Residential service entrance power drop repair?

[John E.]

The weatherhead was yanked off the service entrance conduit extending from the roof by a fallen branch. The ground / neutral conductor of the power drop broke a few strands, and the strain relief / insulator for the ground / neutral cable is broken.

I'm going to do this myself. I called the power company to ask about how the disconnect/reconnect happens during the repair. The guy tried to answer my question but ultimately didn't.

I want to replace the broken items and the conductors that go to the load panel. I want to keep the load panel, old as it is, and all other salvageable components because in the spring the house is going to be bulldozed to make way for a new home, and it's not worth it to replace it.

The power guy said that power isn't turned off, per se, but that it is disconnected from the old conductors and connected to the new ones by the power company crew. I said that I didn't understand how this could be the case if I want to replace the conductors in the conduit, but we couldn't seem to get to where he understood what I was asking.

How is power disconnect / reconnect handled if one is replacing the conductors, and not installing a new load panel / conduit, etc. From my phone call experience, it seems like the power company hardly comes across a repair question such as this.

This is in Maryland.

Thanks,

[John Grabowski]

As an electrician I would disconnect the power company's overhead conductors from the conductors running down the side of the house while they are HOT. I would replace and fix everything necessary from the point of attachment on the house down to the main panel. I would then reconnect the overhead conductors to the conductors on the house while they are HOT. Depending on the power company here in NJ they would either do nothing or come out to inspect and then send their own crew to reconnect to their own standards. It is rare that the overhead conductors would ever be disconnected at the transformer so that they would be dead when being connected to the service conductors running down the house.

That is because this work is usually done by a qualified professional.

[noemailaddress]

It seems like it would be easier to take a high powered rifle, blow a hole in the transformer and before the electric company replaces the transformer, fix your wires without any power going to them. If you peneterate the transformer core windings with your shot, you will get quite an exciting fireworks display. Dont forget to tell them about the kid that you almost caught when he was shooting in the alley.