Powerwashing gutters near electrical service

[Squankum]

I'm in the process of cleaning the long-neglected gutters on my house. They are coated with krunk, an organic buildup of some kind. So much so that rain isn't curling around the lip of the solid top shield and into the gutter below.

Made some fast progress on the other half of the back of the house the other day, but now I am facing the northern half of that long gutter, and I'm facing this. Should I avoid spraying pressure water blast in this area? If I ask the power company to turn off the juice temporarily, well, my power washer is 120V, not gasoline powered.


Left side: mostly already blasted. Right side: krunk.







Wires don't actually touch anything. Above, the canopy that gives us krunk.



Yes, things need painting. Yes, the doves in that nest won't like it.

I also have a deck brush with a wooden handle, and I can, if necessary, get up on the roof for that section and reach down with brush or rag.

 

[Burt Shaver]

I would say don’t pressure wash directly the electrical but looks like a good driving rain would soak that so nothing to worry about

 

[mm08822]

Drape a tarp over the top of all of the conductors and tie it closed with twine or several heavy spring clips.

Don't spray directly at tarp or into the envelope formed by it.

 

[Burt Shaver]

I don’t the exact regulations but here in Ontario your not allowed to work within a certain distance of that, I wouldn’t go tying anything to it

 

[Codyboy]

If you have to ask you probably shouldn't even get close.
That is some old *** ****. Conductor on the right gas exposed wire or appears that way.
Not sure about that goofy *** weatherhead either.
What is that bakelite?
I wouldn't worry about the gutter gunk and would call an electrician.
I wouldn't call the POCO as they are likely to cut the service out until repairs are made.

 

[Bert_]

That service isn't even bad. Probably doesn't meet height requirements but I wouldn't deal with that unless forced to.

Just don't hit it directly with the spray and you will be fine.

 

[NightSky]

Ask your utility if they'll put a temporary (silicone, I think) cover over the cables. You may have seen bright orange covers about a yard long on utility lines at some time in your life. They have both split tubes and sheets. Might help when you're painting the soffit, too.

 

[mm08822]

Call POCO for a disconnect and reconnect for a specific date time. They cut at the pole, you blast the area, they reconnect.

Just make sure they will reconnect w/o a permit/inspection required. Some POCOs are DHs about reconnecting.

They will charge your account for the d & r.

 

[PCustoms]

Curious what you all do when it rains at your house?

I wouldn't hesitate to stand at ground level and spray around a weather head. I certainly wouldn't spray the **** out of the wire, but spraying around it to get the gutter wouldn't give me any pause.

That said, the OP needs to re-do his mast, the years have not been kind to that mess.

 

[Leon bee]

Spray with one hand and have other hand on yer ***.

 

[mm08822]

Spray with one hand and have other hand on yer ***.

Water changes a lot of "dry" practices". He needs to isolate any exposed areas to prevent water contacting it and trickling back to grounded locations.

Tarp is still practical if you know what you're doing.

 

[Codyboy]

Call POCO for a disconnect and reconnect for a specific date time. They cut at the pole, you blast the area, they reconnect.

Just make sure they will reconnect w/o a permit/inspection required. Some POCOs are DHs about reconnecting.

They will charge your account for the d & r.

Notice the bare wire on the right?

We never charged for a temp disconnect and reconnect.

But that service would not be reconnected until it was brought up to code.
Which basically just by looking at it would be a whole new meter loop.

Thats why I suggested to call an electrician and not the POCO.

Me, if the customer insisted on a temp disconnect I would fully explain what would have to happen for a reconnect. New meter loop and if in a permit area then that also.

I'm not going to reconnect bare conductors.
A hazard and a liability.
Nope.

Tape it up for the customer probably and have done that a thousand times. ( if they're nice and looks like they can't afford to replace their equipment.

I'll say that I've been on 1000s of calls like this or similar.

Customer calls and said meter pole fell over.

" ok look, here's the deal. If i walk back there and see your meter pole on the ground I have to cut it out. You will have no service until its fixed. Sir, its Christmas eve ... do you want no power until the day or 2 after Christmas?
Do you still want me to go take a look?

Ok fine. Keep the kids away and call an electrician.

 

[mikedodge]

If you're only pressure washing the gutters go for it, the cables get wet when it rains too. Just don't spray directly at the cable ends where the connections are.

As far as trying to get that updated typically that side of the meter is the power companies responsibility but if they don't see a reason to do anything with it they won't.

 

[Codyboy]

If you're only pressure washing the gutters go for it, the cables get wet when it rains too. Just don't spray directly at the cable ends where the connections are.

As far as trying to get that updated typically that side of the meter is the power companies responsibility but if they don't see a reason to do anything with it they won't.

Not that I've seen. POCO maintains the service drop and the connections to the meter loop.
After the connections is the customer's responsibility.

 

[American Locomotive]

That's how it is here, the POCO only owns the wires up to the weatherhead.

If the service was in good shape, I would say no problem to power washing around that area live. However it appears that one of your hot conductors has all the insulation flaked off it as codyboy zoomed in on. While "only" 120 volts, I would be weary of pressure washing around it.

I would probably get that addressed.

 

[mm08822]

The "exposed alum" on the right conductor looks to be white paint on the insulation and also the same on the crimp cover.
The insulation looks fine.

 

[Chuckster in NJ]

Get a couple of "pool noodles" slice them and you can use them as "snakes" to slide over the wires OR You can just drape a plastic garbage bag over the wires while you wash the gutter.…… Sorta like an umbrella.

 

[yatg]

The "exposed alum" on the right conductor looks to be white paint on the insulation and also the same on the crimp cover.
The insulation looks fine.

White paint or bird poop (nest remnants on downspout), but the spiraling of the wire is visible on the right one. Looks like a whole section of insulation is missing from the crimp to the bottom of the drip loop.

 

[mikedodge]

Not that I've seen. POCO maintains the service drop and the connections to the meter loop.
After the connections is the customer's responsibility.

Guess it depends on location and circumstance. Maybe they're more picky of issues like that because people usually call after there are problems but we've had several cases around here over the years where they were called and they did the repair upto the meter base.

 

[Codyboy]

White paint or bird poop (nest remnants on downspout), but the spiraling of the wire is visible on the right one. Looks like a whole section of insulation is missing from the crimp to the bottom of the drip loop.

Yes that is what I was talking about . If there is any insulation on there it is very thin and probably brittle .
That yellow spot appears to be paint , looks same color as the house.

Curious as to how old that wh is. In 40 years at the POCO I have never seen a bakelite weatherhead. 1940s , older?

 

[mm08822]

White paint or bird poop (nest remnants on downspout), but the spiraling of the wire is visible on the right one. Looks like a whole section of insulation is missing from the crimp to the bottom of the drip loop.

Not seeing it that way.

Both insulated conductors have neutral strand impressions in the insulation. The insulated conductors **** up to each other forming the pair of conductors within the cable. In doing so, the impressions are only present on 3/4 of each insulated conductor. Both the left and right insulated conductor have similar impressions.

Not noticeable today with the much denser xhhw insulation. Today's neutrals in sec-u use larger diameter neutral strands and the pvc jacket is fairly loose.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

deleted

 

[wyliesdiesels]

If you're only pressure washing the gutters go for it, the cables get wet when it rains too. Just don't spray directly at the cable ends where the connections are.

As far as trying to get that updated typically that side of the meter is the power companies responsibility but if they don't see a reason to do anything with it they won't.

not true with any PoCo Ive dealt with. The service entrance/riser cable is the customers responsibility. PoCo responsibility starts at where the service entrance/riser cable splices to the service drop

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Not seeing it that way.

Both insulated conductors have neutral strand impressions in the insulation. The insulated conductors **** up to each other forming the pair of conductors within the cable. In doing so, the impressions are only present on 3/4 of each insulated conductor. Both the left and right insulated conductor have similar impressions.

Not noticeable today with the much denser xhhw insulation. Today's neutrals in sec-u use larger diameter neutral strands and the pvc jacket is fairly loose.

in your pic of the right conductor, where you label as none, further down you can see impressions on the same section that you labeled as none. so im not 100% certain those are impressions

also the conductor on the left does not have anywhere near the same impressions that the conductor on the right has. in fact i really dont see any at all. it appears smooth to me, nothing like the conductor on the right....

the picture is not very good. perhaps the OP could take a better higher res close up pic for us of each conductor using flash so we can see it better...

 

[yatg]

Not seeing it that way.

two-mayto, tow-motto.
OP needs to show us the Ketchup to be sure.

 

[mm08822]

For sure on the picture quality !!!!

I was trying to show that the neutral wrap is not uniformly distributed around the 2 conductors with the left most inset pic. (Not the OPs.)
There is a gap where the neutral strands were not evenly spaced when wound. This too, will contribute to a non uniform pattern of the impressions.

Up until 2 months ago, I had a few scrap pieces of this older stuff. Would have been good to open it up now, but no can do now!

Think of red/white vertical barber pole/candy cane. White is the area free of impressions. Red is where the impressions are.

Draw a white line vertically on the barber pole almost about width of the pole. Think about the red that remains.

 

[Squankum]

Sorry about the pictures! I was working in the last hours of the day, with the sun on the other side of the house, which is merciful for me, but not the best visibility. I took better pictures today, didn't even know you guys were asking!

Same thing with the end-of-day hours today, but I got my "Braun" LED light and had a ladder in place already, to get you guys better pics.

Sure, why not Bakelite? I'm guessing the house dates to 1958 or so.


Proof once again that these leaves get everywhere.







I looked at these other wires today and thought, "Oh, sure, cable TV and... and... uh... uh... oh, yeah, telephone. Telephone used to be a wire."



No doves were injured in this project. I'm not even sure they're around anymore, the young one got big.



I might need to take more pics of those wires, now that I've read your comments.

 

[Bert_]

It all looks good to me. It's got some age but is all in good condition.

That insulator is porcelain. You can buy the exact same thing today, will probably be grey instead of brown.

 

[mm08822]

At least Arlington offers it. Not sure why anybody would want that......looks like a good start for a wasp's nest.

 

[Codyboy]

It all looks good to me. It's got some age but is all in good condition.

That insulator is porcelain. You can buy the exact same thing today, will probably be grey instead of brown.

Whats wrong with the insulator (spool)?

 

[mm08822]

Whats wrong with the insulator (spool)?

It's being pulled 90 degrees to the expected use.

 

[Bert_]

It's being pulled 90 degrees to the expected use.

Whats wrong with the insulator (spool)?

It would be a lot better to pull straight. But it's probably not that heavy of a drop. It's been that way for 60 years so I wouldn't question it

 

[mm08822]

It would be a lot better to pull straight. But it's probably not that heavy of a drop. It's been that way for 60 years so I wouldn't question it

I would not mess with anything as it would probably force a mast thru the roof for proper height.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

to me it looks like black varnish or paint on the right conductor strands just before it enters the splice cover... you can even see what looks like bare conductor about 1/2" from the plastic

 

[Metal-Marc]

I wouldn't call the POCO

Call POCO for a disconnect

OP should start a poll. LoL

 

[wyliesdiesels]

not calling the PoCo in my area will get you fined and possibly a referral to the men in blue wearing shiny badges....

 

[Bert_]

not calling the PoCo in my area will get you fined and possibly a referral to the men in blue wearing shiny badges....

Because you sprayed water near the electric service?

You gonna call them every time it rains?

 

[Metal-Marc]

Because you sprayed water near the electric service?

You gonna call them every time it rains?

If you're going to power wash the electric service, it's best to call an ambulance service instead of the POCO.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Because you sprayed water near the electric service?

You gonna call them every time it rains?

youre not keeping up. the discussion was about disconnecting the service which would usually be done by pulling the meter.... that was what my reply was in regards to, NOT for pressure washing or rain. keep up...

 

[PCustoms]

youre not keeping up. the discussion was about disconnecting the service which would usually be done by pulling the meter.... that was what my reply was in regards to, NOT for pressure washing or rain. keep up...

I guess I missed that too, I thought it was mention that the PoCo would disconnect you for having unsafe wiring, not about pulling the meter on your own