Is it legal to lock a main breaker box?

[bob haller]

A friend had a bad home fire.

Firefiters cut the service drop lines at the side of the house with something resembling a pole pruner. this report from my friends. who had the fire

[trader4]

You mean like when he told us all that it's illegal to vent nitrogen from an HVAC system to the atmosphere and that you must instead capture it? He still claims that's true and I've yet to see a reference.

If pulling a meter is so dangerous, going to cause an arc over, etc. you would think there would be dead utility workers all over the place. They pull them every day. Exactly what is going to be so special about their method as opposed to a fire fighter doing it?

[George]

techniques)

>

If utility workers pull them under load as in the case of a meter swapout they install jumpers on the horn bypass tabs or close the less common internal bypass switch on the meter base.

In the case of an emergency with the exception of operating a normal disconnect switch you won't find any fire fighters in my area touching electrical equipment. They notify the utility and wait if they feel it is unsafe to proceed.

Then the utility guy arrives and locates the switches on the primary lines ahead of the distribution transformer and opens them.

In the case of 480 services the large local utility for our area hasn't allowed direct metering for over 20 years for safety reasons.

[George]

Probably not. Unfused service lines must be as short as possible after entering the building. It isn't all that unusual in commercial occupancies to have the main panel located some distance inside so the service lines need to be fused before that location.

[TomR]

Thanks. That's good to know. If I do end up putting locks on, I'll either get cheap little ones that probably aren't even made with hardened steel or I'll look for the type that you mentioned via McMaster-Carr etc.

[Douglas Johnson]

I was a volunteer fireman. We pop the meter out. 10 seconds. As safe as anything can be in that business.

-- Doug

[gfretwell]

The guys doing the meter swaps are doing several dozen a day ... hot. No PPE, nothing. They just cut the seal, pop out the old one and pop in the new one in shorts and a t shirt.

[gfretwell]

Nope, they just yank them. I watched the guy do mine and 2 neighbors.

[dennisgauge]

How about the landlord? She runs a business so obviously this is commercial space. If the space is leased, the breaker access is the responsibility of the landlord.

[bob haller]

I have pulled a meter several times. its no biggie at all.

one for a broken fuse stuck in its socket, one for upgrading the main panel, it needed a extra ground bar and tighten some loose stuff, one had a fried breaker and i didnt want any power at the main.

i called the power company after each one was complete and the power company didnt care....

they just resealed the meter when they got around to it

[clare]

techniques)

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How are they going to do that without opening the meter base? When they swapped mine out for the smart meter they just popped the seal, yanked the meter, and popped the new meter in. According to my UPS record the house was without power for less than 3 seconds. And the meter base was NOT opened, nor was power disconnected in any other way.

Likely a totally different situation on higher voltage or 3 phase services. ALL of our residential services in my area are underground, so they can't clip wires or pull pole fuses.

[HeyBub]

Boy, you must have a REALLY strong firefighter's union!

Do they wait for the public works department to turn on the fire plugs?

If my house is at risk because the firemen were too pussified (or unionized) to turn off the power next door so they could douse my neighbor's fire, I'd be alarmed.

In an emergency, it's easy. They use something that looks like limb pruning shears on a fiberglass pole to cut the primaries. Job done.

Sorry about your neighborhood.

[George]

techniques)

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They cut the seal and open the front cover on the meter base. If they are using jumpers they just slide them on the tabs. If it has an internal bypass they move the lever to bypass. In both cases the tabs or lever are arranged so that you can't put the cover back on if jumpers are installed or the lever is in bypass.

[George]

Except our rather large utility spends an extra 30 seconds and slips on two bypass jumpers.

[gfretwell]

Nothing like that here. I walked with the guy as he did two neighbors after doing my house. There is no internal bypass in any meter can I have inspected (residential or commercial) I have also never seen these jumpers you are talking about. Where do they connect? The jaws are fairly well hidden by the meter.

[clare]

techniques)

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Don't know what kind of meter or meter base you use in your parts, but that would be a total impossibility with the residential meters used by Waterloo North Hydro and Kitchener Wilmot Hydro for the last

50 years, give or take. And they are the same as used by virtually all former Ontario Hydro (now Hydro One) customers.

[clare]

Make that VERY well hidden - for safety reasons a meter that could be bypassed without totally pulling it would NEVER pass Canadian Safety Authourity inspections (Now TSSA, I guess)

[George]

techniques)

>>>>>

Sounds like you have what are called ring type meter bases. Our utility (and I gather most others just by how common ringless bases are) has required ringless meter bases for probably 30 years.

Here is a typical ringless meter base:

{keyword}&kwd={keyword}&cm_mmc=shopping-_-googleads-_-pla-_-100346977&ci_gpa=pla

or

You can clearly see there is a tab on each lug. Designs differ but they all have the same size tab. That way the lineman just pushes on two jumpers before pulling the meter:

"The USJL-001 jumper lead set is a convenient and safe method to prevent a customer outage in event of meter removal/changeout. Constructed from #6 AWG highly flexible insulated copper the working ends are also machined of solid copper for utmost performance. The working ends are beveled to permit easy push on installation. Simply push the meter lead end over the bypass horn and turn the knurled handle until the lead is tightly secured in place. Turning the knurled handle the opposite direction will loosen the lead for easy removal."

[George]

Here is a reply I just made further up in this thread:

Sounds like you have what are called ring type meter bases. Our utility (and I gather most others just by how common ringless bases are) has required ringless meter bases for probably 30 years.

Here is a typical ringless meter base:

{keyword}&kwd={keyword}&cm_mmc=shopping-_-googleads-_-pla-_-100346977&ci_gpa=pla or

You can clearly see there is a tab on each lug. Designs differ but they all have the same size tab. That way the lineman just pushes on two jumpers before pulling the meter:

"The USJL-001 jumper lead set is a convenient and safe method to prevent a customer outage in event of meter removal/changeout. Constructed from #6 AWG highly flexible insulated copper the working ends are also machined of solid copper for utmost performance. The working ends are beveled to permit easy push on installation. Simply push the meter lead end over the bypass horn and turn the knurled handle until the lead is tightly secured in place. Turning the knurled handle the opposite direction will loosen the lead for easy removal."

[gfretwell]

These guys were probably being paid by the meters they replaced and they were not doing one extra step. He had 4 in a box on a hand truck and he was doing them in about 8-10 minutes a trip from the van. He knocked on my door and said my power would be off a few seconds, not really waiting for an answer. I told him I was getting my shoes and I would come trip the main breaker for him (in the garage). By the time I got out there he was putting the new meter in.

I have not seen a meter base like you linked. Maybe they are using them now but they weren't when I was working.