Ever feel like an idiot?

[wmonroe]

I am putting a new electrical entrance in a barn I had built last summer and had the inspection on it this afternoon. This is not the first time I've done electrical work or the first entrance I've put in so I wasn't really worried about it, first mistake. I have the conduit coming into the bottom left side of the meter box and also have conduit exiting through the left side but on the side not the bottom. The inspector tells me that this will be unacceptable to the power company because they do not like the line & load wires to cross inside the meter box. Now I'm stuck because there are holes in the metal siding where the conduit goes onto the panel inside and where the meter box is screwed in. I'm going to call the power company tomorrow and see if I can talk them into allowing it as is, but the way this company is I'm not holding my breath. The worst part is the inspector told me there is absolutely nothing wrong with it the way it is but they just don't like it that way. Just a little frustrated right now and venting.

 

[Code54]

Good luck - the companies can be fairly stick now a days

 

[JBourquin]

Just put the panel back in the box, tape it shut and return it to Home Depot. Just tell them you never opened it. That's what some jack ***** did in my local Home Depot. Luckily I like to open boxes and inspect things before I buy them. I would have been severely pi$$ed if I had gotten all the way home and opened the box to find that. (my local Home Depot is about 30-45min away)









By the way, that was sarcasm. Please don't do it..

 

[yankeerider]

i do not see why the line and load wires must cross inside the box, although I have never wired a meter box. Can't the line leads enter the box, turn right, go up, turn left, then down to the meter receptacle? Then the load wires exit down, turn left (but still above the incoming line leads), and exit out the left side?

Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

 

[wmonroe]

This is a quick sketch I made up of how the wires come into the meter box. It looks like a crayon drawing but the best i could do quickly on my iPad.

 

[wmonroe]

The picture needs rotated 90* counter clockwise to make sense.


The blue is the box, green would be conduit, red is the wiring, and yellow is the meter lugs where the wire connects.

 

[k0ua]

The picture needs rotated 90* counter clockwise to make sense.


The blue is the box, green would be conduit, red is the wiring, and yellow is the meter lugs where the wire connects.

In my opinion, so don't take this to the bank, it is just an opinion.. but I think it is a bad idea to cross the wires.. a lightning strike could easily perforate the insulation of the crossed wires, and cause a connection between the wires. You could then pull the meter thinking you had de-energized the service to the house and it would not be the case. I would re-do it. I wonder if some of the actual electricians like Grsthegreat or Mace Canute would care to weigh in with their opinions.

James K0UA

 

[hr3]

Did you alter the divider that separates the utility wires from the load wires ???

 

[boxorox]

inspection? what in the world does that mean

 

[Army grunt]

Take it apart an fix it..It will short out, not may, but it will.Its just a learning thing.Patch the holes an get on with it