If you ever happen to find an electrician who would be up for it, it would be really cool to have a pair of videos, showing the fixes to a problem from the electrician's perspective after you turn it over to them.
I've actually got an electrician lined up to do a video like this just waiting for an appropriate opportunity. Things won't be as detailed on his side of things more of a quick run through but I will have a video similar to what you described soon
Back in the day, we would often encounter deer mice nests in our equipment. They’re different from field mice in that they have pointy snouts and bulging eyes. They’re known to carry the bacteria causing Lyme’s disease. Be careful, Bob.
Keep up the good work, brother. But can we have a moment of silence for that poor mummified mouse, whose ignorance of technology caused his downfall. A sober lesson for us all.
Working as a network engineer in rural NH i used to see this kind of thing occasionally at our tower sites, mice would get into the ground equipment cabinets because it was warm and dark in there and then start chewing wires.
I'd actually say the root cause here was the corrosion opening a hole for the mouse to get in. But I am also in New Hampshire and mice are a real problem - this is the time of year when they are moving into warm places so it's a good time to do some mouse proofing and trapping!
I'm also in NH and agree with you guys mice are a huge problem here, not just building but also vehicles. We lost the circuit that feeds outdoor receptacles and lights a number of years ago. It took me a while to track down the cause. When I built the roof over our basement entrance door (a slider) ran NMC behind the bottom of the siding to power the light and receptacle. It ran for several feet behind the siding but was exposed between it and the concrete basement wall. Mice managed to chew the insulation for a couple of feet until the wires shorted tripping the breaker. Got a fright when I pulled the cable and saw the extent of the damage. Reran the cable and used a length of EMT for mouse protection with steel wool stuffed in at both ends.
When you find stuff like this it reminds me of things I found on jobs by taking the extra few minutes to make a full diagnosis, even if I am not doing the repair. Never hurts to be cautious when safety is involved. I also left a business card with my cell # so we could talk for follow up.
Holy crap! I've seen that orange goop, it almost looks like marine tech. It's this thick, almost epoxy that's available in the states here, and it's supposed to be resistant to fluids
Looks like fire stop. Put it between floors or walls in a structure to prevent fire from traveling to the next space. So, I guess, good that someone recognized a fire hazard and tried to stop it, but there are better ways here…
yes it does look like that automotive stuff, but it could also be that fire rated caulk they use in commercial buildings between floor penetrations. Either way, it's the wrong stuff to use on hot connections.
@@rupe53 the fire blocker caulk is usually darker red, looks very dull in appearance and gets near rock hard from the materials in it, it also doesn't get all stringy like the red high temp/others. that sure looked shiny and soft, even though it was dirty.
@@rupe53 probably trying to stop rain water from getting in through the wires and down the conduit, he mentioned close to the ocean, so maybe salty ocean spray/mist getting in and corroding things quickly. maybe some sparky did it? we have issues here with corrosive salt/ice melt spray and mist off the highways kicked up by vehicle traffic, by the ocean that's more frequent and eats everything fast.
@@Bobsdecline I came across one during my short time as a meter tech - the ENTIRE bottom of the socket was rusted out to where the cover simply fell off. Back then, I had been keeping a log of locations where I knew the troubleman for whichever utility we were at should at least follow up, but my supervisor at the contractor outfit I was working for was actually filtering out my notes - he insisted we are there to work on the meter - nothing else! That left me pretty frustrated - I was logging things like split pole tops, burned polymer dead-ends, etc. I can still remember one customer complaining he had low voltage to his house - well, yeah, I looked up and counted no less than FIFTEEN splices in all three wires in the single open-wire span from the house mast to the meter pole in the yard!!!
Yeah, I've seen HVACR guys who just nope off a job site the moment they see rat/roach infestation signs, telling the owners they have to get a professional pest remover to deal with it-for exactly these reasons.
@@ConstantlyDamagedyep, if they disturb it... Could go through the whole building. And if there's sign of one infestation in HVAC can guarantee more. Usually found when they report bad smell
In my second house we were watching TV late one night when the big bang came from the kitchen with power off & burning hair smell in the kitchen! I went in the kitchen and removed the cover to our consumer unit as a smell of burning & tested all ok so reset main incoming RCD(GFCI) all was good, so I waited a while looking and found nothing. In the morning with more light I could see a mouse on incoming lines. So put my gauntlets on & using a fibre glass pole removed the cremated remains! Mice just love eating the insulation! I shortly did a total rewire of the house!
Hello Aaron, Been sub'd and watching all your stuff for the past 2 years and love your work. Just an unrelated question (here) but was wondering if you've ever heard of a utility spec on meter can's wiring that the neutral must be "continuous" from top of mast thru the meter can connections? If so, for what purpose?
@@bobrub I found a utility spec saying that it's allowed to be continuous, but never heard of it being required to be continuous. Maybe somebody confused "allowed" and "required" ? I'll drop the link in separate comment, in case the link isn't allowed.
The only way there would hve been any live mice in there, is if they were newborns. Once the nest started burning, any mouse that could escape would have been out of there!
Wow! That's a close call! Around 6 years ago a building in my area burnt down. It was an electrical fire and just before the fire was noticed, there were a lot of sparks coming from the hydro mast. Fortunately, no one was hurt or killed but the building was a total loss. Wonder if there was a critter's nest there (mouse, racoon etc) that started it? That was never said for certain what the issue was leading up to the fire but that was nasty!
Why is it always the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere? That seems to be a disadvantage of digital meters. No one comes to read them, so that damage gets missed. Ours do get periodic inspection, but not often. Stay safe.
Well, electrical enclosures are designed to contain fires (main reason they're required by Code). So hopefully it would not have gotten out of the box. But, with that big hole in the bottom, who knows.
@@jovetj Exactly. In order for them to do their job, they need to be intact, meaning 'no unsecured holes'. That rusted out part underneath was not secured.
I had a circuit breaker box replaced awhile after we moved to this house in Missouri. Part of the cover was missing and I noticed a wasp had built a big nest. It is a 200 amp box, the building has 3 sides and one open. I got up to the roof and replaced nails that held the metal roof with screws to stop the rain from dripping on that panel. In my building it is 200 amp too and apparently the youngest child had removed the cover on that box too. I killed the power from coming in so i could put the cover on with new screws that I couldn't find. In my life I have seen people electrocuted.
Reminds me of a troubleshooting I did a few years ago around Christmas, a friend's next door neighbor was having partial power loss where half of the house was low voltage and they called the local utility company and they came and checked everything out and didn't find anything wrong but apparently the utility company never pulled the meter and opend the meter box. Because what had happened was I was getting 65 volts on one side of the line side of the main breaker between the hot and neutral and when I opened the meter I saw a rat had built a nest in there and the rat was actually living in there, and The wires were corroded so I was able to kill the rat and get it out and cut the wires back and get them landed but what had happened was the ground had eroded around the bottom of the riser conduit because it was an underground service and it had direct burial wire from the transformer to the meter socket with a riser going up the wall, the ground had eroded so much the bottom of the conduit was showing and a rat must have crawled up there
Looks like fire caulk sealant. The acid in silicon will cause massive corrosion on alloys and certain steels. Don't caulk your electrical connections. That is just asking for problems.
If a mfr. makes it, it'd be a good idea to use a stainless steel meter box and conduits for corrosion resistance near the ocean. I do know pad mount transformers mfrs. make stainless steel transformers for corrosive environments like near the ocean, so other electrical equipment might be available in stainless steel. I do know that this equipment is not your's, so any decision to use SS would be up to the customer and their electrician.
I doubt anyone makes SS transformers - most power companies just sandblast and paint them, when they get rusty - if you're lucky. Some just let them rust and they look like crap
@@gorak9000 I know that at least some 3ph pad mount transformers are available with a SS case. I don't know if OH TRs are available with a SS case, but I suspect that they are available. SS cases are a premium, but well worth it in a corrosive enviroment. Otherwise they'll require replacement at an accereated schedule.
I had a problem in my house, every time I went away the electricity went crazy with blinking and it it killed one washing machine. And all you could see the aftermath by all kinds of electrical things in the house resetting. I did not know that this was going on really because it only happened while I was not at home. And my mom told me when she was in the house to get something when I was not there she said the lights kept flickering and blinking like in a haunted house in the movies. Then one day after over a month of this it happened while I was at home and I could clearly see that the lights was flickering and measured severe voltage drop from normal 230v to almost 0. Then I found out why this only happened when I was away. This severe flickering of the lights only happened when my large 150W Klass A amplifier (uses 100w continuously and have huge capacitor bank and transformer's inside) was off, like when I was away from the house. The large amplifier worked somehow to stabilize the bad electrical connection outside the house on the wall that had been damaged by salt water corrosion from the ocean 200m away. The power company came after I explained what was happening and replaced the bad connection. And the electric ghost was gone ;)
We're going to have to go through the process of replacing that box given the degradation and the wire and everything else because of the Salt Air rust I would just go through and replace everything up including the mast
Is it normal for stuff to get into such bad shape? Aren't there "regular" inspections done? Or the customer is expected to look at it every now and then? Or is it a leave it and forget kinda situation and we'll see it when the power goes out.
Anyone figure that someone must have yanked their own meter at some point? Ouf that’s dangerous, and I would think in particular when there is risk of corrosion. Aaron says the red goop isn’t something his partners use…
My snowblower magneto and ignition housing were obliterated by crusty corrosion, all solidly bedded with a moist mouse nest. The ignorant little blighters know nothing about machinery.
Pretty weird that the red crap is inside the meterbase, i cant see an electrician doing that? But also how would the homeowner get in there to do it without cutting the tag... Good catch though these people got lucky
My best guess is that it was done a very long time ago by the electrician or home owner and had since been re sealed. The seal on it was about 20 years old, while the meter socket was 40+
> "..are you self-employed or do you work for a company?" He works for the major power company in the area. He doesn't want to have to get his every word approved by the company main office, so he does not say the company. Aaron is also a long-term worker and has a lot of autonomy: like this one, he takes a truck home, he gets the midnight call, he fixes it OR he says what to do (disconnect and call a house electrician in the morning).
@@PRR1954 Aaron has certainly gained his reputation after 20 years with the company. Before I retired, I would have given anything to work with a crew that had so much common sense and great work ethic!
If you ever happen to find an electrician who would be up for it, it would be really cool to have a pair of videos, showing the fixes to a problem from the electrician's perspective after you turn it over to them.
Somebody is not familiar with demarcation.....
👍👊‼️
@@Look_What_You_Did That's why it would be a different person and a different trade.
I've actually got an electrician lined up to do a video like this just waiting for an appropriate opportunity.
Things won't be as detailed on his side of things more of a quick run through but I will have a video similar to what you described soon
@@Bobsdecline That's great, I'll look forward to it.
This was someone’s lucky night. Good thing they were home.
Mouse pro tip: never try to bypass the meter, not only is it illegal, but you might die.
Back in the day, we would often encounter deer mice nests in our equipment. They’re different from field mice in that they have pointy snouts and bulging eyes. They’re known to carry the bacteria causing Lyme’s disease. Be careful, Bob.
The high temp silicone situation is a head scratcher to say the least
Keep up the good work, brother. But can we have a moment of silence for that poor mummified mouse, whose ignorance of technology caused his downfall. A sober lesson for us all.
Working as a network engineer in rural NH i used to see this kind of thing occasionally at our tower sites, mice would get into the ground equipment cabinets because it was warm and dark in there and then start chewing wires.
Same with phone lines. They cause all sorts of weird issues. Shorts, grounds, crossed pairs. I don't miss it.
I'd actually say the root cause here was the corrosion opening a hole for the mouse to get in. But I am also in New Hampshire and mice are a real problem - this is the time of year when they are moving into warm places so it's a good time to do some mouse proofing and trapping!
I'm also in NH and agree with you guys mice are a huge problem here, not just building but also vehicles.
We lost the circuit that feeds outdoor receptacles and lights a number of years ago. It took me a while to track down the cause. When I built the roof over our basement entrance door (a slider) ran NMC behind the bottom of the siding to power the light and receptacle. It ran for several feet behind the siding but was exposed between it and the concrete basement wall. Mice managed to chew the insulation for a couple of feet until the wires shorted tripping the breaker. Got a fright when I pulled the cable and saw the extent of the damage. Reran the cable and used a length of EMT for mouse protection with steel wool stuffed in at both ends.
When you find stuff like this it reminds me of things I found on jobs by taking the extra few minutes to make a full diagnosis, even if I am not doing the repair. Never hurts to be cautious when safety is involved. I also left a business card with my cell # so we could talk for follow up.
A guy we worked with for Gem- Western Reactor Inc in Alberta Canada opened an old fusebox with no mask and almost died from that virus.
You've just saved this person from a house fire! Great job!
Holy crap! I've seen that orange goop, it almost looks like marine tech. It's this thick, almost epoxy that's available in the states here, and it's supposed to be resistant to fluids
Thanks for sharing your experience
Nice catch Aaron. Loose connections all the time!
Looks like fire stop. Put it between floors or walls in a structure to prevent fire from traveling to the next space.
So, I guess, good that someone recognized a fire hazard and tried to stop it, but there are better ways here…
I think it's just orange RTV silicone
The orange stuff looks like automotive grade RTV sealant and the cheap RTV that reeks of vinegar as it cures too!
yes it does look like that automotive stuff, but it could also be that fire rated caulk they use in commercial buildings between floor penetrations. Either way, it's the wrong stuff to use on hot connections.
@@Bushougoma the kind that smells of vinegar when it cures also corrodes electrical connections.
@@rupe53 the fire blocker caulk is usually darker red, looks very dull in appearance and gets near rock hard from the materials in it, it also doesn't get all stringy like the red high temp/others.
that sure looked shiny and soft, even though it was dirty.
@@throttlebottle5906 that leaves just one question.... what was a DIY guy doing with automotive silicone up on the mast?
@@rupe53 probably trying to stop rain water from getting in through the wires and down the conduit, he mentioned close to the ocean, so maybe salty ocean spray/mist getting in and corroding things quickly. maybe some sparky did it?
we have issues here with corrosive salt/ice melt spray and mist off the highways kicked up by vehicle traffic, by the ocean that's more frequent and eats everything fast.
You should name that mouse Steve 🤣👊 Keep up the great content!
🤣🤣🍻
Why not Bob? He declined, a lot! haha Though I'm not sure Aaron actually found a mouse.
@@jovetj that's because Steve Sr has a liking for mice. He collects them and calls all the ones he finds Jr
Would that be "Steve Wal*is?" Great choice.😄
Wow that could have been a disaster, that meter base has seen better days for sure.
That red stuff looks like fire caulk. Or maybe some variation of Penatrox? Weird. R.I.P. Steve!
That looks like fire block silicone not sure why they used it on the connections
Rusty bottom of the power meter 😮 but it happens when you are near the ocean
Incredibly rusty! One of the worst I've seen
@@Bobsdecline I saw that
Should just remove the ocean to fix the problem.
@@Bobsdecline I came across one during my short time as a meter tech - the ENTIRE bottom of the socket was rusted out to where the cover simply fell off. Back then, I had been keeping a log of locations where I knew the troubleman for whichever utility we were at should at least follow up, but my supervisor at the contractor outfit I was working for was actually filtering out my notes - he insisted we are there to work on the meter - nothing else! That left me pretty frustrated - I was logging things like split pole tops, burned polymer dead-ends, etc. I can still remember one customer complaining he had low voltage to his house - well, yeah, I looked up and counted no less than FIFTEEN splices in all three wires in the single open-wire span from the house mast to the meter pole in the yard!!!
@@Tathanicinstead of removing the ocean, you could just remove the salt from the ocean. Imagine all the advantages of having a freshwater ocean.
I'd wear a mask dealing with mice nests. Don't want to breathe in dust as it could contain hantavirus leading to severe lung disease.
Something I didn't think of at all!! 😮
Appreciate this comment very much
Yeah, I've seen HVACR guys who just nope off a job site the moment they see rat/roach infestation signs, telling the owners they have to get a professional pest remover to deal with it-for exactly these reasons.
@@ConstantlyDamagedyep, if they disturb it... Could go through the whole building. And if there's sign of one infestation in HVAC can guarantee more. Usually found when they report bad smell
@Bobsdecline extraordinarily rare in our part of the World here. The very few cases in Canada each year are out west.
@@terryhoyt2058 Good to know. Cleaned out an infested area last winter (Montreal).
In my second house we were watching TV late one night when the big bang came from the kitchen with power off & burning hair smell in the kitchen!
I went in the kitchen and removed the cover to our consumer unit as a smell of burning & tested all ok so reset main incoming RCD(GFCI) all was good, so I waited a while looking and found nothing. In the morning with more light I could see a mouse on incoming lines. So put my gauntlets on & using a fibre glass pole removed the cremated remains!
Mice just love eating the insulation!
I shortly did a total rewire of the house!
Orange stuff is high temp RTV sealant
Hello Aaron, Been sub'd and watching all your stuff for the past 2 years and love your work.
Just an unrelated question (here) but was wondering if you've ever heard of a utility spec on
meter can's wiring that the neutral must be "continuous" from top of mast thru the meter
can connections? If so, for what purpose?
@@bobrub I found a utility spec saying that it's allowed to be continuous, but never heard of it being required to be continuous. Maybe somebody confused "allowed" and "required" ? I'll drop the link in separate comment, in case the link isn't allowed.
New channel: MeterboxsDecline
Thee's yer problem lady.
Great video!
Looks like water (salt water) has been wicking through those cables. That would explain why someone put "fire block" on the ends.
Yeah... across street from ocean like he said
The only way there would hve been any live mice in there, is if they were newborns. Once the nest started burning, any mouse that could escape would have been out of there!
Wow! That's a close call! Around 6 years ago a building in my area burnt down. It was an electrical fire and just before the fire was noticed, there were a lot of sparks coming from the hydro mast. Fortunately, no one was hurt or killed but the building was a total loss.
Wonder if there was a critter's nest there (mouse, racoon etc) that started it? That was never said for certain what the issue was leading up to the fire but that was nasty!
Why is it always the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere? That seems to be a disadvantage of digital meters. No one comes to read them, so that damage gets missed. Ours do get periodic inspection, but not often. Stay safe.
That's one lucky home owner. That looks like they were pretty darn close to a structure fire.
Well, electrical enclosures are designed to contain fires (main reason they're required by Code). So hopefully it would not have gotten out of the box. But, with that big hole in the bottom, who knows.
@@jovetj Exactly. In order for them to do their job, they need to be intact, meaning 'no unsecured holes'. That rusted out part underneath was not secured.
Things that you see as a lineman are crazy
God Bless You !
I had a circuit breaker box replaced awhile after we moved to this house in Missouri. Part of the cover was missing and I noticed a wasp had built a big nest. It is a 200 amp box, the building has 3 sides and one open. I got up to the roof and replaced nails that held the metal roof with screws to stop the rain from dripping on that panel. In my building it is 200 amp too and apparently the youngest child had removed the cover on that box too. I killed the power from coming in so i could put the cover on with new screws that I couldn't find. In my life I have seen people electrocuted.
Any seal that leaks just traps the moisture in and makes it corrode faster. (Retired 41 year CATV tech here I've seen my share of bad connections)
That will be a rather expensive fix.
Good content.
got to that just in time before it could have been tragic
Mice are a Huge Nuisance but so are Raccoons, Squirrels, Snakes and Wasps in and around our Telephone Cable. 🤔👎
They used silicone rubber to try to waterproof that weatherhead.
Reminds me of a troubleshooting I did a few years ago around Christmas, a friend's next door neighbor was having partial power loss where half of the house was low voltage and they called the local utility company and they came and checked everything out and didn't find anything wrong but apparently the utility company never pulled the meter and opend the meter box. Because what had happened was I was getting 65 volts on one side of the line side of the main breaker between the hot and neutral and when I opened the meter I saw a rat had built a nest in there and the rat was actually living in there, and The wires were corroded so I was able to kill the rat and get it out and cut the wires back and get them landed but what had happened was the ground had eroded around the bottom of the riser conduit because it was an underground service and it had direct burial wire from the transformer to the meter socket with a riser going up the wall, the ground had eroded so much the bottom of the conduit was showing and a rat must have crawled up there
Nice mice.
You need to practice your Steve Irwin voice when you find critters
Looks like fire caulk sealant. The acid in silicon will cause massive corrosion on alloys and certain steels. Don't caulk your electrical connections. That is just asking for problems.
If a mfr. makes it, it'd be a good idea to use a stainless steel meter box and conduits for corrosion resistance near the ocean. I do know pad mount transformers mfrs. make stainless steel transformers for corrosive environments like near the ocean, so other electrical equipment might be available in stainless steel.
I do know that this equipment is not your's, so any decision to use SS would be up to the customer and their electrician.
I doubt anyone makes SS transformers - most power companies just sandblast and paint them, when they get rusty - if you're lucky. Some just let them rust and they look like crap
It's actually a requirement that we use SS transformers filled with veg. oil when within a specific distance from water.
@@gorak9000 I know that at least some 3ph pad mount transformers are available with a SS case. I don't know if OH TRs are available with a SS case, but I suspect that they are available. SS cases are a premium, but well worth it in a corrosive enviroment. Otherwise they'll require replacement at an accereated schedule.
@@Bobsdecline Does this apply to both OH and pad mount TRs? And 1PH and 3PH?
@@genoc7947 SS meter bases are available. They are quite expensive and look really dope.
I wonder if that red crap is someone’s idea of corrosion protection.
Just how many spare parts (transformers, poles, wire, etc." does your company keep on hand? It must be a great amount.
Is that fire caulk??
R.I.P STEVE 2024
Haha for once you could have (figuratively) blamed "the previous guy" for a total rat's nest of an install 😅
The red stuff looks like RTV, a silicon sealant.
I had a problem in my house, every time I went away the electricity went crazy with blinking and it it killed one washing machine. And all you could see the aftermath by all kinds of electrical things in the house resetting. I did not know that this was going on really because it only happened while I was not at home. And my mom told me when she was in the house to get something when I was not there she said the lights kept flickering and blinking like in a haunted house in the movies.
Then one day after over a month of this it happened while I was at home and I could clearly see that the lights was flickering and measured severe voltage drop from normal 230v to almost 0. Then I found out why this only happened when I was away. This severe flickering of the lights only happened when my large 150W Klass A amplifier (uses 100w continuously and have huge capacitor bank and transformer's inside) was off, like when I was away from the house. The large amplifier worked somehow to stabilize the bad electrical connection outside the house on the wall that had been damaged by salt water corrosion from the ocean 200m away.
The power company came after I explained what was happening and replaced the bad connection. And the electric ghost was gone ;)
We're going to have to go through the process of replacing that box given the degradation and the wire and everything else because of the Salt Air rust I would just go through and replace everything up including the mast
Is it normal for stuff to get into such bad shape? Aren't there "regular" inspections done? Or the customer is expected to look at it every now and then? Or is it a leave it and forget kinda situation and we'll see it when the power goes out.
Anyone figure that someone must have yanked their own meter at some point? Ouf that’s dangerous, and I would think in particular when there is risk of corrosion. Aaron says the red goop isn’t something his partners use…
corroded from mouse piss?
My snowblower magneto and ignition housing were obliterated by crusty corrosion, all solidly bedded with a moist mouse nest. The ignorant little blighters know nothing about machinery.
Looking to become a lineman and how much for a mentorship?
Also do you recommend line school . Thanks Arkansas😊
Pretty weird that the red crap is inside the meterbase, i cant see an electrician doing that? But also how would the homeowner get in there to do it without cutting the tag... Good catch though these people got lucky
My best guess is that it was done a very long time ago by the electrician or home owner and had since been re sealed. The seal on it was about 20 years old, while the meter socket was 40+
the only good thing is that this was a easy overtime call out...!
Mice are some nasty buggers. I had one decide to commit suicide on the dryer terminals. Fried the board and everything.
Ow gross! Not so nice meter can!
How did the mouse not get up on top of lugs and get fried??
My friend, are you self-employed or do you work for a company?
> "..are you self-employed or do you work for a company?" He works for the major power company in the area. He doesn't want to have to get his every word approved by the company main office, so he does not say the company. Aaron is also a long-term worker and has a lot of autonomy: like this one, he takes a truck home, he gets the midnight call, he fixes it OR he says what to do (disconnect and call a house electrician in the morning).
@@PRR1954 Aaron has certainly gained his reputation after 20 years with the company. Before I retired, I would have given anything to work with a crew that had so much common sense and great work ethic!
Who is Bob, and why is he declining
Should not be able to get in.