Took me 40 years for a fellow old timer to tell me: Every time that you turn on a safety switch or circuit breaker stand to side of box and take in a deep breath & hold it until done turning power on. Reason for this is God forbid that an Arc Fault occurs with breath held you would not be able to inhale think it's as high as 10,000 degree heat that burns air way & lungs. Was told at continuing education classes that an Arc Fault can produce more heat then the sun.
@@persona250 Nope. I had an old 240 volt safety switch blow off the rusted cover years ago when I turned it on. Found out that an old reversing starter had reverse set of contacts welded close and a broken mechanical interlock. The selector switch to control it was in the forward mode so when I turned the safety switch on it caused a dead short not only blowing two time delay fuses but tripping the 60 amp circuit breaker that feed the multi motor panel. 240 volts not too bad but when you have a dead short on 480 volts sounds like a cannon going off. Better to play it safe and use every safety precautions including using the proper PPE including a tinted face shield and rubber gloves with canvas gloves over them that are tested & date stamped every 6 months. I had to take an OSHA 10 class along with yearly 8 hours continuing education class to renew my city electrical license. My dukes of Hazzard state has been working on a state license since 1964 when my dad had to take a test to get his electrical license.
@@JohnThomas-lq5qp I’ve accidentally shorted 100 amp main feed tails together 10 inch in front of my face with nothing but a loud bang . Where was the ionised arc flash that should have incinerated my lungs according to your data ?
@@JohnThomas-lq5qp 480v Arc Faults are absolutely terrifying to hear. I have seen some video of one and it sounds like an A-10 Warthog blasting a bunch of tanks.
I had a 125 HP VFD drive that lazy senior electrician got called in for on a weekend but managed to push it off on me when I came in on a a Monday morning. Hate to pat my self on the back but after working on a lot of VFD'S over a 30 year period and attended a few drive classes got fairly good at troubleshooting & making some repairs. Something did not appear right in this drive and I wanted to call in our great drive tech but senior electrician told me to repair it. Found that the 6 pak was burned out so I replaced it and started the drive on hand and slowly increased speed. Think crap hit the fan at around 20% speed setting. Drive was in a fourth level basement room with a high ceiling. Thought that I was back in Viet Nam with the sound of a very large 122 mm rocket blowing up. Turned safety switch off then opened drive cabinet to a cloud of smoke. When the drive tech came in to bail me out asked me when I replaced the 6 Pak ( actually a three phase assembly of IGBT'S ) that cost over a grand did I replace the little maybe $75 board that controlled it. Nope never came across such a board. He installed a new 6 Pak & control board and drive worked great. Did have my PPE on including tinted face shield, canvas over rubber 600 volt rubber gloves, PPE long sleeve shirt & pants but not the special ears plugs they gave us. Even had my thing that looks like a race car drivers hooded head & face pull over that starts with a B. After that used my ear plugs.
the lineman definitely had their work cut out for this one. bobsdecline is a good youtube channel by a lineman. he has really interesting stuff to talk about
I know this is an older video, but as a DIYer who has been watching your entire channel backlog, I REALLY appreciate and respect that you leave in your mistakes. It makes me feel better for cutting a live wire not too long ago as well!
When I was working on the film “Wild, Wild, West” an electrician told me that there were 27,000 Amps flowing into the one stage. (Stage 27 on the Warner Brothers lot, I believe.) Everything was incandescent at that time. So, it is easily believable with that many lamps. And all of that was coming off of generators.
@@funnlivinit ... having seen stage lighting of that era, where par-cans are 1000 - 1500 wats each, and they are still using carbon arc spotlights (the limelight) I can see how power hungry everything is. Did I mention that all audio gear was vacuum tube? Yup, this gear generated lots of heat as well!
Leaving the ground conductor temporarily not connected, with the ground and neutral branch circuits still together was ok to me. I started designing in 1983 and the NEC flip flopped on feeding separate buildings and having neutrals and grounds separate. When doing the breaker moving to on, in safety class, I was taught to stand off to the side and turn them on. Your method puts you in line with blast area.
I have to say, great articulation, and so informative. It's a clean video, and I watched the whole thing. Bonus: just wanted to say this was a look into real life, as all the hiccups, issues, and tasks, and how he navigated through his day ...this is real life. Thinking through problems on the fly while on camera, trying to think...impressive. it exposed, for me, what's it's like to be at work building and servicing homes, to you all. Hahaha
Finally invested in a milwaukee wire stripper, we are getting more and more spoiled as electricians with the tools they have come out with the last several years and I love it
In the early 1960's my dad would take me to a 100 amp service he & my uncle were doing. Everything was done by hand. Every anchor was done with a heavy hammer & a star drill. Cut the 100 amp cable with a hacksaw. Would take all day. When I started doing 100 amp services had a hammer drill & cable cutter. Did the job by myself in less then a full day most of the time. Nothing like power tools. Only wish we had battery operated drill) drivers back then. I have carpal tunnel in both hands that after turning wrenches or screwdrivers just a short time is painful. Since retiring and seldom using tools carpool tunnel is under control. Wish I had a battery operated sawzall when I had to cut conduit & unistrut with a hacksaw.
Heh… when a customer asks me how to reset a tripped breaker, I always ask a customer which hand they are. If they are right handed, I tell them to stand to the right side of the panel, with left hand on the breaker handle, turn away from the panel, and turn the breaker fully off, then fully on. They then ask me why use the opposite hand to reset it? I explain, that if an arc flash failure of the tripped breaker causes an explosion, they don’t lose their dominant hand. They usually wait for me to arrive to discover the issue.
"They usually wait for me to arrive to discover the issue." - Well played :D Actually if a breaker trips and they have no clue, it is in their very best interest to stay put until some professional has the chance to check. You might have saved lives and / or property.
Was so interesting I switched the video to my large scrern TV. Agree best policy to use the 200 KIAC fuses. In all my 50 years as a sparky never came across a house with more then a 600 amp service. While on no ox I always removed the very small screws on 100 amp main circuit breakers and installed a thin coat of no ox on threads along with wire brushing it into aluminum wires. In damp basements found the screw corroded do bad that either the slot broke or could not move screw. Wish more sparkies would take the time to chalk over the screw heads on outdoor boxes to prevent water intrusion. Great top quality job. With the sky high price of copper and so difficult to secure supplies glad that I'm retired.
On most lugs, especially in potentially damp environments I always pull the screw out and put a dab of nolox on the threads. Worked on so many old services where the screws and lugs are basically welded together and impossible to remove. With some grease on the threads they come out nice and clean as new after 15+ years. I have a strong policy of "don't fuck the next guy over." I'm often the next guy on work I do but even if I know I'll never touch something again I try to make it easy for the next guy. Common courtesy.
@@dalecarnegie4440 You sur are a great & caring worker. I worked at a large slaughterhouse then a big candy plant where the daily night high pressure wash downs were a major problem. We had to tape every wire nut, device and with spliced in pecker heads used a lot of quality made in the USA tape down at least an inch in insulation. Had several 40 to 100 HP pumps in a deep open pit that would get flooded with at least 4' of water over top of running TEFC motors. Motors would often run 15 minutes before water grounded out windings. Also we were taught"be a friend & leave a tab" on ends if tape. If you had oily or greasy filled hands it was a blessing having a tab to remove electrical tape.
I worked industrial outside for years and noalox was my best friend. Can’t count the number of XP round fitting covers I had to destroy, as well as twisted off screws that had to be re-tapped. Think of the next guy, it might be you!
15:44 I was like what? 2 services to the building? But after listening I realized - 230.2(D) - different rate schedule. Nice! Great video, thank you, bud.
You can also get special permission from AHJ and POCO to do multiple services with the same characteristics to a building. It’s pretty common in shopping centers, but not too common for homes
When I worked as an industrial sparky we had 1 transformer from the REMC that feed or genset/ distrubution building with 2 different lines to separate dist. sections and associated disconnects. That building then serviced multi buildings withe 2 separate power sources we call A and B. Building loads were then split between the two so the whole building was not completely down if something happened..
I really like the spin guillotine style of big cable stripping. I think they’re “designed” for massive coax cable but they are spectacular to say the least. A light spring keeps it closed and there’s a little finger sized loop for spinning it around and it’s just awesome for everything from battery cables and heavy service wires
My favorite tool for stripping insulation off of those thick 6AWG to 0AWG cables is Knipex's "Electrician's Shears" - part number 950510SB, about $35 on Amazon. You spin them on the wire and it cuts to exactly the right depth without marring the conductor inside, and are tougher than a coffin nail. I can't imagine doing large conductor work without them, having cut my fingers open with the utility knife technique more times than I can count...
@@AgentOffice Every house has a 3 phase 400 V connection. You get 3 230V (120° shifted) phases which is shared by all the circuits for "normal" stuff. High demand devices are wired to get all 3 phases (electrical or induction kitchen stove, big saws or other motors).
@@AgentOffice In HU we have similar code to Germany. House has 1x32A or 3x10A as a base service, and if you need more amps, you can get it (either on a single phase or as 3-phase) but has a per-amper cost (not sure how much). Single phase is 230V, 400V is measured between 2 phases (two "hot" conduit). All 3 phases are 230V to ground, but there is a 120 degree phase shift between them. If i remember correctly, all equipment above 5KW of peak consumption must come in 3 phase. So large electric stoves, large AC etc only available as 3-phase and therefore you need 3-phase service in your property to run them.
@19:40 This, children, is why you don't land grounds on the neutral bar! Yes, it's allowed by code, but you can see the work it creates when that box is no longer the bonding point. (at my home, and many of my properties, the first disconnecting means is right beside the meter, so you can't do this in those panels anyway.)
Hey Joel, Love your channel as your expertise, attention to detail and presentation is superior! Couldn't find detailed info re GFCI and AFCI - might you do that video in future?
Not sure on why the capacity is needed, would love to hear as well. There are reasons I can think of, but none at a residence like that without a LARGE shop / farm. 3ph would prob be best, but he may be in a situation like me where its simply not available at the location and having it "brought out" is 500k+. Ive looked at going single ph CT but found it more economical to run multiple 320/400 and just deal with split metering, poco here at least was fine with it, just had to upgrade the pole mount transformer to accommodate. Im thinking alot of the complexities here are likely because this is in some type of res area that is all fed underground.
On a better way to strip cable - the Jokari 10270 Secura cable stripper is much better then a utility knife in my opinion. Adjustable depth so you can use it on all different diameters of cable, and can make sure you're not nicking the conductor.
I would have used duct seal around the box when mounted than like plumbers puddy remove excess and wld have used washers with the mounting screws and all couplings and hubs instead of caulking everything. But I was raised in new england so water turns to ice and duct seal holds up better than caulking or I have caulked over the duct seal with silicone to match the house color too
Great video, although with the 12/3 switch leg to the garage for the garage outside security lights I’d prefer an actual 3-way switch. In fact, I’m currently planning to run 1-1/2” pvc conduit to my garage for a 100A sub panel that is 65’ to the rear of my house. Inside the conduit I’m pulling three 2/0 awg copper conductors and a 2 awg ground. I’m doing the same as was with the conduit that was cut in this video, I’m also running a 12/3 UF in that 1-1/2” conduit. This is for the same reason which is to control manually the security lights on my garage with a 3-way switch both in the house and garage. Things these days are becoming too automated and it’s making people lazy when it comes to home improvements.
1200 amps. I didn't know you could get a single phase service that big. How big is the transformer? 288KVA to one address. Is an arc flash study required on that service?
We just finished up a 1200A residential build about 31,000 sq. Ours wasn’t done like this with a bunch of 200A panels everywhere. We had 1200A knife switch into a 1200A single phase switchboard. From the SWB we sent 600A to an MDP in a mechanical room, 200A sub panels located in 6 different places around the house. On my load calculation it came to 232KW. We didn’t do a full arc flash study, but we did include the available fault current at the switch board and other panels. We did run into issues with the door of the room where the switchboard is though, when 1200A overcurrent devices are present you fall into the “large equipment” section of 110.26. Panic hardware and different egress requirements are mandated at that level, that we didn’t even think to account for because it’s residential
Must be nice, as I struggle to pay my electric bill and wonder where my next meal is coming from or if there will be one. Living in a house where an idiot did not only not ground anything but cut off ground wires where they could and should have been used, it really bothers me. I've gone completely of the rails knowing that GFCIS have no ground. When I plug in my tester, I want it to show a ground, and I want it able to trip the GFCI, which it cannot do if no ground is present. Also, an ungrounded GFCI did not prevent me from being electrocuted by my metal canister vacuum cleaner. Someone created a bootleg ground by connecting a ground jumper to the neutral. The vacuum cleaner itself is also not a grounded cord, just a standard 2 conductor vacuum cord. But when I went to switch it, I got a good zap. The GFCI never tripped. It self tested okay. So I am very anal about ground wires not being connected or disregarded.
I am curious if 3 phase was discussed and what the pro/cons of doing it that way would have been? For the pumps and HVAC the pool house required it seems like it would have been an advantage not to mention the possibility of a high speed EV charging station. I humbly think as EV charging becomes more of a thing and homes overall drawing more power than ever a move to having 3 phase available in residential settings would be a win. If the power companies were smart they would run fiber to the home at the same time and solve that little problem. I work on big 3 phase transmitters, stuff that can kill you from a distance with north of 10kv inside them. Always stand aside when I flip the mains and start bringing up the high voltage. Sometimes I am coming back from a lightning strike and it's very likely something is going to go bang the first few times around until you find everything that was blown up. I have seen videos of meters and panels going off in a spectacular fashion that would/did kill anyone in front of them.
What about basing your quote on a fixed fee for labor and a formula for materials based on their prices at the time you signed? Too much hassle? I have no insight into the law or norms of bidding on anything, just curious.
With the garage disconnect, they have the neutral that is on the left side, and not really space to get the wire to the top, make a U turn, and go back down. Why not run the wire up into the connection, making a sort of S shape to the wire to have it feed up into the neutral wire connection?
Damn I just realized that's the disconnect we had for our meat equipment where I work. Only we had some three phase going through it, I don't know what the fuses were rated but it was high for just a grinder. Christ I can't imagine 20,000 or was it 200,000 amp going through that thing.
Never trust Aluminum power cable. 19:26 I did that to this shack. We changed the main panel. My research said there was a good reason to split natural and ground. My electrician thought i had a screw loose.
Massive service for a house, but not in the overall scheme of things, one frequent site I'm at has 1200 amp 3 phase 480volt, which while the same amperage is a whole lot more power, 6x iirc off the top of my head as a non electrician. The pad transformer for that building is quite a bit larger.
on a 240V split phase? I service a small factory that runs from its own 20kV - 400V three phase transformer. I just service the 400V side. But a lot of 400V/500A distribution boards
A ridiculous amount of current for a domestic property . I would be surprised if it uses anywhere near 200 amps per phase . In the uk this is close to supply limit of current for a business before its own on site transformer is required .
@@slademcthornbody9060 there's only a 100 amp service in the garage on a separate meter for EV charging but I think they're violating the agreement if there's anything else on that meter such as lights or garage door.
So no thought of 3 phase with this large of a load ? Impressive . Did a 350 amp service in Cincinnati over that at the time they where willing to do 3 phase at 500 amps.
Why? So the home owner has to buy and maintain the gear to step it down to 240? Theres no typical use for 3 phase in residential, let the utility deal with the gear and deliver 240. If it was a huge mansion that was using commercial HVAC equipment, different story.
@@pastaalalamborghini Look at Germany all homes are 3 phase . Since this estate 3 phase for the pool house . Well this is far from a regular home . 288 kw is a bit much .
@@pastaalalamborghini It an example of how the rest of the world deals with power . There is no need to act badly when asking a question . Having been in residences that had 600 amp 3 phase going in to them . The only thing a bit different was the panel boxes since there was no need to change voltages .
@@johnwilliamson467 that's got nothing to do with your original post or my reply. You said you did a 3 phase 350 amp job in Cincinnati and you asked if anyone thought about 3 phase relative to the project in the video. So you're clearly talking about the US and the videos about the US. We don't use 3 phase in typical residential construction in the US. So no, 3 phase is not applicable to the video. You obviously didn't do any electrical jobs in Cincinnati because this is very basic electrical knowledge that any apprentice would know.
I have two cable strippers from Ripley similar to the Klein one for copper and one for aluminum but for small cable I use my Klein skinning knife also check out the hawk bill knife from Milwaukee
We blew one of those at work. There was a massive storm and the elevator guys left the motor room open on the roof. We flipped a switch and boom. No work that night. All overtime.
Happened at a factory site (i was not there at that time). Fellow IT guys were telling, that a trench was digged to lay power cable for a new factory hall expansion. Then they heard a loud bang, and after the lights went out. It turned out that a very old power line feeding the main hall was there, not present in modern drawings, the digger hit it with the bucket ... one tooth on the bucket has disintegrated, but fortunately nobody was hurt. Digging and drilling is always an adventure.
Yes there is a wire stripper that is perfect for heavy gauge wire but you have to tweak it a bit because it's from great Britain 🇬🇧 and if I hadn't been watching there spark videos for yrs wld never know it existed. It's kind of like a greenlee 13544 round cable stripper but much simpler design
From 5:00 onwards: How is the return path for that primary side phase of the transformer realized? There is just the phase and the lightning arrestor, but no neutral … does it go through the ground back to the riser? 🤔
@@ElectricProAcademy Thanks for the answer! You are talking about the neutrals on the secondary side of the pad transformer, correct? If so, this part is ok for me, but I was wondering, how the return path for the pad transformer primary was realised, since i only saw the hot conductor going to the primary side, but none going back ( on the return port only the lightning arrestor was fitted)
@~7:57... Maybe overkill, but I would not have trusted the OSB wafers as anchor points. I would put a 14-1/2" piece of 2x8 between studs, drilled the penetrations through that and a 14-1/2" 2x4 for the equipment anchors to attach.
Installed a new service at a strip mall and was required to have 100k aic, utility engineer told me that the available fault current there was more like 1,000,000 amps.
Nothing really can prevent tampering other than the de-incentivizing it through the use of other means like not creating a black market out of some thing because it's hard to obtain or maintain. Make it hard to obtain or expensive and that makes people start to find other ways to achieve.
Not going to lie, if I was the homeowner, I would have insisted that you repair what you accidentally broke, unless it actually 100% did not matter to me.
@@ElectricProAcademy @8:20. I suppose it could have been a trick of the light making the pipe from the ground to the new disconnect box look white rather than grey.
had a customer with there own 3ph 100A 12kv line, another with 800 amp 480v service. services over 400a are not uncommon around here. there just for homes, no businesses
Took me 40 years for a fellow old timer to tell me: Every time that you turn on a safety switch or circuit breaker stand to side of box and take in a deep breath & hold it until done turning power on. Reason for this is God forbid that an Arc Fault occurs with breath held you would not be able to inhale think it's as high as 10,000 degree heat that burns air way & lungs. Was told at continuing education classes that an Arc Fault can produce more heat then the sun.
Not at this voltage John . Your buddy probably talking about higher voltages .
@@persona250 Nope. I had an old 240 volt safety switch blow off the rusted cover years ago when I turned it on. Found out that an old reversing starter had reverse set of contacts welded close and a broken mechanical interlock. The selector switch to control it was in the forward mode so when I turned the safety switch on it caused a dead short not only blowing two time delay fuses but tripping the 60 amp circuit breaker that feed the multi motor panel. 240 volts not too bad but when you have a dead short on 480 volts sounds like a cannon going off. Better to play it safe and use every safety precautions including using the proper PPE including a tinted face shield and rubber gloves with canvas gloves over them that are tested & date stamped every 6 months. I had to take an OSHA 10 class along with yearly 8 hours continuing education class to renew my city electrical license. My dukes of Hazzard state has been working on a state license since 1964 when my dad had to take a test to get his electrical license.
@@JohnThomas-lq5qp I’ve accidentally shorted 100 amp main feed tails together 10 inch in front of my face with nothing but a loud bang . Where was the ionised arc flash that should have incinerated my lungs according to your data ?
@@JohnThomas-lq5qp 480v Arc Faults are absolutely terrifying to hear. I have seen some video of one and it sounds like an A-10 Warthog blasting a bunch of tanks.
I had a 125 HP VFD drive that lazy senior electrician got called in for on a weekend but managed to push it off on me when I came in on a a Monday morning. Hate to pat my self on the back but after working on a lot of VFD'S over a 30 year period and attended a few drive classes got fairly good at troubleshooting & making some repairs. Something did not appear right in this drive and I wanted to call in our great drive tech but senior electrician told me to repair it. Found that the 6 pak was burned out so I replaced it and started the drive on hand and slowly increased speed. Think crap hit the fan at around 20% speed setting. Drive was in a fourth level basement room with a high ceiling. Thought that I was back in Viet Nam with the sound of a very large 122 mm rocket blowing up. Turned safety switch off then opened drive cabinet to a cloud of smoke. When the drive tech came in to bail me out asked me when I replaced the 6 Pak ( actually a three phase assembly of IGBT'S ) that cost over a grand did I replace the little maybe $75 board that controlled it. Nope never came across such a board. He installed a new 6 Pak & control board and drive worked great. Did have my PPE on including tinted face shield, canvas over rubber 600 volt rubber gloves, PPE long sleeve shirt & pants but not the special ears plugs they gave us. Even had my thing that looks like a race car drivers hooded head & face pull over that starts with a B. After that used my ear plugs.
the lineman definitely had their work cut out for this one. bobsdecline is a good youtube channel by a lineman. he has really interesting stuff to talk about
I love that channel, great stuff :D
That is another very interesting channel I watch
Agreed, BobsDecline is boss...
I know this is an older video, but as a DIYer who has been watching your entire channel backlog, I REALLY appreciate and respect that you leave in your mistakes. It makes me feel better for cutting a live wire not too long ago as well!
Awesome that you actually got the utility company to talk with you on camera really fills in a bit of the gaps.
When I was working on the film “Wild, Wild, West” an electrician told me that there were 27,000 Amps flowing into the one stage. (Stage 27 on the Warner Brothers lot, I believe.) Everything was incandescent at that time. So, it is easily believable with that many lamps.
And all of that was coming off of generators.
Hello Jordan i think you are getting some figures mixed up maybe 27000 watts .
27000 amps would be 6 megawatts of power
@@persona250 Nope. Amps. Yes 6 megawatts.
That’s what made it so astonishing.
@@funnlivinit ... having seen stage lighting of that era, where par-cans are 1000 - 1500 wats each, and they are still using carbon arc spotlights (the limelight) I can see how power hungry everything is. Did I mention that all audio gear was vacuum tube? Yup, this gear generated lots of heat as well!
@@rupe53 I think there was about 40 tons of air handlers as well. That power might have been included. I didn’t ask.
@@funnlivinit ... based on the high roof and all of those lights, I have no doubt there was 40 tons of cooling involved.
Leaving the ground conductor temporarily not connected, with the ground and neutral branch circuits still together was ok to me. I started designing in 1983 and the NEC flip flopped on feeding separate buildings and having neutrals and grounds separate.
When doing the breaker moving to on, in safety class, I was taught to stand off to the side and turn them on. Your method puts you in line with blast area.
I have to say, great articulation, and so informative. It's a clean video, and I watched the whole thing. Bonus: just wanted to say this was a look into real life, as all the hiccups, issues, and tasks, and how he navigated through his day ...this is real life. Thinking through problems on the fly while on camera, trying to think...impressive. it exposed, for me, what's it's like to be at work building and servicing homes, to you all. Hahaha
Finally invested in a milwaukee wire stripper, we are getting more and more spoiled as electricians with the tools they have come out with the last several years and I love it
In the early 1960's my dad would take me to a 100 amp service he & my uncle were doing. Everything was done by hand. Every anchor was done with a heavy hammer & a star drill. Cut the 100 amp cable with a hacksaw. Would take all day. When I started doing 100 amp services had a hammer drill & cable cutter. Did the job by myself in less then a full day most of the time. Nothing like power tools. Only wish we had battery operated drill) drivers back then. I have carpal tunnel in both hands that after turning wrenches or screwdrivers just a short time is painful. Since retiring and seldom using tools carpool tunnel is under control. Wish I had a battery operated sawzall when I had to cut conduit & unistrut with a hacksaw.
Heh… when a customer asks me how to reset a tripped breaker, I always ask a customer which hand they are. If they are right handed, I tell them to stand to the right side of the panel, with left hand on the breaker handle, turn away from the panel, and turn the breaker fully off, then fully on.
They then ask me why use the opposite hand to reset it?
I explain, that if an arc flash failure of the tripped breaker causes an explosion, they don’t lose their dominant hand.
They usually wait for me to arrive to discover the issue.
"They usually wait for me to arrive to discover the issue." - Well played :D Actually if a breaker trips and they have no clue, it is in their very best interest to stay put until some professional has the chance to check. You might have saved lives and / or property.
Was so interesting I switched the video to my large scrern TV. Agree best policy to use the 200 KIAC fuses. In all my 50 years as a sparky never came across a house with more then a 600 amp service. While on no ox I always removed the very small screws on 100 amp main circuit breakers and installed a thin coat of no ox on threads along with wire brushing it into aluminum wires. In damp basements found the screw corroded do bad that either the slot broke or could not move screw. Wish more sparkies would take the time to chalk over the screw heads on outdoor boxes to prevent water intrusion. Great top quality job. With the sky high price of copper and so difficult to secure supplies glad that I'm retired.
On most lugs, especially in potentially damp environments I always pull the screw out and put a dab of nolox on the threads. Worked on so many old services where the screws and lugs are basically welded together and impossible to remove. With some grease on the threads they come out nice and clean as new after 15+ years. I have a strong policy of "don't fuck the next guy over." I'm often the next guy on work I do but even if I know I'll never touch something again I try to make it easy for the next guy. Common courtesy.
@@dalecarnegie4440 You sur are a great & caring worker. I worked at a large slaughterhouse then a big candy plant where the daily night high pressure wash downs were a major problem. We had to tape every wire nut, device and with spliced in pecker heads used a lot of quality made in the USA tape down at least an inch in insulation. Had several 40 to 100 HP pumps in a deep open pit that would get flooded with at least 4' of water over top of running TEFC motors. Motors would often run 15 minutes before water grounded out windings. Also we were taught"be a friend & leave a tab" on ends if tape. If you had oily or greasy filled hands it was a blessing having a tab to remove electrical tape.
I worked industrial outside for years and noalox was my best friend. Can’t count the number of XP round fitting covers I had to destroy, as well as twisted off screws that had to be re-tapped. Think of the next guy, it might be you!
Nothing like dropping 250k on electrical, and 100k on an EV and saving $30 on a full charge.
Bonus points for virtue signaling with the Tesla and not paying a penny in highway taxes
15:44 I was like what? 2 services to the building?
But after listening I realized - 230.2(D) - different rate schedule. Nice! Great video, thank you, bud.
You can also get special permission from AHJ and POCO to do multiple services with the same characteristics to a building. It’s pretty common in shopping centers, but not too common for homes
@@wm79198 Yeah, all I ever see is resi
When I worked as an industrial sparky we had 1 transformer from the REMC that feed or genset/ distrubution building with 2 different lines to separate dist. sections and associated disconnects. That building then serviced multi buildings withe 2 separate power sources we call A and B. Building loads were then split between the two so the whole building was not completely down if something happened..
I really like the spin guillotine style of big cable stripping. I think they’re “designed” for massive coax cable but they are spectacular to say the least. A light spring keeps it closed and there’s a little finger sized loop for spinning it around and it’s just awesome for everything from battery cables and heavy service wires
you should use pvc expansion straps, foldover style, and 1/2 pvc as a spacer. looks much cleaner than minis with washers.
My favorite tool for stripping insulation off of those thick 6AWG to 0AWG cables is Knipex's "Electrician's Shears" - part number 950510SB, about $35 on Amazon. You spin them on the wire and it cuts to exactly the right depth without marring the conductor inside, and are tougher than a coffin nail. I can't imagine doing large conductor work without them, having cut my fingers open with the utility knife technique more times than I can count...
America: lets pull 1200A from 2 phases at 120V
Germany: Laughs in 3 phase 230/400V
It's actually 240v. America is always 240. It's just split phase not two phase
@@AgentOffice by this logic everything in Germany is 400V
@@sven33r does the house actually get 400v? America uses split phase not 2 phase. Every house gets 240v
@@AgentOffice Every house has a 3 phase 400 V connection. You get 3 230V (120° shifted) phases which is shared by all the circuits for "normal" stuff. High demand devices are wired to get all 3 phases (electrical or induction kitchen stove, big saws or other motors).
@@AgentOffice In HU we have similar code to Germany. House has 1x32A or 3x10A as a base service, and if you need more amps, you can get it (either on a single phase or as 3-phase) but has a per-amper cost (not sure how much). Single phase is 230V, 400V is measured between 2 phases (two "hot" conduit). All 3 phases are 230V to ground, but there is a 120 degree phase shift between them. If i remember correctly, all equipment above 5KW of peak consumption must come in 3 phase. So large electric stoves, large AC etc only available as 3-phase and therefore you need 3-phase service in your property to run them.
You folks are cool, can't wait to start an apprenticeship
Clicked so fast. What an awesome project!
@19:40 This, children, is why you don't land grounds on the neutral bar! Yes, it's allowed by code, but you can see the work it creates when that box is no longer the bonding point. (at my home, and many of my properties, the first disconnecting means is right beside the meter, so you can't do this in those panels anyway.)
Really like your channel. I’m a new subscriber. Really like how you give your explanations and show your work.
I use various knipex knives which are so sharp that they would slice a brick🤦🏾 for cutting large cable conductors. I love that skill.
Hey Joel, Love your channel as your expertise, attention to detail and presentation is superior! Couldn't find detailed info re GFCI and AFCI - might you do that video in future?
were those 3 disconnects rated for 400 amps each?
8:11 in the UK you get called that when you are jokes
Really liked the comments on fuses, did they order up any spares?
My house has a dedicated transformer also, it's on the pole next to the house.
does this type of switch require a ground neutral bond or just wiring the ground into the existing grounding system would be fine?
Even with the pool and the Tesla and the air conditioners what could possibly use 1200 amperes in a residence? Should this be a 3 phase installation?
Not sure on why the capacity is needed, would love to hear as well. There are reasons I can think of, but none at a residence like that without a LARGE shop / farm. 3ph would prob be best, but he may be in a situation like me where its simply not available at the location and having it "brought out" is 500k+. Ive looked at going single ph CT but found it more economical to run multiple 320/400 and just deal with split metering, poco here at least was fine with it, just had to upgrade the pole mount transformer to accommodate. Im thinking alot of the complexities here are likely because this is in some type of res area that is all fed underground.
Love to work with you always do a very professional job
When did Lil' Dicky become an electrician??
On a better way to strip cable - the Jokari 10270 Secura cable stripper is much better then a utility knife in my opinion. Adjustable depth so you can use it on all different diameters of cable, and can make sure you're not nicking the conductor.
You must be a good salesman. I'm sure they got more than one estimate.
I would have used duct seal around the box when mounted than like plumbers puddy remove excess and wld have used washers with the mounting screws and all couplings and hubs instead of caulking everything. But I was raised in new england so water turns to ice and duct seal holds up better than caulking or I have caulked over the duct seal with silicone to match the house color too
Milwaukee power stripper. Great video, keep up the great work!
Great video, although with the 12/3 switch leg to the garage for the garage outside security lights I’d prefer an actual 3-way switch. In fact, I’m currently planning to run 1-1/2” pvc conduit to my garage for a 100A sub panel that is 65’ to the rear of my house. Inside the conduit I’m pulling three 2/0 awg copper conductors and a 2 awg ground.
I’m doing the same as was with the conduit that was cut in this video, I’m also running a 12/3 UF in that 1-1/2” conduit. This is for the same reason which is to control manually the security lights on my garage with a 3-way switch both in the house and garage. Things these days are becoming too automated and it’s making people lazy when it comes to home improvements.
Uf should be ran out side conduit if you want to be NEC compliant
Nice project!
23:07 The sparks are orange, that's burning steel blade fragments from hitting dirt caked on the conduit.
1200 amps. I didn't know you could get a single phase service that big. How big is the transformer? 288KVA to one address. Is an arc flash study required on that service?
We just finished up a 1200A residential build about 31,000 sq. Ours wasn’t done like this with a bunch of 200A panels everywhere. We had 1200A knife switch into a 1200A single phase switchboard. From the SWB we sent 600A to an MDP in a mechanical room, 200A sub panels located in 6 different places around the house. On my load calculation it came to 232KW.
We didn’t do a full arc flash study, but we did include the available fault current at the switch board and other panels. We did run into issues with the door of the room where the switchboard is though, when 1200A overcurrent devices are present you fall into the “large equipment” section of 110.26. Panic hardware and different egress requirements are mandated at that level, that we didn’t even think to account for because it’s residential
@@MrSamsamsammy If 3 phase primary is available, would 3 phase 120/208 be an option?
@@bamaslamma1003 that would be 488
@@bamaslamma1003 you only need two phases for 120 208
How does a private residence need that size of a service? I done a 48 unit building with a 1200A service. You're not allowed to do 3 phase?
Must be nice, as I struggle to pay my electric bill and wonder where my next meal is coming from or if there will be one.
Living in a house where an idiot did not only not ground anything but cut off ground wires where they could and should have been used, it really bothers me. I've gone completely of the rails knowing that GFCIS have no ground. When I plug in my tester, I want it to show a ground, and I want it able to trip the GFCI, which it cannot do if no ground is present. Also, an ungrounded GFCI did not prevent me from being electrocuted by my metal canister vacuum cleaner. Someone created a bootleg ground by connecting a ground jumper to the neutral. The vacuum cleaner itself is also not a grounded cord, just a standard 2 conductor vacuum cord. But when I went to switch it, I got a good zap. The GFCI never tripped. It self tested okay. So I am very anal about ground wires not being connected or disregarded.
You can buy a replacement 3 wire cord for your metal vacuum, and bond the chassis yourself. A GFCI should operate without a ground wire.
For a contractor to have a good working relationship with their respective utility will go a long way.
at 23:00 all I can say is if you are not checking then you are guessing! Why didn't anyone use a tester BEFORE cutting that conduit?
I am curious if 3 phase was discussed and what the pro/cons of doing it that way would have been? For the pumps and HVAC the pool house required it seems like it would have been an advantage not to mention the possibility of a high speed EV charging station. I humbly think as EV charging becomes more of a thing and homes overall drawing more power than ever a move to having 3 phase available in residential settings would be a win. If the power companies were smart they would run fiber to the home at the same time and solve that little problem. I work on big 3 phase transmitters, stuff that can kill you from a distance with north of 10kv inside them. Always stand aside when I flip the mains and start bringing up the high voltage. Sometimes I am coming back from a lightning strike and it's very likely something is going to go bang the first few times around until you find everything that was blown up. I have seen videos of meters and panels going off in a spectacular fashion that would/did kill anyone in front of them.
What about basing your quote on a fixed fee for labor and a formula for materials based on their prices at the time you signed? Too much hassle? I have no insight into the law or norms of bidding on anything, just curious.
I actually laughed when you said McMansion hahaha
With the garage disconnect, they have the neutral that is on the left side, and not really space to get the wire to the top, make a U turn, and go back down. Why not run the wire up into the connection, making a sort of S shape to the wire to have it feed up into the neutral wire connection?
Damn I just realized that's the disconnect we had for our meat equipment where I work. Only we had some three phase going through it, I don't know what the fuses were rated but it was high for just a grinder. Christ I can't imagine 20,000 or was it 200,000 amp going through that thing.
Holy CRAP my volume was max when I opened this video. Now I'm deaf thanks.
What a beautiful project! And they’re Tesla owners. Even better!
I use a Kline hookbill electricians knife, which is specifically designed to strip larger guage conductors, to strip my larger conductors.
Never trust Aluminum power cable. 19:26 I did that to this shack. We changed the main panel. My research said there was a good reason to split natural and ground. My electrician thought i had a screw loose.
You need some good looking yellow hard hats. 😄
Knipex (and clone) self adjusters work on those conductors, and also strip UF-B effortlessly.
Massive service for a house, but not in the overall scheme of things, one frequent site I'm at has 1200 amp 3 phase 480volt, which while the same amperage is a whole lot more power, 6x iirc off the top of my head as a non electrician. The pad transformer for that building is quite a bit larger.
I fight every inspector saying no-ox is required when it isn't. Don't placate their overreaching isms.
somewhere there has to be a dude mining crypto in his basement wishing he had 1200 amps to run his farm
on a 240V split phase? I service a small factory that runs from its own 20kV - 400V three phase transformer. I just service the 400V side. But a lot of 400V/500A distribution boards
15:07
Knipex 98 55 cable knife. Expensive, I know but quality matters.
DeWalt makes DCE151B, which strips #6 through 750 MIL, but I've never used it.
Cable splicer knife ❤
another youtube channel from indy awesome
A ridiculous amount of current for a domestic property . I would be surprised if it uses anywhere near 200 amps per phase . In the uk this is close to supply limit of current for a business before its own on site transformer is required .
@@ElectricProAcademy how could they possibly need 1200A unless they are charging a fleet of EVs?
@@slademcthornbody9060 there's only a 100 amp service in the garage on a separate meter for EV charging but I think they're violating the agreement if there's anything else on that meter such as lights or garage door.
So no thought of 3 phase with this large of a load ? Impressive . Did a 350 amp service in Cincinnati over that at the time they where willing to do 3 phase at 500 amps.
Why? So the home owner has to buy and maintain the gear to step it down to 240? Theres no typical use for 3 phase in residential, let the utility deal with the gear and deliver 240.
If it was a huge mansion that was using commercial HVAC equipment, different story.
@@pastaalalamborghini Look at Germany all homes are 3 phase . Since this estate 3 phase for the pool house . Well this is far from a regular home . 288 kw is a bit much .
@@johnwilliamson467 what the hell does Germany have to do with this video
@@pastaalalamborghini It an example of how the rest of the world deals with power . There is no need to act badly when asking a question . Having been in residences that had 600 amp 3 phase going in to them . The only thing a bit different was the panel boxes since there was no need to change voltages .
@@johnwilliamson467 that's got nothing to do with your original post or my reply. You said you did a 3 phase 350 amp job in Cincinnati and you asked if anyone thought about 3 phase relative to the project in the video. So you're clearly talking about the US and the videos about the US. We don't use 3 phase in typical residential construction in the US. So no, 3 phase is not applicable to the video. You obviously didn't do any electrical jobs in Cincinnati because this is very basic electrical knowledge that any apprentice would know.
Never trained for electrical at all. Glad I'm not stupid for turning away when flipping Main Breakers in service panels.
What did you trim down ? On the 350 MCm
I have two cable strippers from Ripley similar to the Klein one for copper and one for aluminum but for small cable I use my Klein skinning knife also check out the hawk bill knife from Milwaukee
Great input! Thanks for the recommendations; we'll check them all out!
So how many windmills and solar cells does it takes to make this carbon neutral???
Does the US not have 3 phase..yes I know it does but curious why not just a 3 phase supply
probably too expensive to run since residential areas do not usually carry 3phase power
Try a Jonard CST-1900 round cable stripper
You’re supposed to have a disconnect for the car charger next to the disconnect for the lights and receptacles on the detached garage. Article 230.72
Hawksbill knife blade from Klein. Changeable blade long last cutting edge.
Hate to say it but the handyman got what they deserved.
If your not testing your guessing lol (brought to you by Mike pipes the pipe Dr
We blew one of those at work. There was a massive storm and the elevator guys left the motor room open on the roof. We flipped a switch and boom. No work that night. All overtime.
@@ElectricProAcademy At least we got paid! Not our fault.
Happened at a factory site (i was not there at that time). Fellow IT guys were telling, that a trench was digged to lay power cable for a new factory hall expansion. Then they heard a loud bang, and after the lights went out. It turned out that a very old power line feeding the main hall was there, not present in modern drawings, the digger hit it with the bucket ... one tooth on the bucket has disintegrated, but fortunately nobody was hurt. Digging and drilling is always an adventure.
Somehow I missed where the main disconnects for the utility service were grouped as required by NEC.
Yes there is a wire stripper that is perfect for heavy gauge wire but you have to tweak it a bit because it's from great Britain 🇬🇧 and if I hadn't been watching there spark videos for yrs wld never know it existed.
It's kind of like a greenlee 13544 round cable stripper but much simpler design
From 5:00 onwards: How is the return path for that primary side phase of the transformer realized?
There is just the phase and the lightning arrestor, but no neutral … does it go through the ground back to the riser? 🤔
The grounded conductor is in the same cable , that’s what you see coming off the bottom of the load break tied to the ground of the Transformer
Concentric Neutral MV cable
Aaaah so it’s like HV Coax with the outer shield being the neutral?
@@nusermane1076 Never heard it put that way, but yes.
@@ElectricProAcademy Thanks for the answer! You are talking about the neutrals on the secondary side of the pad transformer, correct?
If so, this part is ok for me, but I was wondering, how the return path for the pad transformer primary was realised, since i only saw the hot conductor going to the primary side, but none going back ( on the return port only the lightning arrestor was fitted)
@~7:57...
Maybe overkill, but I would not have trusted the OSB wafers as anchor points. I would put a 14-1/2" piece of 2x8 between studs, drilled the penetrations through that and a 14-1/2" 2x4 for the equipment anchors to attach.
That was my idea also... definitely better than nothing, probably they will last, but i would have used some solid wood.
Na. The OSB will swell after it gets wet and make a nice snug fit.
Are they charging a fleet of EVs for the military in a bunker under the garage 😂😂. That’s TONS of power
Installed a new service at a strip mall and was required to have 100k aic, utility engineer told me that the available fault current there was more like 1,000,000 amps.
Only 1200a ?
In industrial , a quad 1200a @ 480v is relatively small system.
.... This honestly shouldn't exist. This is absolutely ridiculous levels of excess.
Nothing really can prevent tampering other than the de-incentivizing it through the use of other means like not creating a black market out of some thing because it's hard to obtain or maintain. Make it hard to obtain or expensive and that makes people start to find other ways to achieve.
Hello sir ji Iam Electrician iam joining your company thank you sir ji
Where can you buy those gloves dude in the yellow jacket is using?
amzn.to/3KZTYwv
Materials are always estimated and billed at market rate. Not my project not losing money on someone else's job.
Not going to lie, if I was the homeowner, I would have insisted that you repair what you accidentally broke, unless it actually 100% did not matter to me.
Stand to the side of the panel before energizing. This way, if their is an issue you lose an arm, not your whole body.
Not at this voltage Willy
2:27 that guy sounds like Butt-Head. (Beavis and Butt-Head)
I use a automatic wire stripper by Klein
I grease all my fuses go in easy and no oxidation
What you doing with those knock off dewalt batteries lol
Why white pipe instead of grey conduit?
@@ElectricProAcademy @8:20. I suppose it could have been a trick of the light making the pipe from the ground to the new disconnect box look white rather than grey.
The linemen also round robin tested wrong should have cross phased all the phases
1200A service to the property . . . only 50A for the Tesla charging, when Tesla supports up to 80A with the standard wall charger.
Only adding 4k for commodities cost increase was pretty reasonable for them. I bet the reality of cost increase was closer to 6k.. guessing
1200A residential? WOW! this consumes more energy than 10 regular houses.
But they drive a Tesla sooooo....
had a customer with there own 3ph 100A 12kv line, another with 800 amp 480v service.
services over 400a are not uncommon around here. there just for homes, no businesses
Your bare cable ends should have been shrink capped when you pulled it through the box
SPARK oops
guy down the way.....whelp, looks like I gotta pay for electric now
Cutting into PVC with out using a stray voltage tester to make sure the cable dead this guy's gonna get someone killed watching him
DEWALT 20V MAX XR Cable Stripper, Cordless Kit (DCE151TD1)
#6-750kcmil stripper kit
Also, TEMCo TH0410 Rotary Large Wire - Cable Stripper Kit for THHN / XHHW 6 Gauge to 750 MCM (Compatible with any drill)