Renovating my house in the suburbs

[MossRoad]

Couple of questions...

- Why do they require a new wire from the street?
- Instead of cutting the driveway and trenching, can't someone do a horizontal boring? The cable company does horizontal boring in our neighborhood all the time instead of the overhead wires. The go right under the street, driveways, etc.... takes them less than an hour most times. So, it might be something for you to look at.
- When I had to go under my driveway for a sprinkler line, I dug a trench on one side perpendicular to the driveway and used a piece of plastic water pipe connected to a garden hose and jetted under the driveway. I left the 3/4" piece of pipe and used it as a conduit for the sprinkler line. Is that something that is possible for you?
- When we moved our electric meter from one side of the house around the corner to the adjacent side for aesthetic reasons, we put in a new electrical panel about 4 feet from the old panel. We pulled the old panel feed from the meter back into the house and fed it from a double pole breaker in the new panel. Then we fed the new panel to a new disconnect outside under the meter with new wiring. This allowed us to then install new wiring into new breakers in the new panel at our own pace. It was nice that I could kill the old panel without killing the entire house. Or, I could pull the disconnect under the meter, and kill the new panel to work in there safely. Since we were not adding any circuits, only replacing existing ones, no permits were required, only an inspection.

 

[airbiscuit]

When you move a panel like that, how do you deal with existing wires being too short to make it to the new panel?

 

[MossRoad]

When you move a panel like that, how do you deal with existing wires being too short to make it to the new panel?

We didn't move the old panel. We left it in place.

I installed all new wiring for the appliance circuits (washer/dryer, dish washer, well pump, air conditioner, furnace) first, as I wanted them off the old panel, as they draw the biggest loads. I did not re-use any of the old wire on any of those circuits. As I go along, I remove the old breakers and cover the blank spaces in the old box.

For circuits that I didn't want to replace completely, like lighting and receptacles, I traced the wire back to the first outlet or fixture, and ran new wire from there to the new panel.

Really, the only advantage to doing it this way was that I could take as long as I wanted to move circuits off the old box and onto the new one. It's been 25 years, and I still have a couple left on the old box. :laughing:

 

[airbiscuit]

You must be good at fishing.

 

[dragoneggs]

Not mandatory but basically nobody here will work on them and everybody says they're a fire risk due to some issue with overloaded circuits not tripping and some falsified UL testing back in the day. Mine trips just fine. Maybe it's just a local racket to keep the electric contractors happy?

When I bought our house, the home inspector said the FP panel should go. I negotiated the house price down to swap the panel and add a mechanical interlock for a generator.

 

[dstig1]

The beams look really good! :thumbsup:

 

[Muhammad]

Couple of questions...

- Why do they require a new wire from the street?
- Instead of cutting the driveway and trenching, can't someone do a horizontal boring? The cable company does horizontal boring in our neighborhood all the time instead of the overhead wires. The go right under the street, driveways, etc.... takes them less than an hour most times. So, it might be something for you to look at.
- When I had to go under my driveway for a sprinkler line, I dug a trench on one side perpendicular to the driveway and used a piece of plastic water pipe connected to a garden hose and jetted under the driveway. I left the 3/4" piece of pipe and used it as a conduit for the sprinkler line. Is that something that is possible for you?
- When we moved our electric meter from one side of the house around the corner to the adjacent side for aesthetic reasons, we put in a new electrical panel about 4 feet from the old panel. We pulled the old panel feed from the meter back into the house and fed it from a double pole breaker in the new panel. Then we fed the new panel to a new disconnect outside under the meter with new wiring. This allowed us to then install new wiring into new breakers in the new panel at our own pace. It was nice that I could kill the old panel without killing the entire house. Or, I could pull the disconnect under the meter, and kill the new panel to work in there safely. Since we were not adding any circuits, only replacing existing ones, no permits were required, only an inspection.

The issue is with the permitting process and inspections. The building code here specifies that all panel replacements are "upgrades" regardless of whether you're actually upgrading it or keeping the same amperage. All upgrades must follow current building code. Building code says you can't use the same conduit to run a new line. So it must be a new line. New trench. New conduit. 3 feet down. It also has to pass a feeder test so any 90 degree angles that catch the wire would fail. I think the whole ordeal involves five inspections.

Yeah one could just replace it without a permit and then if it ever failed and caused a fire your homeowners insurance would deny your claim.

Things are locked down pretty tight here. Can't touch much on your house without a permit. Technically moving one light fixture requires a permit.

 

[MossRoad]

You must be good at fishing.

I worked in I.T. for 30 years in a 140+ year old building.

Small drill bits, long stiff wires for probing, 5' flexible drill bit, fish tape, and a big old tub of joint compound!

 

[MossRoad]

The issue is with the permitting process and inspections. The building code here specifies that all panel replacements are "upgrades" regardless of whether you're actually upgrading it or keeping the same amperage. All upgrades must follow current building code. Building code says you can't use the same conduit to run a new line. So it must be a new line. New trench. New conduit. 3 feet down. It also has to pass a feeder test so any 90 degree angles that catch the wire would fail. I think the whole ordeal involves five inspections.

Yeah one could just replace it without a permit and then if it ever failed and caused a fire your homeowners insurance would deny your claim.

Things are locked down pretty tight here. Can't touch much on your house without a permit. Technically moving one light fixture requires a permit.

YIKES!

 

[coldsteelva]

I worked in I.T. for 30 years in a 140+ year old building.

Small drill bits, long stiff wires for probing, 5' flexible drill bit, fish tape, and a big old tub of joint compound!

Corollary to the adage "Shoot, Shovel, Shut up" : "Poke, Pull, Plaster" - nothing to see here.