restoring 200amp service after fire, is elec co advise possible ?

[Texican]

trying to plan how to restore grid service after building with the meter burned down from lightning.

the burned building/meter was about 200 ft from the transformer on street and about 150 ft from my house where the main panel is located.

they suggested digging up the elec co wire/conduit about 15 ft closer to the street from where the meter was and cutting wire/conduit and running it up above ground to a freestanding H brace holding the new meter base. with this option the elec co will not charge us anything just to reconnect the service to the new meter.

if we want to move the H brace closer to house then they want $1500 to pull a longer wire and it may take weeks

the questionable to me suggestion was that maybe we could dig up our underground wire that went from the meter 150 ft to the main panel at the house and put it in some kind of above ground junction box and just run a short wire/trench from this J box to the new H brace

is it possible to splice an underground service wire ? does an above ground J box even exist ? This idea would be to avoid retrencing and running all new wire for 150 ft to the house
he also said that the elec co does not allow their wires to be spliced

 

[zanydroid]

You should be able to use a variety of boxes to use as a junction.

But. Is the existing wire from the meter 4 wire or 3 wire. If 4 wire then you can reuse it. If 3 wire you can only reuse it if it’s in conduit and you can add another conductor of the right kind.

After the new service pedestal main you will have L-L-N-G so need wires for that

 

[Texican]

I have 3 wire from the old meter to house, put in 16 years ago. and its direct burial wire, no conduit
so do all new meter bases require a 4 wire setup now ?
I think the elec co wires are 3 wires also

 

[zanydroid]

I have 3 wire from the old meter to house, put in 16 years ago. and its direct burial wire, no conduit
so do all new meter bases require a 4 wire setup now ?
I think the elec co wires are 3 wires also

POCO provided 3 wire up to your main panel. From meter to your house it would be your wiring, my guess is you can do that as 3 wire if it is before your main panel.

 

[Shimmy]

is it possible to splice an underground service wire ? does an above ground J box even exist ?

No. It is the utility's property. The "splice" is the meter.

I know it sucks to spend the money, but honestly I would pay to replace the service lateral. I don't trust wires that have been through a fire, even if they were not directly impacted by flame the likely damage as a secondary failure is real.

Putting in a splice box for the utility's use is something you can ask them. You will need to pay for an underground hand-hole and they would do a waterproof splice on the wires, much like what is done for streetlights.

 

[zanydroid]

I know it sucks to spend the money, but honestly I would pay to replace the service lateral. I don't trust wires that have been through a fire, even if they were not directly impacted by flame the likely damage as a secondary failure is real.

I am actually surprised the POCO suggested reusing it. I guess it’s on the customer’s side of the system so no skin off their back.

Would you be OK with reusing conduit after a hit!

 

[Texican]

I am actually surprised the POCO suggested reusing it. I guess it’s on the customer’s side of the system so no skin off their back.

Would you be OK with reusing conduit after a hit!

I dont know, the elec co said if we want to move the H closer to the house, then we should just add on to their existing conduit and they will pull the now too short wire out and put in a longer new wire for 1500. so I guess they are not worried about the old conduit. no splices allowed on their side of the meter.

 

[Steve777]

No. It is the utility's property. The "splice" is the meter.

I know it sucks to spend the money, but honestly I would pay to replace the service lateral. I don't trust wires that have been through a fire, even if they were not directly impacted by flame the likely damage as a secondary failure is real.

Putting in a splice box for the utility's use is something you can ask them. You will need to pay for an underground hand-hole and they would do a waterproof splice on the wires, much like what is done for streetlights.

After the fire here where our house and meter burned, we put a new power meter and CB box in roughly the same location. After inspection, the local PCO came out and did an underground splice to their wires to the meter (with a short length of new wire up to the meter). Granted it was their wire and their splice, but it can be done. Nothing special about it, the right sized butt connector and two layers of "glued" heat shrink. Basically the same thing you could do yourself, except for turning on/off the pole power.

Interestingly they ran like 2ga wire from the pole to the meter for a 200A service. Whereas I need 4/0 for that amperage. But I guess they don't care all that much about loss.

 

[zanydroid]

Interestingly they ran like 2ga wire from the pole to the meter for a 200A service. Whereas I need 4/0 for that amperage. But I guess they don't care all that much about loss.

POCO is not governed by NEC. They have their own rulebook, and there's a few common shared rulebooks too. Also if it's overhead the free air ampacity applies.

 

[Supervstech]

After the fire here where our house and meter burned, we put a new power meter and CB box in roughly the same location. After inspection, the local PCO came out and did an underground splice to their wires to the meter (with a short length of new wire up to the meter). Granted it was their wire and their splice, but it can be done. Nothing special about it, the right sized butt connector and two layers of "glued" heat shrink. Basically the same thing you could do yourself, except for turning on/off the pole power.

Interestingly they ran like 2ga wire from the pole to the meter for a 200A service. Whereas I need 4/0 for that amperage. But I guess they don't care all that much about loss.

What the power company allows and can do is completely different from what we electricians can do.
I have seen underground direct burial splices done by the power company, but I have also been informed by the inspection department they don't allow it... so... idk?

 

[Texican]

one of the issues where it would be helpful if I could splice the service wires after the meter and then ecavating to reach my wires to the house is that I have a number of other things trenched that would need to be crossed depending on the route
water lines, fiber optic, urd wires to a sub panel on workshop, sidewalk etc
not to mention saving cost of trenching and new 150 ft of 4/0 triplex

 

[Dave911]

one of the issues where it would be helpful if I could splice the service wires after the meter and then ecavating to reach my wires to the house is that I have a number of other things trenched that would need to be crossed depending on the route
water lines, fiber optic, urd wires to a sub panel on workshop, sidewalk etc
not to mention saving cost of trenching and new 150 ft of 4/0 triplex

The way it works in Indiana and I believe most of the midwest, is that the power company owns the meter and all of the wire from the meter to the grid. We own the meter box and everything from the meter to the loads. So following our rules, you can do whatever you want from the meter, if they put it on an H brace, which is common around here. There is a field behind me that has an H brace about 150 ft from the power line poles which run down the road. An underground feeder runs to the meter from a pole hung transformer. The field is owned by an Amish guy and he uses the power to run a pump which aerates a pond. Yep, no kidding. There is no house.