Representative for Puget Sound Energy (Seattle area). I asked about de-energizing my service for SE panel replacement and possible repair work on the meter socket underground feed piping. If I want just the meter pulled they'll come out and do that for free, but to de-energize my feed at the underground transformer will cost $350.

This cost seems like a lot to pay to allow me to fix about a 1" gap between the entrance PVC pipe and the meter socket box... but I really don't like the way it is now (may not even pass inspection) since moisture, critters etc could find their way up into the box, so I guess this is the route I'll take as it's the only safe way to work inside the meter socket box... even if all I were doing is upgrading the feed cables to the panel.

You can buy split plastic conduit that could be put in to fill the 1 inch gap without diconecting anything. I have used it to put fiber optic cable in that we could not easily disconect.

 

[Tom in Seattle]

You can buy split plastic conduit that could be put in to fill the 1 inch gap without diconecting anything. I have used it to put fiber optic cable in that we could not easily disconect.

Thanks for the tip, but I'd also like to change out the meter socket so when the time comes I'll just have the POCO de-energize everything. To preclude any further problems I'm going to install a telescoping section, which probably should have been installed in the first place.

 

[PR1975]

I'm not a professional electrician, just a good DIY'er. I did it all myself.

Started off doing a ton of reading ("Wiring Simplified" is good), hit up all the electical inspector forums, and a ton of hitting up the electrician running the night shift electrical section at Home Depot. I also talked to the electrical inspector in the inspection dept at city hall.

I did the leg-work in advance, putting in 2 ground rods (8ft...by hand) and running a ground to where the water pipe supply came up under the house up to an opening near the old FPE panel. I took lots of pictures before I had the meter pulled to make sure when I bought the panel that I got all the breakers I needed. Cut the opening for the old panel to be pulled. Got my permit pulled and scheduled a shutoff day with the local utilities, also made sure that an inspector would be by to certify the panel OK to be reenergized later in the day.

It went off pretty much without a hitch. Started at 8AM when they pulled the meter for me (not allowable policy to be done by anyone other than a utility lineman). I was inspected at 2 (1st time pass!), re-energized at 3PM, and closed up at 6. Inspector came out the next day and gave me a final inspection, resulting in a pass.

I forgot how much I saved, but I learned more than I could have ever paid for.

-P

(I live in SW Washington, and had underground power).