when cutting a live line wire, always have control of the live end wire you are cutting with one hand. you see as he cuts the wire, he doesn't, and an open ended live wire springs towards him. that wire can spring any direction, including towards a grounded bare wire and arc flash in your face. see about 4:10
And what bozo would ever REMOVE 3 phase power?? Most people WISH they had 3 phase power (ok, not most, but anyone that wants to run large woodworking or metalworking equipment, or have multiple ev's charging). I've watched 2 or 3 of this guy's videos, and it's just upcharge upcharge upcharge for everything! I'm pretty sure if you sent this guy to a single woman in a brand new house, he'd come up with at least 4 or 5 grand of "stuff that needs to be done". More and more tradespeople are becoming sleazy scammers up selling dumb people all the time, and this guy is just proliferating and popularizing that culture.
@@gorak9000 I kind of agree with this. What happens when they want to use a massive condensing unit for their air conditioning needs? 3-phase is really nice for this!
@@fitybux4664 Haha, like a 15 ton commercial package unit a restaurant or store would use? With 3 stages of cooling? You could turn your house into an ice factory and sell bagged ice out of the garage. I think there's huge markup in bagged ice - lots of profit to be made there!
I did exactly opposite of this to a guys house. He had single phase and three phase at his house. Three phase was for his machine shop in the garage. I disconnected the single phase and ran it off the 3 phase avoiding the high leg. Now he just has the one electric bill and can still use his machine shop.
yeah, I think it was rather stupid and the utility providers are braindead, especially with the big (idiotic push) for electric vehicles(they want you to take pubic transportation and be slaves). Although I do say high leg delta spells disaster for residential hacks, I blame the utility for even providing such, right back to when that hackery was installed as new work.
@@throttlebottle5906Utility here regularly provides center tapped delta to houses. Large portions of the primary wiring are corner grounded with only 2 wires, 3rd phase goes through the ground. No way to balance with single phase loads because you can't attach a transformer to the ground. So all houses on those streets are 3 phase. Some are Delta on the secondary side, some are wye. Power company will not provide wye unless requested and at least a 200 amp service, even then they would rather install Delta. It's just a non issue if clearly marked, which our utility requires. My house right now has 100a open Delta, we are going to upgrade to at least 200 amps, and our house is in an area that is otherwise entirely industrial zoned, aside from 3 houses, so the power company will give us wye service, since its already there. Entire reason for choosing the house that we did was the 3 phase power. Nothing else was a factor in buying a house.
Watching him struggle to put the 500kcmil was a pretty good show. Mule tape in the conduit, assemble the weather-head on the ground, make a point on the end of the line, lube it up and pull from top to bottom.
Wow, interesting to see the huge dimensions used in US installations but that service drop sure looks like a toilet drain pipe :O Over here in Sweden we typically have 400/230V three phase and a 3 x 16 A or 3 x 25 A service would be typical for a residential unit. That would be about equivalent to a 60 A or 100 A split phase US service, considering we use IEC rated fuses/breakers where the rating is the maximum continuous while the US has another style ratings were fuses/breakers need to be rated 125% of the continuous load. In any case 240 V 400 A is quite impressive for residential use. I can't imagine needing upwards of 100 kW at home...
Shockingly compelling video even for just a diy homeowner that would never touch any of this. Definitely going to feel more comfortable hiring out/keeping an eye on a similar job.
Gotta say I’ve met and encountered many Electrical contractors and you have to be the most chill and respectful one I’ve seen. If I lived out near your company I’d apply no problem.
I have the attention span of a fruit fly, and when I saw that the video was almost an hour and a half I thought, "No way", but I got hooked! And as a non-electrician, I think I understood most of it!
Excellent video! The only complaint I have with this one is the video cut short and we never got to see the finished product! I'm not an electrician, but watching your videos has increased my knowledge a great deal. I hope other electricians are watching and learning. Your clean work and fine attention to detail are second to none. I wish we had your equivalent here in South Jersey!
@@craigslaunwhite579 especially since he kinda mislead the guy on the phone, it didn’t look like a simple reconnect, might have needed a new anchor point higher up on the building and maybe longer triplex.
You have to be out of your mind to use an aluminum ladder. Been retired from my business for 30 years , but even in "the old days" we used ONLY fibreglass ladders. Still in my old age I don't own an aluminum ladder
I understand the satisfaction you must get from completing a job like this one. As a construction superintendent (retired) I always counted on my electrical subs to be part of the top rung of my construction coordination crew. You look to be a credit to your trade. Good on you.
Another thing... split phase is 180 degrees apart so the voltages directly add, but tapping off of 3 phase the phases are 120 degrees apart (as you mention) and without the math in that case the difference is 208 volts instead of 240. Most, but not all, 240 appliances will work properly on 208. Apartment buildings frequently do this. In the case of this house that's what they always had so there won't be any new problems. The Tesla charger will charge 208/240 or 13% slower than if it were on 240.
This is commonly misunderstood. They were working on a highleg open delta system with 2 transformers providing 3phase. The primary transformer will be 240v with a grounded center tap. L1 to Neutral is 120v, L2 to Neutral is 120v, L3 (high leg) to Neutral is 208v. This is not a typical Y or corner grounded delta configuration. As for the 120 degree comment, its hard to think about but L1 to L2 is still 180 degrees out of phase. There is a great video by Clough42 titled "Does a rotary phase converter actually make real 3-phase power? (120 Degrees)" that explains how the vector math works and even shows it using an Oscilloscope. It feels like magic sometimes! Cheers
Yea you really have to study vectors to understand why certain voltages dont add up when combined. He mentions each leg of the phase is 120 degrees apart alternating and it adds up to 240 volts but that is wrong. Single phase residential is simple because 180 degrees makes voltage add directly as you mentioned.
You should have used plastic sheathing when coring through those exterior walls. In this case that red material is going to be leaching and staining for quite a while. Also it would be nice to have a clean rag to wipe off stuff that you're installing.
When I saw that humungous meter box I wondered why it was so big, but after seeing how the connections had to be made with that massive wire, I realized that he needed the space to do it. Aesthetically it's not great but it's necessary, and once the cosmetic work is done it won't be too much of a sore thumb.
Where I live, we just do it ourselves. Buy what you need. Get everything connected. And just make the connections necessary from the drop to the service. Get power on..... that's the main thing. Call for inspection, and then the power company can come whenever.
Your comments at around 40:00 are spot on about doing more than just double checks on work done by ANYONE. We're currently dealing with paying out a LOT (possibly with insurance if covered) for mold remediation and foundation waterproofing because a contractor, his subcontractors, AND the city inspectors all missed the proper waterproofing that should have been done around some below-grade parking and adjacent living space on a new build, and it's out of pocket/insurance if covered because the problem became a problem after 10 years due to it being southern California without a ton of annual rain to expose the problem. Same build, second house of a duplex, his subcontracted a/c guys missed that they installed an access for coil repairs that was inaccessible, and the inspectors missed it too. It's frustrating but a great excuse to apologize to people when I feel the need to check on work that people are doing and stick my nose around.
Request: I haven't checked your youtube page yet, but I would like to see you install a 1) tesla powerwall, 2) a generator, 3) a nema 14-50, 4) a solar power solution (a combination powerwall and solar power solution would be nice). I guess that's it. Maybe a well too. Thanks for your great videos.
This is by far one of the best panel changeout videos I've seen yet. Great editing, commentary, shots, nothing is overblown in 1 section. I would've thought you had at least 500k subscribers. Excellent video!
Keep doing a good job take pride in your work people will remember that maybe 10 or 20 years down the road but they won't forget I had customers that wouldn't allow anyone else on their property even if I were busy they would wait
Fantastic video. Hardest part of being an electrician is talking to the utility company in my opinion lol. Side note, I try to be really careful with my wording describing single phase residential power. each ungrounded conductor is “line 1” and “line 2” not “phase 1” and “phase 2”. each line is not 180 deg out of phase, though it can be plotted that way with neutral as the common reference b/c your leads switch directions). If it really was out of phase you would get 120v from each line to neutral and 0v between L1 and L2
To be cold, busy, and wet it really does take a lot of extra effort to stop and explain things to the camera. Appreciate the video. Only thing I didn’t like was 1/4” tap cons for the heavy cabinet
Very interesting... you're allowed to cut the connections and pull the meter. In the UK, we are, in our area, allowed to do the same (if registered electrical contractors with appropriate qualifications). That's quite rare in the UK though, but also a bit of a grey area, like you say, a wild wild west scenario, and yep, we get the same with smart meter fitters, who, when faced with an unusual meter, they're clueless! And absolutely right re: rusty tools. It's odd that you're not allowed to reconnect if you're allowed to disconnect. We can obtain temporary seals from the DNO (distribution network operator, power company) and reinstate power to the building once our work is done. We have to use insulated tools at all times. Ref: proving dead, here we have to use a proving unit (portable power source of around 240v or higher) to show the tester is working, then test the lines, then test the tester again... bit overkill, but better that than killing a worker! Love watching electrical content from other countries. The USA is the most different from UK practice, but the rules of physics don't change, and 25 ohms is on a ground rod...quite a low value. Easily obtainable in wet/clay soil, but good luck in rocky areas!
By pull the meter, i mean the UK equivalent, which is to pull the service cutout fuse which is before the meter, and then open the terminal cover on the meter etc, although, confusingly, the meter is owned by a different company than the DNO these days, because.... ugh
Great video again! If you have to pull stiff wires like these huge incoming wires through conduit, it may be easier to tape them together in a staggered manner to a pull-cord, to get a pointy end and then add some lubricant to them to make them slide easily through the bends in the conduit. Finally suck the pull-cord with a sponge attached with lubricant in it through the conduit to prime it and also to fiddle the cord through the conduit … happy pulling 🤓
In California we install the first 10' ground rod right under the main then 6' apart with exposed #6 armored ground and tied up to the gas main and not the water main because is mostly plastic water piping now..!
I always anchor my conduit within foot of the connector.....seeing your conduit, I would have put one in the center just for added support. you do excellent work....great job as always
I would love to see pictures of the massive pushmatic panel that was swapped out. Also I sure hope the disconnects were reused and not scrapped. Those disconnects looked well built and still usable. I would have personally kept the disconnects in between the meter and distribution panels instead of replacing them with combination main breaker/distribution panels. Also going from copper feeders to aluminum seems like a downgrade. I would not be very happy about that as a home owner. If I had the same setup as the owner I would have likely just swapped out the rusted out meter base and frayed feeder wires of the single phase service and swapped out the pushmatic panel for a square D QO series panel. Going from 2x 200 amp services with copper feeders where one of them is three phase to a single 400 amp single phase service with aluminum feeders is a downgrade in my opinion.
Man, I would love to have 3 phase in my garage. Seems like such a shame to get rid of it. I understand though, the new homeowner doesn't have a use for it.
@@fredashay If it was good enough to be there initially, it's probably good enough to be there now, unless you're a ripoff electrician looking to scam old single women with scare tactics into paying for work they don't need. Most contractors are sleazy jerks, and this guy is no exception
Dude. I love your laughter...I subbed just for that...but damn, you're the Encyclopedia Britannica of electrical work. You're like a chill college professor!
There's no dissipating current during a ground fault. The current returns to the source which is the transfer via the grounded conductor (neutral) since ground and neutral are bonded at the first means of disconnect. This in turn results in a very high current draw due to there being very little resistance between the hot and ground conductors which will quickly cause the breaker to trip.
@@whattheschmidt Nope.. Lighting hits a pole.. It will seek the source. The source being the Transformer. Why you are required to install Ground Wires back too the service panel.. Why you fuse every light pole. So it one transformer goes out. You don't take them all down. And you know which Pole is the culprit..
by 45:44, leave the threaded rod long, fasten it in place then cut off excess with saw( minimal metal shaving flying) no grinder, except for unfinished building. dress the end by hand with a "metal file". but there should be no need to clean the end threads or install/remove it multiple times, if it's installed in it's final position from start.
The power penetration through the top of the Meter Can was not a good decision. You should penetrated from side. Avoiding the use one elbow and will make the setting looks more neat and easy to pull the service cables.
1:17:07 FYI you got your neutral reversed as to the pairing of the hots. Or to put it more simply keeping left and right separated and going to the same direction makes it easier to inspect if they land all on the same side. It's not a major thing but it's good practice.
You missed that he used too much white tape on the left neutral and too little white tape on the right neutral. The upper neutral was just right, Surprised you missed that.
@@FreeAmerican-mm2my well it would be tidier and neater to have the exact measurement of tape that is not critical as long as it's labeled. I probably could've pointed it out a little differently I was referring to having the cables coming from the left and the cables coming from the bottom onto the same side of the lugs for a quick identification. You're probably one of those people would I be right in assuming who would lift up the storm drain cover with a line across it and rotated 90° or put one tile in a pattern out of order? Sure it doesn't matter if it's on the correct leg but the next guy is gonna open it up and go one out of three they could've all been on the same side. Was that an insult? It's those little things that make a neat installation, that shows somebody professional did it and was paying attention to the details. The length of the tape doesn't show that as much and might've been done by an apprentice? I would say the tape is not under done nor is it over done although it is a large amount of tape, it's also not the whole roll.
Joel, I understand if you can't answer this, but how does the utility justify not upgrading the utility drop from the transformer to larger conductors when going from the 3-phase high-leg delta to a single split-phase? There's not enough information in your video to work out the potential max current draw on the different phases for the old service, but just by the seat-of-my-pants it seems like there would be potentially greater currents with the new split-phase service, especially given that it's two 200A "services" and that the loads may not be evenly balanced between the split phases given the two services. On the other hand, I know utilities typically undersize open-air conductor size, figuring that conductor heating will be much less of a factor than if the conductors were enclosed in a conduit. (I realize that this is the utility's problem -- just looking for your insight.)
I know that here in Indiana the utility companies want the wire smaller so that if there’s a problem it will melt the wires at the connections rather than burning the building down. I’ve had to replace the wires from meter to insulated because the first foot or so of #2 wires were damaged going to transformer, I just added enough wire coming out of weather-head to make up the difference. I really think it was a loose connection that made the insulation get melted and damaged. No issues with it since.
This is the first video I have seen of yours I like this stuff alot and you TEACH not just trade knowledge but code thanks brother you ever need another employee I would be honored! Take care brother and thank you!
I would not cut the neutral of the 3phase feed, since it was shared service to the single phase feed! why? because there could poor binding and back-feed paths from service to service. unhook all the power hot legs for both services, then cut the neutrals whilst praying the utility doesn't have a ground loop! they had exactly that issue close to here years ago, a huge ground loop about 10 mile radius and it was all relying upon grounding via homes/business/pole grounds, as things got unhooked and changes were made the neutral to ground potential increased, until it was so bad people were getting shocked all over and an industrial complex complained to them for years. they finally found and admitted to the issue. I would expect no less from an hacked up residential setting .
You are lucky, my service provider forced me to use rigid conduit. With some odd angles and 4/0-4/0-4/0-2 wire it was a wrestling match. It looks like they are taking the approach of let's make the riser super strong and hope the wire breaks first. They also wanted to use 4ga wire for 150A. I complained stating the voltage drop will be too high as it is over 270ft to the transformer. Lucky they used 2/0. Bit more drop than I would like, but way better. I think the logic is due to being outside it can cool better, so they can get away more current than NEC because it has to accommodate insulated spaces.
I really like the way you teach but I now firmly believe that everyone working live wire should have proper PPE rated for the energy level they are working on. I also must admit that I never did and I never taught my students that. I just cautioned them.
A grounding electrode conductor is not for fault current. This connection to earth is for transients entering the building. The main equipment grounding bond between neutral and conductive parts is for fault current.
You talked about Disconnections how there is One most times. My Garage has 2 Disconnection. well One at the Panel on the inside. But, also One on the Outside that Firefighters Use and has a Special Key for. Most Buildings in My Area are Required to Have this Disconnection. Its a Hard Rubber Key Near the Main Meter Box is, The Power goes to this Box First then it goes to The Main Meter Box on the Side of the Building. But, when The Hard Rubber Key is inserted into the Box and turned, it Shuts the Entire Power Off to the building from the outside.
It is amazing what difference in requirements can be from AHJ to AHJ, (authority having jurisdiction), in the country. This would never pass in the western half of the country.
In rural indiana the requirements are non-existent. The standards in Indy are far more stringent than in other areas of indiana. BTW: Did you know that Indiana is still on 2008 NEC??!
Remember, these are not necessarily code violations. They more than likely met code when they were installed. In a couple decades, your work probably won't meet the future code. As soon as you guys mess with it, then it no longer meets code. I always try to make that distinction, myself. Great video. Thanks, Russ from Oregon-27 years in the Trade.
@@norwegiannationalist7678 I am in the US, but NOT an electrician, licensed or otherwise. That said, 3-phase power is generally only used in a commercial environment where the loads require 3-ph power. If 3-ph power IS found in a non-commercial environment, it is generally feeding a large capacity deep-well pump, an irrigation pump, or possibly the homeowner's "hobby" shop out back that contains some larger equipment generally found in a production shop environment. "Single phase" is standard for residential. (We DO use 240V for residential, just not as you are used to. Our "Single phase" is actually 2 phases plus a Neutral...2 hots and a neutral. Between the 2 phases is 240V, either phase to Neutral is the 120V generally used for lighting and consumer small appliances.) In my local area, the billing includes a "Daily system charge" and an "Energy charge". The former is what it costs to have power available, and the latter is what is charged for the power that you actually use. Residential 1-ph power is $0.63 per day / $.0739 per kWh used. 3-Ph is only available as a commercial rate starting at $.082 per day / $.063 per kWh used. Thus, you could open the breakers on a 3-ph system and it would STILL cost you $25.42 per month just to have the meter installed and power available. As an aside, our state laws allow a non-licensed homeowner to perform his own electrical work, subject to the exact same permitting and inspection requirements that a licensed electrician/contractor would be required to adhere to. I can legally do any work from replacing a switch or receptacle to completely ripping out and replacing the entire electrical system in MY home...as long as I pull a permit first and have the work inspected at the appropriate times. I've actually done both over the years. DISCLAIMER: "Not an electrician" is NOT the same as "untrained". My experience is MARINE SHIPBOARD, where Neutrals are isolated and should NOT at any time have continuity to Ground. A voltage reading between any phase and Ground on a ship is a FAULT condition to be isolated, tracked down, and repaired. Stray voltages to the hull of a ship causes electrolysis, which can eventually compromise hull integrity. On the flip side, I've paralleled shipboard generators with each other AND commercial power so many times that it became boring. (Total shipboard plant capacity was 480V, 3-PH, 3.8mW with all 4 Turbine Generators online.)
@@kevincrosby1760 Interesting, I do belivve its wierd that 3 phase isnt more common in residential areas too as it would be benefiticial as thinner wires and lower effieciency losses with 3 phase, Here in Norway i have a medium sized 2 story house quite modern style and good insulation with a 12 kw geothermal heat pump for heating, I have a main breaker of 3 phase 415 volts 40 amps per phase, Now the 3 phase is quite useful for stuff like jacuzzies, heat pumps, Induction cooktops and Electric car charger, All equipment that uses more than 25 amps 240 volts single phase is gonna be run on 3 phase 415 volts, All other equipment runs on 240 volts single phase. I was quite suprised as to how exspensive your electricity is, Price per kwh here at the moment is 0.00019 dollars without tax and fees With taxes and fees included we get a final price of 0.00775 per kwh plus 200$ per year for the meter and the service fuse. Here in northern Norway we have cold winters with temperatures down to -22f And snow up to your chest, So at this new house we are predictet to use 25 000 kwh per year which might sound like alot but considering that for heating and hot water that is not too bad compared to our similar sized old house which we used on average 40 000 kwh per year for heating and hot water plus a wood stove for additional heating i do belive a geothermal heat pump is worth it We are projected to earn it back in 8 ish years. You have 3 parts to you electricity bill here: Electricity price per kwh from the power company, then the transmission tariff which is the most expsensive part being often being 5-10 times more expensive than the electricity price, Then the fees and taxes. Crazy thing with the 0.00019 dollar selling price for electricity per kwh is that alot of small power plants are shutting down becuase the price of making electricty which is around 0.0010 dollars per kwh beats the selling price therefore they would lose money making electricty. the reason the selling price per kwh is so cheap here is becuase we have a surplus of 350% of the electricity we make and use and can export.
@@norwegiannationalist7678 Believe it or not, I'm expecting to see a bunch of replies asking where I live that electricity is so CHEAP. As of 06/06/2022, the average price for electricity in the US is $0.1447 per kWh. Unfortunately, we have Federal and State governments which are pushing Solar/Wind power and EV cars while ALSO pushing to remove dams (6% of the load) to "save the salmon", get rid of that scary Nuclear Power (19% of the total load), and get rid of coal plants (22% of the load). They are also pushing to reduce carbon emissions from Natural Gas plants (38% of the load). Nobody seems to be able to explain how to completely do away with 47% of our generating capacity, limit usage of another 38% of our capacity, and INCREASE the load by attempting to phase out gasoline and diesel vehicles in favor of EV...other than to scream "renewable resources" even louder. They seem to have no clue about realities such as Base Generating Capacity. It doesn't really matter how many Solar Farms and Wind Farms you have, a certain base generating capacity is required for those times when the sun isn't shining and/or the wind isn't blowing in your local area. The stark reality is that you need adequate generating capacity in an area to service the load AT THE TIME OF DEMAND. If that capacity is not present in that area, then it needs to come from somewhere else...which costs money. While NG provides around 38% of our total generating capacity, a good portion of that capacity is designed to service short-term PEAK loads, not long-term BASE loads. As I said, my experience is all shipboard, where systems are specifically designed so that the total load does not exceed 75% of total generating capacity. Tied to the pier and not going anywhere, we could run on power supplied from the pier, with enough excess to bring up 1 boiler. Once that boiler was up, we could spin up a turbine generator or two to light off the rest of the plant. Once isolated from Shore power, I could easily service the Base Load on 2 TGs and max total load on 3 TGs, leaving 1 in reserve to accommodate maintenance and equipment casualties. The commercial grid does NOT have that 75% ceiling built in, with the load high enough in some areas that they have to institute "rolling blackouts" to prevent overloading the grid. A "rolling blackout" is when you sequentially isolate areas from the grid so that power is available for the rest of the local areas. Even worse, the exact same area (California) that frequently institutes the Rolling Blackouts is the same area which works the hardest to reduce plant emissions, abolish nuclear power, breach the dams, and is pushing the hardest for everybody to get home from work and plug in their EV. It shows, as the average price of electricity in the State of California is $0.2351 per kWh.
@@kevincrosby1760 Interesting, I do belive the move towards more renewable sources of energy is crucial and can save the world from enviormental damages for 200-300 years, The way to do this is through nuclear power tho, My home country of Norway is an example of how renenwable energy works well once it is devoloped nation wide. Here we get 96% of our energy from hydro power plants and a further 2% from solar and wind and the remaining 2% comes from a mox of garbage incineration power plants and gas power plants. As of now Norway has 2 operating coal power plants and they are both on the tiny artic island of Svalbard, As it is located north of the artic circle and so close to the north pole it it hard for renewable power. In a couple of years it is going to get replaced with a gas turbine power plant. Now an inportant note to these natural gas power plants we have: 75% of the time they are not connected as they are usually located on off shore oil rigs and refineries to generate power, The small ammount of them that are connected is used to burn surplus natural gas and shed load. Now Norway has alot of mountains so hydro power from damming up rivers is a natural choice for cheap and reliable power, of course most countries this isnt possible so the most inportant thing for countries like the US and Germany which has alot of coal power plants is to replace them with nuclear power plants and after that replace the natural gas ones with nuclear aswell, The great thing about nuclear is that it is indepent and responds really quick to demand and it is carbon free exept the waste. Now alot of people are afraid of nuclear when infact it is rated as the most safe way to generate power with the least deaths per TWH of energy. I really belive small nuclear power plants are the future.
As an Industrial Maintenance Mechanic working on the machinery in the plant the energy source that had my most respect was the electrical systems. All the hydraulics and mechanical systems could kill me but most likely just maim me, electricity would kill you with out even thinking about it. Twice I had the main power locked-out and because I checked I found a second power source, not labeled, supplied to the cabinet.
LOL, 14:30 I owned a HVAC service before retiring. Hearing a sparky raise that he would be open to hire a HVAC guy makes me laugh. :) thank you for posting the videos and have a great day.
Yeah on the lost neutral, our power company didnt hook the neutral up at the pole when my wife & I moved in our house. When we plugged our new dryer in we got 240 on all 120 outlets, that was fun😖.
The way I was taught is when looking at the fitting cover straight on with the one entrance to the bottom of your feet if the other entrance is to the right it's an "LR" to the left "LL" to the back is "LB"
undersized flat washers for the bolt/slot size combination. try using "fender washers" instead @ 42:34 on timeline. otherwise upsize the fasteners to match the slots. perhaps to the semi-pre-punched knockouts? yes, you'll likely have to clean the holes up with a drill bit, file or other tool. stamped metal products one of one.
Im not sure why this video really interested me being that I’m a plumber by trade. I gotta say though you have yourself a good apprentice. I didn’t here you have to tell him much since he already knew what to do for the most part. Great job guys. Can tell you all take pride in your work.
I watch all your videos bud. I just got my electric certification over the summer and I’d love to apprentice with you. Unfortunate I love in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. But I learn from all your videos.
Very few people use those orange or yellow extENSION cords of 50 or 100 feet think about this but if you coil that wire in a circular configuration, that is an inductor which could met enough energy to put static in your audio wires especially if those wires run near the extension cords. You can squeeze the loop into a less energetic form simply by pinching both sides together and crimping them there with a cable tie or tape. Then the cable forms a Figure 8 which makes pay less energetic, potentially, inductor.
Suggestion: To more easily measure length of wire needed, such as for the S-curve from drop to meter base, just shove the tape measure "ribbon" THROUGH the conduct.
Get some lobster claw cutters so you can hold onto the line wire so when it's spring loaded it doesn't spring into the neutral like it almost did. Edit. Wow an actual 400 amp CT. I was expecting a 320 for sure
I learned a 120/240 single phase solidly grounded system is 180 degrees in phase with each other to get 240 volts, not 120 degrees. Just sayin, good job none the less!
I so enjoy your channel. On top of all your knowledge and everything else that I have followed you one of several things as I would love to see a video on your shop I would liked what I’ve seen in the background. Thank you Kansas Dale.
I'm a remodeler and learned a lot from this, even though I won't be doing the external work. One question: shouldn't the ground rod connector be coated with dielectric grease, especially since you sink it?
I am an electrical contractor of over 25 years. Been an electrician for over 40 years. Worked high voltage as a lineman and every aspect of electrical down to homes and low voltage. What he said about no over current protection in the lines is BS. There are fuse holders in front of every transformer. They protect the primary lines from damage due to fault or over current.
I'm trying to become a lineman or substation technician, but so far I've waited over 6 months, almost thinking of becoming an apprentice electrician in lou of that.
Another thing I thought of - since most current transformers secondary output is 5 amps and the meter is calculated to the 0-5 amp signal the 200 to 5 ct you installed into the ct can would cause the meter to register twice the amount of electricity actually used - for example if the service was using 200 amps the ct would be putting out 5 amps - the meter - which is set up for 400 amps at a 5 amp input would be registering a current usage of 400 amps.. if the service was for 400 amps and you installed 200 amp ct's you should immediately rectify the mistake.
@@ElectricProAcademy I am a retired master / contractor / electrical designer / UL 508 panel shop - 20 years in power plant design / repair / maint in heavy industrial - and tons of experience in protective relay and meter calibration... so yes I do understand current transformers and how they are utilized in metering and fault clearing schemes... I think the utility is making a mistake if they putting 200 / 5 ct's in a metering application for a 400 amp service - the simple reason is if the ct's get exposed to more than 200 amps they become what is termed as saturated - saturated ct's will not be able to provide a reliable output secondary current that should be used for custody transfer billing. The simple answer is your not supposed to use equipment beyond its electrical rating - I'd bet 50 bucks to a donut hole that the application that the ct's being used in is beyond the UL listing...
Dang.. wish we had more good electricians down here.. my house was passed with home and electrical inspection.. with a "main" panel box (really a sub-panel box) wired directly to the meter.. There's no main breaker in it feeding all the smaller circuits.. on an old 50-60's house with the cloth wiring and no ground wires on majority of the original outlets.. I'm glad it doesn't have the knob and tube wiring that my wife house has up in the attic (no fiberglass insulation up there).. thank god..
Im surprised u dont use pvc cleaner prior to glueing pipe . Wonder why u dont reduce ur neutral wire size in riser & service conductors .Also when we used to use emt for grounding electrode conductors we always installed grounding bushings w/ lugs on each end of emt to eliminate choke action
That was absolutely informative and entertaining. Great solutions and expert execution. Impressive completion of the little details that make a difference. Thank you.
I seen many commented wondering why a dwelling unit would have 3 phase. Well, since this is obviously an older house probably from the 1950s or older based off the Pushmatic panel, chances are it had a 3 phase central air conditioner at one point. Back in the 1950s and 60s when home air conditioning became more popular during the post war economic boom, some of the 4 and 5 ton condensers on the market at the time were only available in 240V 3 phase, and for this reason, many neighborhoods in the southern states had banks of open high leg delta. In fact there's a street about 10 minutes from me in Greenville SC, with older brick ranches and bungalows, with overhead service and poles with a large pot next to a smaller pot, a sign of an open delta bank. Another oddity of this service in older buildings, was a delta circuit breaker. This is an oddball in that it was a three pole breaker that connected to the bus bars in a single phase panel, and the high leg conductor typically came in directly from the meter base UNFUSED and connected to a lug on the breaker, this allowed you to have one three phase load in a single phase panel. These have been prohibited since the 1978 NEC, and while you still find them on ebay and other websites selling NOS and used equipment, they are very expensive and I personally wouldn't trust my life to a breaker brought online that's almost 50 years old at best. I know there's many who never seen or even heard of a delta circuit breaker, so I thought it would be worth an honorable mention.
The grounding electrode is not for fault current, it is for lightning and surge currents from the utility side.. Fault currents go to the utility neutral to operate the OCD.
@@bobniles1928 no I don’t. I asked you where you thought the fault current was flowing for an RCD or GFCI to operate, and you replied with more rubbish. As you obviously don’t understand the subject why don’t you simply admit that instead of making yourself look even more stupid?
I think it's unfair to apply today's codes to a 40 or 50 yr. old house. Most houses are grand fathered. No house would pass an inspection since electrical codes change every 3 yrs. That's why cars that are older than 20yrs are exempt from inspection in VA. if you apply for it.
Well there is one thing about CT's you CANNOT leave a secondary circuit on a CT open - if you do you will burn up your cabinet- when current flows through the CT it must be either shorted or wired through the 5 am resister in the meter. Most utility metering secondary is 5 amps - it's a good practice to use #10 sis instrument wire to avoid metering circuit impedance.. I'd love to know what the utility did when they showed up. My guess would be the hook up guy wouldn't hook up that small #2 to a 400 amp service would be the first excuse and the second excuse would be he couldnt hook up till the ct crew were finished with the meter installation. They will have to have a different meter than the one you took off the old service and the service hookup guy wont have the proper meter with him .. now that is not to say he wasn't savvy enough to realize that the load hadn't changed on the building and the #2 service cable had been working in the past - then - if he was lucky the ct's were shipped with shorting bars in place so he could temporary the service connection. Let us know how the hookup went.. I hope he has had enough training to know to not run power through a ct with an open secondary .. if your going to be messing with that bigger wire you need to get a tugger.. then you could put that kid on top of the ladder to work. That big wire requires pulling socks and tuggers minimum.... another handy thing to have is a hydraulic wire bender for working big wire in cabinets. And tell that kid pulling that wire over his shoulder to get on a ladder and use the smooth inside jaw on his Klines to get hold of the metal fish tape and pull straight up - you can pull more and your Klines are much easier on your hands ... for some really hard pulls I have built a tripod to be able to pull up through the panel with a pulley at the top then run the rope down to another pulley tied off close to the floor and hook it to a pickup - or skid steer or whatever you can pull with... the trick is work smarter not harder... watching that video brings back lots of memories - most of them about working with assholes that thought they were good at the utility company.
As one of the assholes who was a troubleshooter for the utility company 😂, let me start by saying the coordination between the power company and electrician is terrible. I worked at 3 companies and each one would have sent an engineer or designer out to meet with the electrician to access the job. They would have a metering person on site to install the CT’s and meter, also a crew to upgrade the service to at least a 1/0 triplex. No way in hell would they allow the electrician to pull the meter and cut the service for liability reasons. I would hook up the #2 triplex and have an order for upgrade if I was sent out but only if metering personnel was onsite or metering was installed. Also 3 phase bank would not be left on pole unless another customer was being fed off of the bank
Howz about a Wadworth panel …Been in some scary industrial applications. 750s. With insulators. Three cables …Bare 600v DC on one side of the beam. 600v A/C on the other. Every floor
Great video! Uneducated question: aesthetically, was there a reason that both pipes couldn't come from the bottom and make a nice sweeping bend (and stay parallel)?
Yeah I think the end result looks a little janky. I also wonder if there could be any EF problems with the panel feeder right next to the telcom demark box...
In a situation with your double Ls what I normally do is to put up the conduit up for fix only and take it down and put the in one chunk of PVC at a time work from the bottom to top, sliding the conduit over the wire. Big wire does not like to bend. 😊😊 no fighting with the wire. (Which you rarely win!😅)~~ Cris H
I noticed a serious code and Fire Marshall violation. It is required to have a Service Disconnect after de C T or the Meter Can. In order to shut the power en case of emergency. The CT panel you have there do not turn off the electricity. Also, the electric company can not suspend the service en case the people don’t pay the bill. Removing the meter do not shutoff the power in this type of configuration. Beside, inside you put one disconnect that you named “main disconnect” that is wrong snd dangerous since that if the user turn it off, the breaker panel on the side will remains live. I will appreciated your comment.
An outdoor emergency disconnect is a new requirement in the 2020 NEC. Presumably this jurisdiction has not yet adopted the 2020 NEC. I have seen such disconnects, but they are pretty rare here in New England.
Getting rid of the 3 phase almost makes me cry. I live in New Zealand. When I had my 400 volt 3 phase put in was the proudest day of my life.
what do you run that you need it
On a house? What for?
@@B1gRedOutdoor I have a workshop behind my house.
@@gregkeeyako workshop in behind.
they get rid of it and then run 400 Amps on a single phase? Why would you do that?
when cutting a live line wire, always have control of the live end wire you are cutting with one hand. you see as he cuts the wire, he doesn't, and an open ended live wire springs towards him. that wire can spring any direction, including towards a grounded bare wire and arc flash in your face. see about 4:10
He's on a ladder, cutting live utility wires in the rain. He's worried about his tools rusting. My kind of guy.
im electrian and im shocked by him guy has no fear
And what bozo would ever REMOVE 3 phase power?? Most people WISH they had 3 phase power (ok, not most, but anyone that wants to run large woodworking or metalworking equipment, or have multiple ev's charging). I've watched 2 or 3 of this guy's videos, and it's just upcharge upcharge upcharge for everything! I'm pretty sure if you sent this guy to a single woman in a brand new house, he'd come up with at least 4 or 5 grand of "stuff that needs to be done". More and more tradespeople are becoming sleazy scammers up selling dumb people all the time, and this guy is just proliferating and popularizing that culture.
His gloves don't even seem that electrically insulating as you can see later when he uses his phone with them still on. 😆
@@gorak9000 I kind of agree with this. What happens when they want to use a massive condensing unit for their air conditioning needs? 3-phase is really nice for this!
@@fitybux4664 Haha, like a 15 ton commercial package unit a restaurant or store would use? With 3 stages of cooling? You could turn your house into an ice factory and sell bagged ice out of the garage. I think there's huge markup in bagged ice - lots of profit to be made there!
I did exactly opposite of this to a guys house. He had single phase and three phase at his house. Three phase was for his machine shop in the garage. I disconnected the single phase and ran it off the 3 phase avoiding the high leg. Now he just has the one electric bill and can still use his machine shop.
yeah, I think it was rather stupid and the utility providers are braindead, especially with the big (idiotic push) for electric vehicles(they want you to take pubic transportation and be slaves). Although I do say high leg delta spells disaster for residential hacks, I blame the utility for even providing such, right back to when that hackery was installed as new work.
@@throttlebottle5906 Yeah corner grounded delta would be better for 3ph car charging
@@TheChipmunk2008 I would bet big $$ that this is/was open delta 3-phase service with only two transformers.
@@throttlebottle5906Utility here regularly provides center tapped delta to houses. Large portions of the primary wiring are corner grounded with only 2 wires, 3rd phase goes through the ground. No way to balance with single phase loads because you can't attach a transformer to the ground. So all houses on those streets are 3 phase. Some are Delta on the secondary side, some are wye. Power company will not provide wye unless requested and at least a 200 amp service, even then they would rather install Delta. It's just a non issue if clearly marked, which our utility requires. My house right now has 100a open Delta, we are going to upgrade to at least 200 amps, and our house is in an area that is otherwise entirely industrial zoned, aside from 3 houses, so the power company will give us wye service, since its already there. Entire reason for choosing the house that we did was the 3 phase power. Nothing else was a factor in buying a house.
This channel is what new electricians needed in youtube. "In the field" videos are the way to go. Tx Joel
Watching him struggle to put the 500kcmil was a pretty good show. Mule tape in the conduit, assemble the weather-head on the ground, make a point on the end of the line, lube it up and pull from top to bottom.
Wow, interesting to see the huge dimensions used in US installations but that service drop sure looks like a toilet drain pipe :O Over here in Sweden we typically have 400/230V three phase and a 3 x 16 A or 3 x 25 A service would be typical for a residential unit. That would be about equivalent to a 60 A or 100 A split phase US service, considering we use IEC rated fuses/breakers where the rating is the maximum continuous while the US has another style ratings were fuses/breakers need to be rated 125% of the continuous load. In any case 240 V 400 A is quite impressive for residential use. I can't imagine needing upwards of 100 kW at home...
Similar story in the UK.
I’m a home inspector in Indy. I’ll be recommending y’all to my clients. 👍
Thank you @markwhite7437!
Shockingly compelling video even for just a diy homeowner that would never touch any of this. Definitely going to feel more comfortable hiring out/keeping an eye on a similar job.
Gotta say I’ve met and encountered many Electrical contractors and you have to be the most chill and respectful one I’ve seen. If I lived out near your company I’d apply no problem.
That reconnection call 👍 I appreciate you showing that! That was such a first class phone call for someone who wasnt getting what they wanted.
Agreed. He handled the very well!
I'm not an electrician, but I find this channel entertaining and informative.
You might like an english electric channel called “artisan electrics”
I’m interested on learning about US/Canadian electrical installations.
I have the attention span of a fruit fly, and when I saw that the video was almost an hour and a half I thought, "No way", but I got hooked! And as a non-electrician, I think I understood most of it!
@@Bobrogers99 their videos are quality. Worth getting a drink & snack to sit & watch.
Excellent video! The only complaint I have with this one is the video cut short and we never got to see the finished product! I'm not an electrician, but watching your videos has increased my knowledge a great deal. I hope other electricians are watching and learning.
Your clean work and fine attention to detail are second to none. I wish we had your equivalent here in South Jersey!
Agreed. I was hoping to see the final connection
@@craigslaunwhite579 especially since he kinda mislead the guy on the phone, it didn’t look like a simple reconnect, might have needed a new anchor point higher up on the building and maybe longer triplex.
You have to be out of your mind to use an aluminum ladder. Been retired from my business for 30 years , but even in "the old days" we used ONLY fibreglass ladders. Still in my old age I don't own an aluminum ladder
I understand the satisfaction you must get from completing a job like this one. As a construction superintendent (retired) I always counted on my electrical subs to be part of the top rung of my construction coordination crew. You look to be a credit to your trade. Good on you.
Another thing... split phase is 180 degrees apart so the voltages directly add, but tapping off of 3 phase the phases are 120 degrees apart (as you mention) and without the math in that case the difference is 208 volts instead of 240. Most, but not all, 240 appliances will work properly on 208. Apartment buildings frequently do this. In the case of this house that's what they always had so there won't be any new problems. The Tesla charger will charge 208/240 or 13% slower than if it were on 240.
This is commonly misunderstood. They were working on a highleg open delta system with 2 transformers providing 3phase. The primary transformer will be 240v with a grounded center tap. L1 to Neutral is 120v, L2 to Neutral is 120v, L3 (high leg) to Neutral is 208v. This is not a typical Y or corner grounded delta configuration.
As for the 120 degree comment, its hard to think about but L1 to L2 is still 180 degrees out of phase. There is a great video by Clough42 titled "Does a rotary phase converter actually make real 3-phase power? (120 Degrees)" that explains how the vector math works and even shows it using an Oscilloscope.
It feels like magic sometimes!
Cheers
Yea you really have to study vectors to understand why certain voltages dont add up when combined. He mentions each leg of the phase is 120 degrees apart alternating and it adds up to 240 volts but that is wrong. Single phase residential is simple because 180 degrees makes voltage add directly as you mentioned.
Thankyou. I was wondering about that.
@@mediadaemonI'm so confused....😁
You should have used plastic sheathing when coring through those exterior walls. In this case that red material is going to be leaching and staining for quite a while. Also it would be nice to have a clean rag to wipe off stuff that you're installing.
These are quality tips. Thanks for making me better, @DJaquithFL!
When I saw that humungous meter box I wondered why it was so big, but after seeing how the connections had to be made with that massive wire, I realized that he needed the space to do it. Aesthetically it's not great but it's necessary, and once the cosmetic work is done it won't be too much of a sore thumb.
Where I live, we just do it ourselves. Buy what you need. Get everything connected. And just make the connections necessary from the drop to the service. Get power on..... that's the main thing. Call for inspection, and then the power company can come whenever.
Where do you live?
@@Anton-le7gd In a house.
Your comments at around 40:00 are spot on about doing more than just double checks on work done by ANYONE.
We're currently dealing with paying out a LOT (possibly with insurance if covered) for mold remediation and foundation waterproofing because a contractor, his subcontractors, AND the city inspectors all missed the proper waterproofing that should have been done around some below-grade parking and adjacent living space on a new build, and it's out of pocket/insurance if covered because the problem became a problem after 10 years due to it being southern California without a ton of annual rain to expose the problem. Same build, second house of a duplex, his subcontracted a/c guys missed that they installed an access for coil repairs that was inaccessible, and the inspectors missed it too.
It's frustrating but a great excuse to apologize to people when I feel the need to check on work that people are doing and stick my nose around.
8:19 If you’re not testing, you’re guessing…..
A saying that was taught to me by Mikey, an awesome HVAC guy.
👍🏻👍🏻
Request: I haven't checked your youtube page yet, but I would like to see you install a 1) tesla powerwall, 2) a generator, 3) a nema 14-50, 4) a solar power solution (a combination powerwall and solar power solution would be nice). I guess that's it. Maybe a well too. Thanks for your great videos.
This is by far one of the best panel changeout videos I've seen yet. Great editing, commentary, shots, nothing is overblown in 1 section.
I would've thought you had at least 500k subscribers. Excellent video!
Huge respect for the work you and your guys do, especially in the rain. Compelling video to watch. 400A for a residential property seems huge to me.
Always loved this old house but they never got detailed... This is awesome. Love your videos and nice work.
Keep doing a good job take pride in your work people will remember that maybe 10 or 20 years down the road but they won't forget I had customers that wouldn't allow anyone else on their property even if I were busy they would wait
Fantastic video. Hardest part of being an electrician is talking to the utility company in my opinion lol. Side note, I try to be really careful with my wording describing single phase residential power. each ungrounded conductor is “line 1” and “line 2” not “phase 1” and “phase 2”. each line is not 180 deg out of phase, though it can be plotted that way with neutral as the common reference b/c your leads switch directions). If it really was out of phase you would get 120v from each line to neutral and 0v between L1 and L2
To be cold, busy, and wet it really does take a lot of extra effort to stop and explain things to the camera. Appreciate the video. Only thing I didn’t like was 1/4” tap cons for the heavy cabinet
Very interesting... you're allowed to cut the connections and pull the meter. In the UK, we are, in our area, allowed to do the same (if registered electrical contractors with appropriate qualifications). That's quite rare in the UK though, but also a bit of a grey area, like you say, a wild wild west scenario, and yep, we get the same with smart meter fitters, who, when faced with an unusual meter, they're clueless!
And absolutely right re: rusty tools. It's odd that you're not allowed to reconnect if you're allowed to disconnect. We can obtain temporary seals from the DNO (distribution network operator, power company) and reinstate power to the building once our work is done.
We have to use insulated tools at all times. Ref: proving dead, here we have to use a proving unit (portable power source of around 240v or higher) to show the tester is working, then test the lines, then test the tester again... bit overkill, but better that than killing a worker!
Love watching electrical content from other countries. The USA is the most different from UK practice, but the rules of physics don't change, and 25 ohms is on a ground rod...quite a low value. Easily obtainable in wet/clay soil, but good luck in rocky areas!
By pull the meter, i mean the UK equivalent, which is to pull the service cutout fuse which is before the meter, and then open the terminal cover on the meter etc, although, confusingly, the meter is owned by a different company than the DNO these days, because.... ugh
Great comments.
Great video again!
If you have to pull stiff wires like these huge incoming wires through conduit, it may be easier to tape them together in a staggered manner to a pull-cord, to get a pointy end and then add some lubricant to them to make them slide easily through the bends in the conduit. Finally suck the pull-cord with a sponge attached with lubricant in it through the conduit to prime it and also to fiddle the cord through the conduit … happy pulling 🤓
In California we install the first 10' ground rod right under the main then 6' apart with exposed #6 armored ground and tied up to the gas main and not the water main because is mostly plastic water piping now..!
Not true around here in Wisconsin. the only steel gas Pipe is the PAINTED riser, everything else is Yellow PVC.
I always anchor my conduit within foot of the connector.....seeing your conduit, I would have put one in the center just for added support. you do excellent work....great job as always
Thanks for including the phone call to the utility.
Everyone criticizing the dude here which means they’re afraid of what they’re doing. I don’t see the problem! You work at your own risk and experience
i like that you enforce safety....im not an electrician but i have learned about it enough and safety can never be enforced enough. great video
Code says, "Installation does not have to be efficient, it has to be safe"!
I would love to see pictures of the massive pushmatic panel that was swapped out. Also I sure hope the disconnects were reused and not scrapped. Those disconnects looked well built and still usable. I would have personally kept the disconnects in between the meter and distribution panels instead of replacing them with combination main breaker/distribution panels. Also going from copper feeders to aluminum seems like a downgrade. I would not be very happy about that as a home owner. If I had the same setup as the owner I would have likely just swapped out the rusted out meter base and frayed feeder wires of the single phase service and swapped out the pushmatic panel for a square D QO series panel. Going from 2x 200 amp services with copper feeders where one of them is three phase to a single 400 amp single phase service with aluminum feeders is a downgrade in my opinion.
Man, I would love to have 3 phase in my garage. Seems like such a shame to get rid of it. I understand though, the new homeowner doesn't have a use for it.
Plus the equipment is obsolete and dangerous. It would cost way more to put new 3-phase in. And if the homeowner has no use for it...
@@fredashay If it was good enough to be there initially, it's probably good enough to be there now, unless you're a ripoff electrician looking to scam old single women with scare tactics into paying for work they don't need. Most contractors are sleazy jerks, and this guy is no exception
@@fredashay They have a good use for it, charging their electric car. It was dumb to remove it. Should have installed a 3 ph charger.
Dude. I love your laughter...I subbed just for that...but damn, you're the Encyclopedia Britannica of electrical work. You're like a chill college professor!
There's no dissipating current during a ground fault. The current returns to the source which is the transfer via the grounded conductor (neutral) since ground and neutral are bonded at the first means of disconnect. This in turn results in a very high current draw due to there being very little resistance between the hot and ground conductors which will quickly cause the breaker to trip.
As Mike Holt would say.. It sells lots of ground rods.. But they don't do shit to protect you...
@@WizzRacing Maybe just helpful for the rare lightning strike? lol
@@whattheschmidt Nope.. Lighting hits a pole.. It will seek the source. The source being the Transformer. Why you are required to install Ground Wires back too the service panel..
Why you fuse every light pole. So it one transformer goes out. You don't take them all down. And you know which Pole is the culprit..
@@WizzRacing I said lightning, not lighting.
I thought we were going to have a three phase panel and a single phase panel. I wouldn't down grade the equipment like that.
by 45:44, leave the threaded rod long, fasten it in place then cut off excess with saw( minimal metal shaving flying) no grinder, except for unfinished building.
dress the end by hand with a "metal file". but there should be no need to clean the end threads or install/remove it multiple times, if it's installed in it's final position from start.
They make “fusion” pvc glue which is primer and glue in one. It is a clear glue and primer which is a plus.
The power penetration through the top of the
Meter Can was not a good decision. You should penetrated from side. Avoiding the
use one elbow and will make the setting looks more neat and easy to pull the service cables.
1:17:07 FYI you got your neutral reversed as to the pairing of the hots. Or to put it more simply keeping left and right separated and going to the same direction makes it easier to inspect if they land all on the same side. It's not a major thing but it's good practice.
You missed that he used too much white tape on the left neutral and too little white tape on the right neutral. The upper neutral was just right, Surprised you missed that.
@@FreeAmerican-mm2my well it would be tidier and neater to have the exact measurement of tape that is not critical as long as it's labeled.
I probably could've pointed it out a little differently I was referring to having the cables coming from the left and the cables coming from the bottom onto the same side of the lugs for a quick identification.
You're probably one of those people would I be right in assuming who would lift up the storm drain cover with a line across it and rotated 90° or put one tile in a pattern out of order?
Sure it doesn't matter if it's on the correct leg but the next guy is gonna open it up and go one out of three they could've all been on the same side.
Was that an insult?
It's those little things that make a neat installation, that shows somebody professional did it and was paying attention to the details. The length of the tape doesn't show that as much and might've been done by an apprentice?
I would say the tape is not under done nor is it over done although it is a large amount of tape, it's also not the whole roll.
Joel, I understand if you can't answer this, but how does the utility justify not upgrading the utility drop from the transformer to larger conductors when going from the 3-phase high-leg delta to a single split-phase? There's not enough information in your video to work out the potential max current draw on the different phases for the old service, but just by the seat-of-my-pants it seems like there would be potentially greater currents with the new split-phase service, especially given that it's two 200A "services" and that the loads may not be evenly balanced between the split phases given the two services. On the other hand, I know utilities typically undersize open-air conductor size, figuring that conductor heating will be much less of a factor than if the conductors were enclosed in a conduit. (I realize that this is the utility's problem -- just looking for your insight.)
I know that here in Indiana the utility companies want the wire smaller so that if there’s a problem it will melt the wires at the connections rather than burning the building down. I’ve had to replace the wires from meter to insulated because the first foot or so of #2 wires were damaged going to transformer, I just added enough wire coming out of weather-head to make up the difference. I really think it was a loose connection that made the insulation get melted and damaged. No issues with it since.
This is the first video I have seen of yours I like this stuff alot and you TEACH not just trade knowledge but code thanks brother you ever need another employee I would be honored!
Take care brother and thank you!
I would not cut the neutral of the 3phase feed, since it was shared service to the single phase feed! why? because there could poor binding and back-feed paths from service to service.
unhook all the power hot legs for both services, then cut the neutrals whilst praying the utility doesn't have a ground loop! they had exactly that issue close to here years ago, a huge ground loop about 10 mile radius and it was all relying upon grounding via homes/business/pole grounds, as things got unhooked and changes were made the neutral to ground potential increased, until it was so bad people were getting shocked all over and an industrial complex complained to them for years. they finally found and admitted to the issue.
I would expect no less from an hacked up residential setting .
Love the Bulldog PushMatic breakers in the old panel.
You are lucky, my service provider forced me to use rigid conduit. With some odd angles and 4/0-4/0-4/0-2 wire it was a wrestling match.
It looks like they are taking the approach of let's make the riser super strong and hope the wire breaks first.
They also wanted to use 4ga wire for 150A. I complained stating the voltage drop will be too high as it is over 270ft to the transformer. Lucky they used 2/0. Bit more drop than I would like, but way better. I think the logic is due to being outside it can cool better, so they can get away more current than NEC because it has to accommodate insulated spaces.
I really like the way you teach but I now firmly believe that everyone working live wire should have proper PPE rated for the energy level they are working on. I also must admit that I never did and I never taught my students that. I just cautioned them.
A grounding electrode conductor is not for fault current. This connection to earth is for transients entering the building. The main equipment grounding bond between neutral and conductive parts is for fault current.
You guys are great! I like how you take the time to explain things, thank you for sharing so much of your knowledge!
You talked about Disconnections how there is One most times. My Garage has 2 Disconnection. well One at the Panel on the inside. But, also One on the Outside that Firefighters Use and has a Special Key for. Most Buildings in My Area are Required to Have this Disconnection. Its a Hard Rubber Key Near the Main Meter Box is, The Power goes to this Box First then it goes to The Main Meter Box on the Side of the Building. But, when The Hard Rubber Key is inserted into the Box and turned, it Shuts the Entire Power Off to the building from the outside.
@@ElectricProAcademy Virginia
that is very nice work and boy do I hate working in the rain.. but you have some great soldiers working with you
It is amazing what difference in requirements can be from AHJ to AHJ, (authority having jurisdiction), in the country. This would never pass in the western half of the country.
In rural indiana the requirements are non-existent. The standards in Indy are far more stringent than in other areas of indiana. BTW: Did you know that Indiana is still on 2008 NEC??!
Remember, these are not necessarily code violations. They more than likely met code when they were installed. In a couple decades, your work probably won't meet the future code. As soon as you guys mess with it, then it no longer meets code. I always try to make that distinction, myself. Great video. Thanks, Russ from Oregon-27 years in the Trade.
@@ElectricProAcademyAs an european used to 3 phase 415 volt supply i dont get why you removed the 3 phase supply.
@@norwegiannationalist7678 I am in the US, but NOT an electrician, licensed or otherwise.
That said, 3-phase power is generally only used in a commercial environment where the loads require 3-ph power. If 3-ph power IS found in a non-commercial environment, it is generally feeding a large capacity deep-well pump, an irrigation pump, or possibly the homeowner's "hobby" shop out back that contains some larger equipment generally found in a production shop environment. "Single phase" is standard for residential. (We DO use 240V for residential, just not as you are used to. Our "Single phase" is actually 2 phases plus a Neutral...2 hots and a neutral. Between the 2 phases is 240V, either phase to Neutral is the 120V generally used for lighting and consumer small appliances.)
In my local area, the billing includes a "Daily system charge" and an "Energy charge". The former is what it costs to have power available, and the latter is what is charged for the power that you actually use. Residential 1-ph power is $0.63 per day / $.0739 per kWh used. 3-Ph is only available as a commercial rate starting at $.082 per day / $.063 per kWh used. Thus, you could open the breakers on a 3-ph system and it would STILL cost you $25.42 per month just to have the meter installed and power available.
As an aside, our state laws allow a non-licensed homeowner to perform his own electrical work, subject to the exact same permitting and inspection requirements that a licensed electrician/contractor would be required to adhere to. I can legally do any work from replacing a switch or receptacle to completely ripping out and replacing the entire electrical system in MY home...as long as I pull a permit first and have the work inspected at the appropriate times. I've actually done both over the years.
DISCLAIMER: "Not an electrician" is NOT the same as "untrained". My experience is MARINE SHIPBOARD, where Neutrals are isolated and should NOT at any time have continuity to Ground. A voltage reading between any phase and Ground on a ship is a FAULT condition to be isolated, tracked down, and repaired. Stray voltages to the hull of a ship causes electrolysis, which can eventually compromise hull integrity. On the flip side, I've paralleled shipboard generators with each other AND commercial power so many times that it became boring. (Total shipboard plant capacity was 480V, 3-PH, 3.8mW with all 4 Turbine Generators online.)
@@kevincrosby1760 Interesting, I do belivve its wierd that 3 phase isnt more common in residential areas too as it would be benefiticial as thinner wires and lower effieciency losses with 3 phase, Here in Norway i have a medium sized 2 story house quite modern style and good insulation with a 12 kw geothermal heat pump for heating, I have a main breaker of 3 phase 415 volts 40 amps per phase, Now the 3 phase is quite useful for stuff like jacuzzies, heat pumps, Induction cooktops and Electric car charger, All equipment that uses more than 25 amps 240 volts single phase is gonna be run on 3 phase 415 volts, All other equipment runs on 240 volts single phase. I was quite suprised as to how exspensive your electricity is, Price per kwh here at the moment is 0.00019 dollars without tax and fees With taxes and fees included we get a final price of 0.00775 per kwh plus 200$ per year for the meter and the service fuse. Here in northern Norway we have cold winters with temperatures down to -22f And snow up to your chest, So at this new house we are predictet to use 25 000 kwh per year which might sound like alot but considering that for heating and hot water that is not too bad compared to our similar sized old house which we used on average 40 000 kwh per year for heating and hot water plus a wood stove for additional heating i do belive a geothermal heat pump is worth it We are projected to earn it back in 8 ish years. You have 3 parts to you electricity bill here: Electricity price per kwh from the power company, then the transmission tariff which is the most expsensive part being often being 5-10 times more expensive than the electricity price, Then the fees and taxes. Crazy thing with the 0.00019 dollar selling price for electricity per kwh is that alot of small power plants are shutting down becuase the price of making electricty which is around 0.0010 dollars per kwh beats the selling price therefore they would lose money making electricty. the reason the selling price per kwh is so cheap here is becuase we have a surplus of 350% of the electricity we make and use and can export.
@@norwegiannationalist7678 Believe it or not, I'm expecting to see a bunch of replies asking where I live that electricity is so CHEAP. As of 06/06/2022, the average price for electricity in the US is $0.1447 per kWh.
Unfortunately, we have Federal and State governments which are pushing Solar/Wind power and EV cars while ALSO pushing to remove dams (6% of the load) to "save the salmon", get rid of that scary Nuclear Power (19% of the total load), and get rid of coal plants (22% of the load). They are also pushing to reduce carbon emissions from Natural Gas plants (38% of the load).
Nobody seems to be able to explain how to completely do away with 47% of our generating capacity, limit usage of another 38% of our capacity, and INCREASE the load by attempting to phase out gasoline and diesel vehicles in favor of EV...other than to scream "renewable resources" even louder. They seem to have no clue about realities such as Base Generating Capacity. It doesn't really matter how many Solar Farms and Wind Farms you have, a certain base generating capacity is required for those times when the sun isn't shining and/or the wind isn't blowing in your local area.
The stark reality is that you need adequate generating capacity in an area to service the load AT THE TIME OF DEMAND. If that capacity is not present in that area, then it needs to come from somewhere else...which costs money. While NG provides around 38% of our total generating capacity, a good portion of that capacity is designed to service short-term PEAK loads, not long-term BASE loads.
As I said, my experience is all shipboard, where systems are specifically designed so that the total load does not exceed 75% of total generating capacity. Tied to the pier and not going anywhere, we could run on power supplied from the pier, with enough excess to bring up 1 boiler. Once that boiler was up, we could spin up a turbine generator or two to light off the rest of the plant. Once isolated from Shore power, I could easily service the Base Load on 2 TGs and max total load on 3 TGs, leaving 1 in reserve to accommodate maintenance and equipment casualties.
The commercial grid does NOT have that 75% ceiling built in, with the load high enough in some areas that they have to institute "rolling blackouts" to prevent overloading the grid. A "rolling blackout" is when you sequentially isolate areas from the grid so that power is available for the rest of the local areas. Even worse, the exact same area (California) that frequently institutes the Rolling Blackouts is the same area which works the hardest to reduce plant emissions, abolish nuclear power, breach the dams, and is pushing the hardest for everybody to get home from work and plug in their EV. It shows, as the average price of electricity in the State of California is $0.2351 per kWh.
@@kevincrosby1760 Interesting, I do belive the move towards more renewable sources of energy is crucial and can save the world from enviormental damages for 200-300 years, The way to do this is through nuclear power tho, My home country of Norway is an example of how renenwable energy works well once it is devoloped nation wide. Here we get 96% of our energy from hydro power plants and a further 2% from solar and wind and the remaining 2% comes from a mox of garbage incineration power plants and gas power plants. As of now Norway has 2 operating coal power plants and they are both on the tiny artic island of Svalbard, As it is located north of the artic circle and so close to the north pole it it hard for renewable power. In a couple of years it is going to get replaced with a gas turbine power plant. Now an inportant note to these natural gas power plants we have: 75% of the time they are not connected as they are usually located on off shore oil rigs and refineries to generate power, The small ammount of them that are connected is used to burn surplus natural gas and shed load. Now Norway has alot of mountains so hydro power from damming up rivers is a natural choice for cheap and reliable power, of course most countries this isnt possible so the most inportant thing for countries like the US and Germany which has alot of coal power plants is to replace them with nuclear power plants and after that replace the natural gas ones with nuclear aswell, The great thing about nuclear is that it is indepent and responds really quick to demand and it is carbon free exept the waste. Now alot of people are afraid of nuclear when infact it is rated as the most safe way to generate power with the least deaths per TWH of energy. I really belive small nuclear power plants are the future.
This is one of the hardest working videos I've seen.
As an Industrial Maintenance Mechanic working on the machinery in the plant the energy source that had my most respect was the electrical systems. All the hydraulics and mechanical systems could kill me but most likely just maim me, electricity would kill you with out even thinking about it. Twice I had the main power locked-out and because I checked I found a second power source, not labeled, supplied to the cabinet.
LOL, 14:30 I owned a HVAC service before retiring. Hearing a sparky raise that he would be open to hire a HVAC guy makes me laugh. :) thank you for posting the videos and have a great day.
Three phase power was common for houses with central air in the ‘50s and early ‘60s. Condensers required three phase.
I always test my meter on a known live circuit before and after testing
absolutely vital
Yeah on the lost neutral, our power company didnt hook the neutral up at the pole when my wife & I moved in our house. When we plugged our new dryer in we got 240 on all 120 outlets, that was fun😖.
The way I was taught is when looking at the fitting cover straight on with the one entrance to the bottom of your feet if the other entrance is to the right it's an "LR" to the left "LL" to the back is "LB"
undersized flat washers for the bolt/slot size combination. try using "fender washers" instead @ 42:34 on timeline.
otherwise upsize the fasteners to match the slots. perhaps to the semi-pre-punched knockouts? yes, you'll likely have to clean the holes up with a drill bit, file or other tool. stamped metal products one of one.
Im not sure why this video really interested me being that I’m a plumber by trade. I gotta say though you have yourself a good apprentice. I didn’t here you have to tell him much since he already knew what to do for the most part. Great job guys. Can tell you all take pride in your work.
I would love 3phase 120 but i run live sound and studio and home theater gear that can run off it through rack power distribution.
I watch all your videos bud. I just got my electric certification over the summer and I’d love to apprentice with you. Unfortunate I love in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. But I learn from all your videos.
Very few people use those orange or yellow extENSION cords of 50 or 100 feet think about this but if you coil that wire in a circular configuration, that is an inductor which could met enough energy to put static in your audio wires especially if those wires run near the extension cords. You can squeeze the loop into a less energetic form simply by pinching both sides together and crimping them there with a cable tie or tape. Then the cable forms a Figure 8 which makes pay less energetic, potentially, inductor.
Suggestion: To more easily measure length of wire needed, such as for the S-curve from drop to meter base, just shove the tape measure "ribbon" THROUGH the conduct.
Get some lobster claw cutters so you can hold onto the line wire so when it's spring loaded it doesn't spring into the neutral like it almost did.
Edit.
Wow an actual 400 amp CT.
I was expecting a 320 for sure
I learned a 120/240 single phase solidly grounded system is 180 degrees in phase with each other to get 240 volts, not 120 degrees. Just sayin, good job none the less!
I so enjoy your channel. On top of all your knowledge and everything else that I have followed you one of several things as I would love to see a video on your shop I would liked what I’ve seen in the background. Thank you Kansas Dale.
Gotta love working with utilities. And please, no conductive ladders. Enjoy your channel.
Tools should be WDed often to prevent that nasty rust. I clearcoat mine when new, a lineman is working outdoors and the cold to hot condensation.
Hello I just watched you glue the PVC pipe use a bit of Sandpaper to score the PVC before you glue it and it we'll give a better waterproof joint.
I'm a remodeler and learned a lot from this, even though I won't be doing the external work. One question: shouldn't the ground rod connector be coated with dielectric grease, especially since you sink it?
@@ElectricProAcademy I put that s*** on everything!
I am an electrical contractor of over 25 years. Been an electrician for over 40 years. Worked high voltage as a lineman and every aspect of electrical down to homes and low voltage.
What he said about no over current protection in the lines is BS. There are fuse holders in front of every transformer. They protect the primary lines from damage due to fault or over current.
True. But if he shorted conductors while up on that ladder, he'd still be dead. He didn't have control over the ends as he cut the conductors!
@@mrtechie6810 He would get burned but not be dead.
@@terryjanssen316 so disfigured. And if he falls off the ladder?
@@mrtechie6810but he did say the 3 phase service cables were dead.
@@gregkeeyakoHe said "Three phase service is not under load." I.e. it is live.
I'm trying to become a lineman or substation technician, but so far I've waited over 6 months, almost thinking of becoming an apprentice electrician in lou of that.
I would absolutely love to have 3 phase power. One man's trash is another man's treasure I guess
What for? I just bought a commercial building and it's wired for 3 phase. I don't have it energized and don't know what I would use it for.
Another thing I thought of - since most current transformers secondary output is 5 amps and the meter is calculated to the 0-5 amp signal the 200 to 5 ct you installed into the ct can would cause the meter to register twice the amount of electricity actually used - for example if the service was using 200 amps the ct would be putting out 5 amps - the meter - which is set up for 400 amps at a 5 amp input would be registering a current usage of 400 amps.. if the service was for 400 amps and you installed 200 amp ct's you should immediately rectify the mistake.
@@ElectricProAcademy I am a retired master / contractor / electrical designer / UL 508 panel shop - 20 years in power plant design / repair / maint in heavy industrial - and tons of experience in protective relay and meter calibration... so yes I do understand current transformers and how they are utilized in metering and fault clearing schemes... I think the utility is making a mistake if they putting 200 / 5 ct's in a metering application for a 400 amp service - the simple reason is if the ct's get exposed to more than 200 amps they become what is termed as saturated - saturated ct's will not be able to provide a reliable output secondary current that should be used for custody transfer billing. The simple answer is your not supposed to use equipment beyond its electrical rating - I'd bet 50 bucks to a donut hole that the application that the ct's being used in is beyond the UL listing...
came across this vid by total accident but I am glad I did. Good stuff!
Dang.. wish we had more good electricians down here.. my house was passed with home and electrical inspection.. with a "main" panel box (really a sub-panel box) wired directly to the meter.. There's no main breaker in it feeding all the smaller circuits.. on an old 50-60's house with the cloth wiring and no ground wires on majority of the original outlets.. I'm glad it doesn't have the knob and tube wiring that my wife house has up in the attic (no fiberglass insulation up there).. thank god..
Definitions are definitely your strong point.
how did you prove the volt meter is working ?
Curious why’d you’re drill out the knockouts, instead of just knocking them out, since they are already 95% cut?
Im surprised u dont use pvc cleaner prior to glueing pipe . Wonder why u dont reduce ur neutral wire size in riser & service conductors .Also when we used to use emt for grounding electrode conductors we always installed grounding bushings w/ lugs on each end of emt to eliminate choke action
That was absolutely informative and entertaining. Great solutions and expert execution. Impressive completion of the little details that make a difference. Thank you.
I was of the under standing the best way to install a surge protector was to cut the pig tail as short as you can make it
Excellent video. Thanks for your time and excellent electrical information on this job!!
You should check your meter on known live circuits before and after using to INSURE your meter is working properly.
We use a ton of LU's on our site, not many contractors we deal with know what they are. But they work great for fiber optic cables.
I seen many commented wondering why a dwelling unit would have 3 phase. Well, since this is obviously an older house probably from the 1950s or older based off the Pushmatic panel, chances are it had a 3 phase central air conditioner at one point. Back in the 1950s and 60s when home air conditioning became more popular during the post war economic boom, some of the 4 and 5 ton condensers on the market at the time were only available in 240V 3 phase, and for this reason, many neighborhoods in the southern states had banks of open high leg delta. In fact there's a street about 10 minutes from me in Greenville SC, with older brick ranches and bungalows, with overhead service and poles with a large pot next to a smaller pot, a sign of an open delta bank.
Another oddity of this service in older buildings, was a delta circuit breaker. This is an oddball in that it was a three pole breaker that connected to the bus bars in a single phase panel, and the high leg conductor typically came in directly from the meter base UNFUSED and connected to a lug on the breaker, this allowed you to have one three phase load in a single phase panel. These have been prohibited since the 1978 NEC, and while you still find them on ebay and other websites selling NOS and used equipment, they are very expensive and I personally wouldn't trust my life to a breaker brought online that's almost 50 years old at best. I know there's many who never seen or even heard of a delta circuit breaker, so I thought it would be worth an honorable mention.
The grounding electrode is not for fault current, it is for lightning and surge currents from the utility side.. Fault currents go to the utility neutral to operate the OCD.
What absolute rubbish! Rather than offer dangerous advice on TH-cam I suggest you should go back to school. How do you think an RCD or GFCI operates?
@@tonyjover Mr Rubbish. you need to learn the difference between a GFCI and an OCD (usually a circuit breaker..
@@bobniles1928 no I don’t. I asked you where you thought the fault current was flowing for an RCD or GFCI to operate, and you replied with more rubbish. As you obviously don’t understand the subject why don’t you simply admit that instead of making yourself look even more stupid?
I think it's unfair to apply today's codes to a 40 or 50 yr. old house. Most houses are grand fathered. No house would pass an inspection since electrical codes change every 3 yrs.
That's why cars that are older than 20yrs are exempt from inspection in VA. if you apply for it.
Well there is one thing about CT's you CANNOT leave a secondary circuit on a CT open - if you do you will burn up your cabinet- when current flows through the CT it must be either shorted or wired through the 5 am resister in the meter. Most utility metering secondary is 5 amps - it's a good practice to use #10 sis instrument wire to avoid metering circuit impedance.. I'd love to know what the utility did when they showed up. My guess would be the hook up guy wouldn't hook up that small #2 to a 400 amp service would be the first excuse and the second excuse would be he couldnt hook up till the ct crew were finished with the meter installation. They will have to have a different meter than the one you took off the old service and the service hookup guy wont have the proper meter with him .. now that is not to say he wasn't savvy enough to realize that the load hadn't changed on the building and the #2 service cable had been working in the past - then - if he was lucky the ct's were shipped with shorting bars in place so he could temporary the service connection. Let us know how the hookup went.. I hope he has had enough training to know to not run power through a ct with an open secondary .. if your going to be messing with that bigger wire you need to get a tugger.. then you could put that kid on top of the ladder to work. That big wire requires pulling socks and tuggers minimum.... another handy thing to have is a hydraulic wire bender for working big wire in cabinets. And tell that kid pulling that wire over his shoulder to get on a ladder and use the smooth inside jaw on his Klines to get hold of the metal fish tape and pull straight up - you can pull more and your Klines are much easier on your hands ... for some really hard pulls I have built a tripod to be able to pull up through the panel with a pulley at the top then run the rope down to another pulley tied off close to the floor and hook it to a pickup - or skid steer or whatever you can pull with... the trick is work smarter not harder... watching that video brings back lots of memories - most of them about working with assholes that thought they were good at the utility company.
As one of the assholes who was a troubleshooter for the utility company 😂, let me start by saying the coordination between the power company and electrician is terrible. I worked at 3 companies and each one would have sent an engineer or designer out to meet with the electrician to access the job. They would have a metering person on site to install the CT’s and meter, also a crew to upgrade the service to at least a 1/0 triplex. No way in hell would they allow the electrician to pull the meter and cut the service for liability reasons. I would hook up the #2 triplex and have an order for upgrade if I was sent out but only if metering personnel was onsite or metering was installed. Also 3 phase bank would not be left on pole unless another customer was being fed off of the bank
LOL @ 46:15 Dude inside trying to tighten while Joel is chatting outside
Howz about a Wadworth panel …Been in some scary industrial applications. 750s. With insulators. Three cables …Bare 600v DC on one side of the beam. 600v A/C on the other. Every floor
Great video! Uneducated question: aesthetically, was there a reason that both pipes couldn't come from the bottom and make a nice sweeping bend (and stay parallel)?
Yeah I think the end result looks a little janky. I also wonder if there could be any EF problems with the panel feeder right next to the telcom demark box...
In a situation with your double Ls what I normally do is to put up the conduit up for fix only and take it down and put the in one chunk of PVC at a time work from the bottom to top, sliding the conduit over the wire. Big wire does not like to bend. 😊😊 no fighting with the wire. (Which you rarely win!😅)~~ Cris H
Illegal. Conduit must be complete before conductors are installed. All wires bend when you know what you're doing.
I noticed a serious code and Fire Marshall violation. It is required to have a Service Disconnect after de C T or the Meter Can. In order to shut the power en case of emergency. The CT panel you have there do not turn off the electricity. Also, the electric company can not suspend the service en case the people don’t pay the bill. Removing the meter do not shutoff the power in this type of configuration. Beside, inside you put one disconnect that you named “main disconnect” that is wrong snd dangerous since that if the user turn it off, the breaker panel on the side will remains live.
I will appreciated your comment.
An outdoor emergency disconnect is a new requirement in the 2020 NEC. Presumably this jurisdiction has not yet adopted the 2020 NEC. I have seen such disconnects, but they are pretty rare here in New England.