Unlocking electric meter box -- water problem

[Ed Pawlowski]

Depends on the area. Where I live (CT) and work (MA) the utilities do nothing after the meter.

[micky]

I guess they added that after people like you and me started opening the box ourselves.

Last week I got a smart meter. My doorbell was covered with ivy and he says he knocked. I think I heard him knock on t he next townhouse after he had already installed mine. He said if I wanted they would take out the smart meter and put in the old style.

What gets me is that when I didn't pay on time, they took a long time to disconnect me, but now they can do so with the blip of an electron. They may not wait as long. Of course they might reconnect more quickly. I doubt they will charge less.

[micky]

Where do you live. lhd = Lower Hydrangea. Didn't the Marx brothers do a movie there?

[micky]

You found a way to stop the rain!

Attach a mirror, pointing down, to a helium balloon. Then you can see the top from above. Let me know if this works.

[micky]

YOu're right. I thought that was the dryer vent.

"Oops, looks like you left some lights on this month, here's

[Stormin Mormon]

Yep, I thought of doing that too. But, since I did the knockout trick etc., I didn't end up needing to drill a hole.

[DerbyDad03]

If it's a downhill slope, an opening in the jacket might still let the water flow out.

Perhaps you could force a drip loop (it wouldn't need much) along the run to coax the water to flow to the slit.

[John Grabowski]

*Try inserting an allen wrench inside of the small hole in the center of the barrel and turning it. That what they use when I need a lock removed. If it is too rusted, they cut it off with an angle grinder. Shoot some Liquid Wrench in there before trying to remove it. One thing though, removal of the lock could be construed as meter tampering.

You may not see much evidence of water in the meter. The water could be traveling down the service entrance cable from the top at the weatherhead and continue down into the basement. Older cloth type service entrance cable can absorb water and that will also drip down into the electric panel.

Some cures for this are to replace the service entrance cable and weatherhead, caulk the existing weatherhead, caulk the top of the meter socket where the cable enters the connector.

[TomR]

I did think about that, and I guess it is still a possibility as I think more about it. I knew I couldn't/shouldn't do that on the outside of the house because that could give rain water a new way to get inside the feed wire. The only other place would be the two feet or so inside the house from where it enters the house to the top of the main service panel. It would have to be in a part of the run that is not above the main panel so it wouldn't drip onto the panel -- and that location is pretty hard to get to. I'm sure I'll want to try other options first, since keeping the water from getting inside the feed wire in the first place would be the best solution.

But, if I do end up trying this, maybe I could put a tiny slit along the bottom and put a small piece of cloth tape (or tie a small piece of cloth) there to cause the water to drip there and not run down the outside of the feed and into the main panel. Or, maybe do the slit idea and wrap a little Ductseal around the feed below that point to create a drip point.

I do know all of the above is a little hokey to do or try, and I think that finding the source of the problem would be better. But, while it was pouring rain outside and the problem was active and dangerous, and I couldn't get the utility company to come out there, doing one of the above tricks may have worked or helped -- at least temporarily.

I did look when the problem was happening, as well as afterward, and there just is zero slack or ability to create a drip loop in the line itself. I wish I could have done that, and if I could, that probably would have been one of the first things I did.

I appreciate the suggestions.

[TomR]

Just out of curiosity, I'll probably try that in the next day or two. I don't have small allen wrenches (I have them, but can't find them), but a friend has them and I'll borrow his and see what happens.

Before posting my original post, I did some searches online and found one YouTube video that looked like a possibility:

.

That actually doesn't look like what I have, but it gave me the idea to try pushing something in to try to "spread the pin apart" (if there is one, which I doubt). That didn't work.

My service entrance cable is newer and is plastic, not cloth, and looks like it is in perfect condition. I'll look more up top (from the ground, since I am not going up there) to see if I see any possible problem areas up there.

I am going to do all of the "caulk the top of the meter socket where the cable enters the connector" stuff, and related caulking in and around the meter box, today. It would be great if that solves the problem, but I'll have to wait for more rain to know for sure.

[The Daring Dufas]

There are some cray-zee futher muckers out there making illegal power hookups for a price and getting themselves prison terms when they're caught. Guess where it happens a lot? ^_^

TDD

[DerbyDad03]

...and there are some homeowners that don't put up with it.

It's the 2 legged dogs you have to worry about.

[TomR]

Thanks. No, mine does not go through the roof -- it's on the side of the house.

[The Daring Dufas]

If I were on the jury, I would explain "jury nullification" to my fellow jurors and convince them to set the hero free. ^_^

TDD

[TomR]

Okay, I looked again today, and it turns out that there is about a 2-foot horizontal run of the service cable from where it comes into the house to the top of the main service panel. I tried pulling down on that run in the middle and I was able to get it to bow down just a little in the middle of that run. So, I did that, and I went a head and put a tiny slit in the insulation in the bottom of the bow. I did it as a "just-in-case-it-helps" maneuver thinking that maybe that will create a new drip point before the main service panel if I don't get the real cause of the problem solved.

Meanwhile, I caulked the heck out of the top and sides of the meter box and all of the entrance fittings on top etc. using clear 100% silicone caulk. The next time we have a heavy rain, I'll see if any of these ideas worked.

[bob haller]

try using a garden hose, beging down low to find out where the leak is

[hrhofmann]

ide quoted text -

The hose idea just popped into my mind, also, when I read what the OP wrote about the rain having stopped. The trick will be to go upward very slowly because it will take some time for the water to reach visibility from wherever it actually enters, and if the OP goes too fast, he will come up with the wrong location for the water to be coming in.

[Mr.E]

Years as an electrical inspector allowed me to see many leaks. Most common problem is seal between the top hub and the cable jacket. Easy to fix by tightening the hub nut and coating the joints with silicone or duct seal compound. An often overlooked problem is the splices and wiring being above the cable weatherhead. Water will wick right down the stranding. Fix is to lower the splices below the weatherhead and have all conductors rise to enter the weatherhead. Water will exit the wiring before entering the weatherhead. Some people seal the sides and bottom of the socket. A leak at the top will force water into the socket. If water entry is because of a missing hub-to-socket gasket, silicone will usually seal the screws and the hub body.

[Mr.E]

One further note, see if the meter to socket door has a gasket or seal. This can allow a lot of water into the socket. Duct seal will seal this joint without hardening or gluing the door to the meter. Good vinyl tape can also be used to seal this joint carefully.

[The Daring Dufas]

On 6/10/2013 6:28 AM, Mr.E wrote:

Back in the 90's one of my customers who owned a beauty shop in a nice commercial building had the power knocked out in a storm. A tree landed on the drop between the pole and building. The drop came in at an angle and when the line was hit, the hub broke and the 2" conduit pivoted around the center pipe clamp and cut the wires off like scissors at the top of the meter box. Needless to say, a lot of fireworks ensued. I went back in with a 400 amp 3ø service that was a lot of work so I ran the shop on a rented 60kw diesel genset until the new service was ready for the power company. The new service came into a 4" rigid attached to the block wall with four sections of Unistrut reinforced on the inside of the CMU wall with 3/4" plywood and thick fender washers. The customer's husband insisted on a stronger service entrance and I accommodated him. I ran the service entrance through the wall with an LB into a wire trough with the service entrance cables running the length of the trough and capped off with heat-shrink caps. Connections were made with the equivalent of Buchanan B-TAP® Insulation Piercing Tap Connectors to tie in several breaker panels. It was a large beauty shop with a lot of hair dryers and a 10 ton rooftop AC unit. It had quite an electrical load so the 400 amp service was adequate. If my memory hasn't failed me, I think it had a newer 400 amp 3ø feed through meter instead of a CT meter. I sealed the weather head with duct seal along with the top and sides of the meter box. The LB through the wall was sealed with expanding foam like "Great Stuff". I never had any water get through the electrical service. I need to drive by there and see how it's held up after all these years. ^_^

TDD