# Installing new service & weather head.



## BowDown (May 7, 2009)

*Installing new service & weather head. Need design ideas...*

Unfortunately my electrical service has to travel from a pole across the road. NY states that all electrical lines must be 18ft off the road. So in turn my current weather head is mounted at the top of the gable end of my cape. From there the electrical wire runs down the rafter (about 1ft from the sofit), bends around the bottom facia on the corner, then drops down the siding along the outside corner of the house and into the meter box. There's alot of wire that's an eye sore! I can't run a service mast because of the 18ft requirements, and burial would be way too expensive to justify. Not to mention my current meter location doesn't meet code. It's too close to my gas service entrance. 

My current idea is relocating the meter to the front of the house by the outside corner of the siding (around the corner from where it currently is) and then running conduit from the top of the box up to the rafter, then follow the rafter tucked under the sofit till I hit the minimum 18ft height, then install the weather head there. From the bottom of the box I was going to run into conduit, then an LB into my basement. 

Questions are:

-Does this sound acceptable for a 200A service run?
-What material do I need for conduit
-I would imagine SEU cable is not recommended for conduit.. what cable do I need?
-If the cable coming from the bottom of the meter is in conduit till it enters my basement can I continue that cable 6ft to my load center without conduit? Or should I just use SEU out of the bottom of the box and into the basement/load center. 
-I'm open to ideas. If you can think of something better then let me know!


I have included a picture to show the front of my house, and how the electrical is currently run, and what I'm thinking of running is in red.


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## ScottR (Oct 6, 2008)

BowDown said:


> -Does this sound acceptable for a 200A service run?


The only problem I can see is that your new weather head might be too close to that window. I know the existing one is in the same place, but it might be grandfathered in. My POCO has regulations that call for (I forget the exact number) 3-6 ft. to any window from the service feeders. So make sure that location would be OK with local jurisdictions/POCO.



BowDown said:


> -What material do I need for conduit


Sched. 40 PVC, IMC, or RMC.



BowDown said:


> -I would imagine SEU cable is not recommended for conduit.. what cable do I need?


If you're using SEU, then you don't need conduit except where the cable can be damaged. It should not be run in conduit, but a short portion in conduit for protection is allowed (e.g. above and below the meter pan). <-- I'm 90% sure of this.

If you want to do conduit the whole way, THWN.



BowDown said:


> -If the cable coming from the bottom of the meter is in conduit till it enters my basement can I continue that cable 6ft to my meter box without conduit?


If it's SEU, yes. THWN needs to be in conduit the whole way. *Edit: I read the last part of that sentence as "to my main panel without conduit".*

_Your local jurisdiction, POCO, etc. might have different requirements, so be sure to check with them before doing anything.._


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## BowDown (May 7, 2009)

Good call on the window. I will double-check that. 

I was thinking that conduit is less of an eye sore than SEU. I'm planning on painting the conduit white prior to installation. That way it will hopefully blend in. If I could run SEU in about 3ft of conduit that would be great... Just enough length to get out of the bottom of the meter box and into my basement. 

I would imagine that I can secure the SEU to the bottom of the floor joists until I make the turn towards the panel?

One other potential issue. Is there any guide lines with running SEU close to PVC sewer pipe? My city sewer hookups in the basement are pretty close to where I would enter with the SEU? If so I would imagine just continuing conduit to the load center would get around this?


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## BowDown (May 7, 2009)

ScottR said:


> *Edit: I read the last part of that sentence as "to my main panel without conduit".*



You are correct. I ment the main panel/load center.


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## ScottR (Oct 6, 2008)

I was just looking @ the NEC, and I was wrong: Schedule 80 PVC, not 40.



BowDown said:


> If I could run SEU in about 3ft of conduit that would be great... Just enough length to get out of the bottom of the meter box and into my basement.


Should be OK..



BowDown said:


> I would imagine that I can secure the SEU to the bottom of the floor joists until I make the turn towards the panel?


So long as you're running parallel to the joist or up near the wall/sill plate, and not running perpendicular across the joists in the middle of the room..



BowDown said:


> One other potential issue. Is there any guide lines with running SEU close to PVC sewer pipe? My city sewer hookups in the basement are pretty close to where I would enter with the SEU? If so I would imagine just continuing conduit to the load center would get around this?


Nothing to prohibit that AFAIK.. Again, local codes might say something about it.


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## BowDown (May 7, 2009)

ScottR said:


> So long as you're running parallel to the joist or up near the wall/sill plate, and not running perpendicular across the joists in the middle of the room..


Ok. It would be about 2ft from the sill across about 3 joists.. then take a 90 towards the sill plate, and down into the load center. Would you advise conduit for that run? I can't just bore a 2.5" hole into my 2x8 floor joists.


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## ScottR (Oct 6, 2008)

Not sure if I'm picturing it correctly.. Is your panel below where your meter is currently? Can you just keep the SEU up against the sill, around the corner until you hit the panel, or is there an obstruction?

If you have to go across the joists, put it in conduit.. But then you can't use SEU and it's conduit all the way.


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## Jim Port (Sep 21, 2007)

Around here the power company tells you where they want the meter and attachment point. Have you checked with them to see if they will allow you to move the meter?

Looking at the picture it looks like you could just reconfigure the SE cable if they allowed the socket to be moved.

The NEC requires the unfused cable entering the building to be "as short as practical". Check with your building department to see if they have a limit on the cable length. Or like someone else suggested, just change the load side cable out of the socket and run it outside around the corner.

Protection is only required if subject to physical damage.


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## BowDown (May 7, 2009)

I have to replace the current cable (0/2) with 0/4. Hoping to do all the rough in prior to ordering the disconnect. 

Yes the cable coming out of my exsisting meter drops down, then pokes through 1 joist over from where my old panel is. I'm going to be installing my new panel in the same location as my old one. 

The power company came out and did a survey back when I had the idea of doing a service mast. Then they gave me a link to their ESB750 guide manual. The manual is some 400 pages and I have been sifting though it as I go. But I figured by posting here I could get some ideas from other people that have been down the same road as me. Once I get a game plan down I can then refer back to the manual to confirm the details are within POCO code. 

They did say that my current location is too close to the gas meter and that I should move it to the edge of the corner, or put the meter onto the front of the house. 

I guess I could wrap the SEU around the block foundation from the new meter location to the old entry point.. but wouldn't that look pretty amateur? Not to mention what kind of bend would I have to put in 0/4 in order to make that corner clean?


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## BowDown (May 7, 2009)

ScottR said:


> Can you just keep the SEU up against the sill, around the corner until you hit the panel?


Ya, I could poke through on the front of the house under the new meter, then continue the SEU against the outer joist, then ride the edge of the sill till i get to the panel.


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## BowDown (May 7, 2009)

Old basement picture. Best one I got. The washer is on the front wall of the house, load center on right next to basement window.


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## ScottR (Oct 6, 2008)

BowDown said:


> Ya, I could poke through on the front of the house under the new meter, then continue the SEU against the outer joist, then ride the edge of the sill till i get to the panel.


I think that's the best (easiest) bet.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but is that white drain trap above the panel, or to the right of it?

On a separate topic, are those waste pipes ABS with PVC fittings?


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## BowDown (May 7, 2009)

ScottR said:


> It's hard to tell from the picture, but is that white drain trap above the panel, or to the right of it?
> 
> On a separate topic, are those waste pipes ABS with PVC fittings?


Ya that picture really kinda skews things. The trap is about 5ft away from the panel. The load center is about 4ft away from the corner of the block foundation. 

Ya, they mixed black/white plumbing pipe on the waste. It's all piece mealed together.


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## johnnyboy (Oct 8, 2007)

Here's the installation guide for the Ohio Illuminating Company, your local poco should have something similar available but it gives you more information than you'll ever need, start looking at about page 44

http://www.firstenergycorp.com/Builders_and_Contractors/files/Form%20115%20%28Rev%20%2011%2008%29.pdf


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## Magnettica (Jan 13, 2009)

Judging from the picture of the basement, you may not have the required 30" of play you need to relocate the panel onto that wall. You may be able to leave the panel where it is now and NOT be forced to install the main disconnecting means on the outside of the house (it needs to be located either on the outside or the closest point of entrance). Relocating the meter shouldn't be a problem but the panel in the basement might be. If I were you I would check with the electrical inspector first before doing anything.


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## BowDown (May 7, 2009)

Magnettica said:


> Judging from the picture of the basement, you may not have the required 30" of play you need to relocate the panel onto that wall. You may be able to leave the panel where it is now and NOT be forced to install the main disconnecting means on the outside of the house (it needs to be located either on the outside or the closest point of entrance). Relocating the meter shouldn't be a problem but the panel in the basement might be. If I were you I would check with the electrical inspector first before doing anything.


Well I'm not going to relocate the main panel. I'm going to reuse the existing location (new mounting board, but same spot). I just need to relocate the meter because of gas line clearance. 

I don't even want to know what kind of pain it would be moving the main panel and having to lengthen wires.


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## Speedy Petey (Feb 1, 2004)

I will say is that what you propose will be fine. 
No need to move the existing point of attachment or weather head.
SEU or PVC40 will be fine from the WH down into the panel. No conduit is necessary. Some local amendments may override this, such as NYC or LI.

Also, who told you the meter location was illegal? If you asked me I would say that the gas meter was illegal, not the electric meter. I bet the electric meter was there first.

Where are you located in NYS?


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## BowDown (May 7, 2009)

National Grid representative. I called them looking to get more information on disconnect/reconnect. So they sent someone out while I was at work. After talking with him he said that the meter location does not pass code. It's not the minimum 18" away from the gas service. But after looking at the chart that shows how to measure it.. I believe it is. Maybe that's why they put the elec meter so high off the ground. To get the 18" clearance.

I'm in Rome.


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

If it's pre-existing I don't think you have to change it ?


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## BowDown (May 7, 2009)

Well I'm sure I could try and grandfather the location in.. but there's no plywood mounting board there so once I remove it you shouldn't see any evidence of it ever being there. Not to mention I'm trying to clean up the service wire. I hate how it's run now. Just an eyesore.


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

Last house we had very low wires - 1 floor ranch
They had installed a metal pipe to raise the service up
I still worried about a truck taking down my feed

The nighbors house had their feed hidden in a soffit under the gable
It was that way for years, not sure if that meets code tho


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## BowDown (May 7, 2009)

I hear ya. After taking some measurements and plotting out some cad lines I realized I would need a 6ft section of service mast poking through my overhang just to get to the 18ft minimum. That's about 2ft over max length.


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## jimmy21 (Jul 2, 2008)

If it were me I would run the whole thing in imc. You could probably get an exhaust shop or something to bend the pipe


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## BowDown (May 7, 2009)

jimmy21 said:


> If it were me I would run the whole thing in imc. You could probably get an exhaust shop or something to bend the pipe


I guess I could see that. Would still want to paint it though. Nothing like having a shiny galvanized pipe going most of the way up the rafter on your house.


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## ScottR (Oct 6, 2008)

BowDown said:


> I hear ya. After taking some measurements and plotting out some cad lines I realized I would need a 6ft section of service mast poking through my overhang just to get to the 18ft minimum. That's about 2ft over max length.


Ouch..



BowDown said:


> I guess I could see that. Would still want to paint it though. Nothing like having a shiny galvanized pipe going most of the way up the rafter on your house.


I'd think that PVC would hold paint better than galvi, but I'm not sure..


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