Retired wrote: "In CT, here is how our power co defines it for overhead service "
That makes the most sense. Although in some communities customer ownership does include the overhead drop extending to the poles & wires.
I'm going to muddy the waters a little ask a different question:
Who is responsible for the actual connection device that is attached to the house? i.e. the standoff and the support cable? The reason I ask is this:
A few years ago an ice event pulled the wires off of my house and damaged some of the vinyl siding. The standoff/insulator that got ripped out had been screwed through the vinyl siding and into the original clap-board siding of the house. This left a large hole in the siding.
When the utility company came to drop the service wires so I could replace the siding, the first thing the guy did was screw a new standoff through the trim board just below the eave, so that it was actually screwed into a rafter. This was a much more secure connection to the house.
I was thankful that he did it, but also surprised. Was he just being a nice guy or is the utility also responsible for the standoff and support cable that bears the weight of the service wire?
I don't think there's a definite answer here. I think it depends on your l ocal utility.
On the campus with many buildings where I work, there is a term called "poi nt of demarcation" in the contract we have with local utility. Per contrac t, the point of demarcation is "typically" the service disconnect, or the 5 foot from building line, or or or. Some of the time it is pretty gray.
That's interesting. That document states that the customer owns and maintains the Clevis (House Knob).
In my (non-CT) situation (described in an earlier post) my utility installed a new house knob for me as part of a disconnect/reconnect so I could repair my siding. My house knob had been ripped out by an ice-event and they installed a new one in a more secure location without my even asking. I'm not complaining, not at all.
Since they are responsible for the drop, it is not unreasonable to expect that they would want a good thing to anchor it to so they are not coming back every time the wind blows They generally go out of their way to be sure the homeowner has no reason to screw with the service conductors.
In most cases the owner/electrician is "responsible for" the stack (or mast) and the "weatherhead". The "service bracket" generally attaches to the "mast" and the tension cable, carrier, or whatever you want to call it attaches to that.
On a gable end installation where the mast does not protrude above the roof, a 3/8" eye bolt is henerally specified to take the tension cable, and is normally notated as "customer supplied"
However, your line-man was responsible for installing the cable, and to "cover his ass" he made sure the cable was attatched to something substantial so he could not be blamed for the cable coming down in the future.
So yes, he was "being a nice guy" - the option was to refuse to install the service cable untill the eye bolt was installed, meaning another trip back, and the customer calling him a "prick" or worse.
There are still SOME service people who don't make "service" a "4 letter word".
Like I said in my last post - it's a case of "CYA" The clevis ( house knob) or eye-bolt is cheap insurance to be sure the cable will stay up
- and it avoids him having to come back after "someone else" installs one for him - and it makes him and the utility look good. One case where "everyone is a winner"
I agree. He also made it easy for me to replace the siding since I now had a clear field to work with. It ended up being a much cleaner look when it was done. If it ever pulls out again, repairing/replacing the trim will be a lot easier than replacing the siding.
DerbyDad03 posted for all of us...
Probably a nice guy. I have found that true of many of them.
About 3 weeks ago, the lights on one circuit in my condo became much dimmer and the light bulbs flicker.
A response to a different post suggested having my local power company check their connections and wires before calling an electrician.
Would faulty power-company connections and wires affect only one circuit in my condo?
Several weeks ago, the lights on one circuit in my condo became much dimmer and the light bulbs flicker.
A response to a different post suggested having my local power company check their connections and wires BEFORE calling an electrician.
Would faulty power-company connections and wires affect only one circuit in my condo?
No you own that one. It is going to be a bad connection somewhere.
Considering the high cost of electricity these days, combined with the monthly "meter rental" price, it would be an advantage to the power companies to get the wires installed as quickly as possible, and no reason they cant bill the homeowner for a simple $2 eye bolt. But these days everything is based on black and while rules, with no gray areas, and no concern for the needs of the customer! As an electrical customer, you are nothing but a number. That's the customer ID on your bill!
The exact opposite of how I was treated. If you had any reading comprehension you'd realize that my experience was a good one and I received services that I did not ask for and was not charged for.
When I did my service upgrade, FPL could not have been more helpful. I visited the engineering department, they gave me a lot of free advice and a fee meter can. When it came time to swing over the service they came out, disconnected the drop and went to lunch. By the time they got back an hour later my connections were done and they crimped on the new SE I had installed. Very smooth for me and no charge.
Our polichromatic Bovine friend has likely pissed off every service provider he has had to deal with, so NEVER gets "the benefit of the doubt" and never gets any better service than the minimum required.
+1
That's how we do it here. As a final step I bend the service wires coming out of the freshly installed weatherhead so that it discourages water (if they get rained on) from trying to travel along the wire into the pipe. It's like a U with a tail in the front :) Or a sink trap for water... similar in shape. We've already passed the last inspection at this point. But, as a precaution, the line man will double check at the CAN. Just to be sure soon to be hot's aren't shorting and the neutral isn't shorting to either hot. I don't blame him either. The last thing I'd want to do is be plugging in a CAN knowing my pole transformer is up and going and something be... wrong inside that meter base wiring.
I really enjoy doing residential and commercial wiring. With a little industrial wiring tossed in for the occasional, odd job. With that said though, the line man and other people higher up the totem pole are playing with much higher levels of current than I am. :) I've got nothing but respect for them. I do respect the voltages I muck with as well; I'm aware of what they can do if disrespected, but, for sure, the line man has got to be that much more respectful.
We run the wire from the meter base can into pvc piping that's going to be underground when we pile the dirt back on it, to a plastic green box located near the road, not too far from the transformer pad.
Inside this box is where the power company taps onto the output lines coming from the transformer to feed your house. Each line has a boot and a short aluminum? based BUS that'll accept several wires on it. They just take one boot off, make the connections, put the boot back on, move onto the next. With the transformer up and going and various houses already pulling on it.
I haven't seen an underground one yet though that provided power to a single house. They're usually feeding four to six houses in a close proximity to each other. You can see the PVC piping going up the pole that contains the wires to power the transformer. We don't touch those.
Ayep.
The owner/electrician who performed the service work/installation.
He was being a nice guy and covering his ass in the future. :) Not to mention providing you great customer service. A win win win.
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