Always de-energize damaged meter before removal.
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- Опубліковано 8 жов 2023
- Hey all! I've got a few videos I'm working on and will have up soon! In the mean time, there's been quite a few senseless calls like this keeping me busy 😡.
While most meters can be safely pulled while energized... ya don't want to take any changes when dealing with damaged equipment!
Be safe all 👊👊
While most meters can be safely pulled while energized... ya don't want to take any changes when dealing with damaged equipment!
Be safe all 👊👊
I know it is a sensitive topic but could you make a video on "smart" or digital meters verses anaglog meters. It would be nice to hear you views and some facts on them because of the conterversy.
🍻
@@BryceFromNowhere0547 Smart meters allow for detailed usage tracking and control, including possible remote shutoff. Not all utilities can or will do that, but some smart meters have that capability. To be clear, remote shutoff is for customer service purposes only (terminating service, unpaid bill, etc). Utility workers still need to take the same precautions as with any meter. In some areas, one has no choice with the type of meter they get while in other places, customers can opt-out.
As a gen tech, I have no problem not going near those things and passing the buck and saying that's not my job 😂
Just that I heard it's a good way to fry yourself if you don't know what you're doing.
Always makes me cringe the stuff I see like buried Romex or bx and extension cords used for permanent items.
Everyone's body is different,and alotta folks dont realize a plain outlet has enough juice to kill ya.
@@BryceFromNowhere0547 Fun fact In my country I struggle for a year to get the technical spec of the "smart" thing to discover it do exactly the same thing than a conventional meter+current limiter. (as it now include the load limit switch that was previously in a separate device allowing the distributor to change your max load remotely from 3 to 12 kw or 6 to 32 for 3 phase service)
Hope they catch the vandals and are able to get restitution from them.
Optimally they will be caught and made to perform significant community service!
I was a bit of a jerk off as a young man. A judge made me do this as a punishment for callous vandalism I myself unfortunately engaged in.
I had to pick up trash on the highway every weekend for a year, among other various tasks I was assigned around town.
It made me a much better man, gave me appreciation for the work that goes into keeping our society working the way we all want it to.
Since then, I've believed strongly in punishments that don't involve prison. It worked really well for me, I think it can work for a lot of dumb young people as well.
Absolutely agree. They should be required to pay for damages and do community service. My brother in his younger and dumber days got a disorderly house and underage drinking ticket at a party in high school and had to do like 80 hours of community service. He ended up doing it at the local animal shelter and actually enjoyed it. I told him next time he could always just volunteer there without being ordered to by a judge. He didn't think it was as funny as I did.
Realistically, no. They won’t be caught. Police will just drop the case eventually. They are not going to pour resources into a case like this. Now, if this happened five times a month on multiple premises in the area this might be a different story. Sad but true.
Meter guards are availible for locations like this.... by the looks of it and the siding its a bit of a target.
Wow! That's nuts. Whoever did that was very lucky. It's getting crazier by the day out there. Please stay safe, and God bless.
Good call to de-energize the service before pulling what was left of the meter. The broken socket in the meter base could have produced a nasty surprise.
Vandalism is terrible, but I am glad that no one (including the vandals) was harmed. Hopefully they can be found, fined and maybe. a little training and community service will teach them an important life and safety lesson!
Silly me standing near when we switched from the dials to the smart meters. I wanted to inspect the slots inside having heard bad stories from BC.
Did that at both home and work! There was no damage of course - but since I was wanting to see if there _was_ damage - I might have gotten a nasty surprise.
The tech doing the work didn't care in either case. These were not linemen but crews hired and trained for the one task.
Seeing the broken jaw inside the meter socket, due to the vandalism of the meter casing exposing the live bus bars, was a good call and for safety to shut the power off upstream. At the pole, before proceeding to remove the damaged meter. I recall years ago my sister and niece were helping our Mom to vacate her apt for a retirement community. Sis calls me on my cell while I'm en-route says there was a big spark from the lamp cord on the floor. I tell her "Don't go near that cord" it's energized!! Keep everyone back! I arrive and shut off all the breakers, then accessed what happened. The insulation has frayed, in one spot.
Kind of looks like someone backed into it with a box truck looks low enough to the ground nothing to protect it. I wonder if that is what really happened just thought that was vandalized. See the broken siding like they backed into it pushed it back into the siding breaking it. 0:39
@blastman8888 definitely great thinking outside of the box! Unfortunately, it's the second time and the bricks were on the ground below the meter :(. Last time they smashed all the windows out too
lol fucking 110 unplug the lamp jesus
I gained a healthy fear of meter base jaws after terminating a 6 gang meter base (not live) and one of the plastic jaw brackets decided to leave the chat. I realized how brittle they can be and the hazard it can present.
I remember years ago when I was installing smart meters at one coop in the northwest, I arrived at one location, pulled the socket cover and the meter, and found the clamp bar that holds the top conduit cover in place had fallen such that one false move and it would fall down another inch and onto both terminal blocks for the line side conductors! Had to call the linemen to pull the fuse in the nearby pad mount transformer. When I put that clamp back in I made sure the wing nut was good and snug!
Thanks for the great tip Aaron. good looking out.👍⚡️
I was helping tear down a chimney on a house and we busted the meter (anaglog glass one) and we had the homeowner call the power company, but for the mean time we placed a tarp over it (not touching anything near the meter) luckily there was no arc flash.
Canadian here, when Hydro Quebec employee came to change our meters (apartments x9) They did not disconnect power from the grid. They changed them live. Because it was inside the building none of them were damage however they somehow bridged the 240v for a split second and caused a giant flash. I was watching them from a distance. Let's just say 240v with idk how many amps is no joke. The room went from mildly lit to very bright for a split second.
Without the proper gear, don't put your fingers in there lol. 120v already hurt enough
Always great content, even the simplest things need to be thought of. You have no idea what is behind that meter, better to be safe than sorry.
Stay safe my friend and keep up the good work!
We had intermittent power problems at a place I used to work at. 208 - 3 phase. It was causing issues with our equipment. We had the power company out and they logged it. No issues shown. This went on for several months. Eventually they pulled the meter and discovered that one of the lugs was broken. Temperature changes would cause the wire to move and it would arc phase to phase.
WOW! That could have been nasty. As for never assuming the power is off, excellent call. I'd do the same myself. Those few minutes checking to ensure the power is off with the meter is considerably shorter than recovering from burns and the effects of electrical shock. Better safe than sorry.
Wow lucky that didn't burn the building down or worse. Thank goodness for deenergizing it before even touching it. Major electrical hazard
WOW! That's crazy! I love your videos! Thanks for another good one!!
Thanks for sharing, it's always good to know and stay safe!
Thanks Aaron
Never had to remove a screwed-up meter, but I can see where this kind of damage can make a job go south in a hurry. Typically, any damage I saw was from a tree branch or contractor equipment. (operating too close) I did see a smoking meter one day. Turns out an electrician added a splice inside the meter pan to tie into a transfer switch. A poor connection overheated the electrical tape on the splice and energized the entire pan. It was underground service, so I called for someone to pull the fuse at the pole.... and an electrician... and the fire dept.
If the vandals are caught, should make them go through NFPA70E arc flash training and watch all the videos. Maybe they will realize how lucky they are…
I got to be the lucky guy that got to do meters that the metermaids deemed dangerous when changing to smartmeters. Did the ole yank and run several times. Cannot confirm or deny a couple yards caught on fire lol
This is why I get annoyed at people who say that "it's only 240 volt it's not going to kill you". Well it's 240 volt at a couple hundred amps which is ripe for arc flash. Arc flash kills more people than electrocution as far as I'm aware.
Hi Aaron, thank you for all of these videos. I am not a lineman, but I find them very interesting. Stay safe out there as always.
Thanks for sharing
That had to be quite the impact given the toughness of that plastic.
Simple: Charge the building owner for the work. Then I think you can install a lockable cover over the meter that only utility have access to.
then the problem is out of your way, and the buiding owner has to press charges against the vandals.
THIS IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF WHY I DO NOT LIKE RING STYLE METER SOCKETS!!! RinLESS and jaw clamping lever bypass are the SAFEST meter sockets on the planet!!
I was an American electrician for 40 years. I also cant understand why they would allow a TIGHT square box like this on underground service. In my neck of the woods the
older ring & ringless meter sockets are rectangle so that you have room for the ground to settle. As on 1970 we use a long tough type meter pedestal or raceway as they
like to call them. Ive even have seen those REALLY BLOW UP do to roots & the ground settling. Ive pulled meter socket RINGLESS covers and had to call Common Wealth
Edison to send someone out and have the service lateral de-energized so I could install a new meter socket. In my book ring style meter sockets are DANGEROUS
because of the BROKEN BLOCK YOU JUST SHOWED ME!!!! Ive heard horror stories about this in my career but Ive never had one blow up in my face but have seen VERY
COMPROMISED RINGLESS meter sockets.
Good information
Wow! We used to toilet paper trees and bushes back in the day, and I thought that was bad! Of course, we were raised by intellectuals (mostly) back then.
We would have to jump that service straight through to still provide the customer with full power for the company i work for. We would then advise the customer to get an electrician for perm repairs.
We were replacing the primaries on a service in mahone bay that just needed to be rerouted away from a fire escape last year, and thankfully we disconnected BEFORE yanking the meter. Meterbase wasnt even that old, maybe 20 years max. Socket inside was broken and the jaws tried to come out with the meter. If we'd tried that before disconnecting we would have seen some fireworks lol
Nice damage to the meter socket Aaron. Lucky no one got a flash! Stay safe!
Nice save!
What fun is that. If you had it arc and burnt up that meter can, the customers insurance would pay for the upgrade and just blame it on the breaker banditos. And besides I’m not digging up a half buried pedistal. But if your CSP or fuse is close might as well kill it.
Make sure you always wear safety glasses! A friend of mine had a new meter explode as he plugged it in. A piece of shrapnel was embedded into the glasses
Good reason to shut off the mains in the house beforehand. No current draw makes accidental explosions a lot less likely lol
I also quickly came to dislike meter sockets tied to underground services as in some case frost shifting could pull those service conductors so tight that when the meter was pulled, one of the line side jaws followed the meter out of the socket! That put me behind while waiting for the linemen to come with a new socket and I could continue with the rest of the meters I was to test.
I'm subscribed to your station with a supposid alert to new videos. This one I found by accident but it was a good video 😊
Here in the UK we put our meters inside a doored enclosure to protect them from damage like that.
And we have a service head with a cartridge fuse installed (60, 80 or 100A on each phase) with a wire seal fitted before the meter.
Thankfully in europe the meter is behind the main switch
Great idea to cut power to the meter before you pull. It those who did that are very fortunate to not have been hit by the voltage/ amps that are in the meter at the moment The glass was broken
There's a popular UA-cam licensed electrician who pulls meters without any PPE, no safety glasses or gloves. Accident waiting to happen.
I read that as UA-cam-licensed rather than licensed-electrician.
What I meant he is a licensed electrician who has a UA-cam channel and is very proud of his workmanship and following Code. Also cuts and reconnects service drop connections live with no PPE except for standing on a fiberglass ladder.
@@curtw8827 I was (poorly) making a tongue in cheek joke. e.g. Where did you get your license, a cracker jack box?
Hello,
Non-American here, I watched Technology Connections video called The US electrical system is not 120V and I have a few questions:
In the breaker panel inside his single-family home we can see the main breaker where the power comes in straight from the meter box.
And as far as I understand a homeowner can wire new circuits and add or remove breakers from the panel by himself if he know what he's doing.
Of course he'll have to to first turn off the main breaker, however how is it supposed to go if it's the main breaker itself that has to be replaced ?
As a related question I didn't see anything to keep people from messing with the always live wires coming from the meter box to the main breaker. How can it be possible ?
I ask because all that here in France (And probably everywhere else in Europe) it is clear that the main breaker isn't to be replaced by anyone else than the utility company and in fact there's even a tamper seal on the upper cover where the power is coming from the meter.
The bottom cover of the main breaker on the other end is where it's basically up to the homeowner or whatever electrician he wants to do the wiring to the breaker panel/distribution board as it will be dead if you turn off the main breaker, and for that reason there's no tamper seal on the bottom cover.
It's also worth pointing out that the main breaker is always located outside of the panel with all the miniature breakers unlike in the US.
Google Disjoncteur de branchement to see what a main breaker looks like
And Tableau électrique to see a breaker panel/distribution board aka consumer unit in the UK or whatever...
Looks like a itron centron meter. I wonder how this meter got damaged this bad. I personally like GE and elster honeywell. I am surprised anyone would vandalize a meter with fear of getting electrocuted.
Aaron how does the power co. get their money in this situation ? thanks for the great video
Probably send a bill to the property owner.
Are you telling us, that in the US, the meter is BEFORE all the fuses and the only place to shut power is at the distribution transformer? Glad I am living in EU...
When you come across a damaged meter or other equipment, do you contact dispatch first? Or are you allowed to proceed with disconnect? 🤔
I think he's covered this in some other videos where it depends on the seriousness of the situation if it can wait to call in or endangers life and has to cut power then call it in
@Matthew Yessir! We can open any switch at any time if there's a safety issue.
We aren't typical going to drop 100 customers for a damaged meter... but if it's on fire and the house is going to burn down, then yes.
During emergencies, we must notify our dispatch as soon a reasonably possible... once the scene is secure.
Situations like this, where there's a hazards, but not a life and death emergency; If I'm simply opening a transformer and customers involved are aware, the procedure isn't nearly as strict.
If I'm opening a line feeding a neighborhood, I would call first.
We must always call when closing in, unless it's a switching feeding only a pole mount transformer.
I'll go over it much better again in a video sometime
@@Bobsdecline What video did you discuss this? 🤔 I must have somehow missed this. ☹️
I can't remember exactly... it was likely one of the "being a lineman" ones or responding to a fire. I'd have to start watching em all to find it 😦.
I'll make a note to cover it again... maybe even just capture a quick vid focusing on the subject
What would have been your procedure here if that transformer was powering more than one location? Hence you would need to energize it again, but you can't with this meter base being damaged.
Would have cut both hot wires on the mast
Does your utility supply the meter base or does the customer have to buy their own? Here the utility supplies it for the electrician to install.
home owner pays
Yeah here in north carolina we(an electrician currently) supply the meter base
In my locale the utility company supplies it. When I upgraded my service I actually got the new meter box from a utility that doesn't supply my power. They never asked where I lived!
@@RustyorBroken There's two utilities that serve the areas around here, NOVEC and Dominion. They use different meter boxes (different brands/models). When my house, which is in NOVEC territory, was built, the electrician used a meter box from Dominion. I was there when NOVEC hooked up the line side of that meter box, and I could tell they knew it wasn't their box but they hooked it up anyway. I bet that happens a lot.
Yikes😬
Last week i watch a guy from the power company switched meters and he didn't kill power.He didn't even had that meter puller thing
They Generally Don’t Kill the Power as long as there is NO Damage to the Meter or Box. Generally Speaking, it’s a Simple Pull, Plug and Play. 👍🙏
If it is a long line and there is NO visible damage, our utility guy just yanks it. That really is supposed to be semi-safe, like unplugging a super-extra large (24KW) dryer plug. In more urban settings where meter is close (short wires) to transformer, the available current can be huge and they probably take more care.
If there's no obvious damage, then there's no issue. Here (2 locations that I saw) they had the puller - transparent.
As much as power companies make they could eat that money as far I care
Checking for life wires with a voltemeter is completely wrong. You may still have a life wire but a broken neutral or weak neutral connection and the voltmeter will show you 0V. That is a very bad practise. We use a "phasemeter" basically a neon lamp with a 1MGohm resistor in series build in a screwdriver. You touch the 1M resistor and if there is a life wire the neon lamp will start glowing.
Instead of voltmeter we use a "probe lamp". It is used to check for "circuits" - basically closed connection or having both - neutral and a life wire.
You could also test each phase to-ground with the voltmeter as well, IF there was the possibility of an open or weak neutral.
Not to say that our german meters and meter enclosures are better, but they are better XD
How do you feel about telecom techs putting their grounds on the meter lid like that?
They do it here (Quebec). I have to imagine the cable / phone co. have the blessing of the power co.
I sit somewhere between;
- This is a great "hangar" as the cover dangles from the ground wire when I'm trouble shooting.
And
- This thing drives me nuts! The cover won't fit back on properly! 🤦♂️.
Actually, I don't like them being there at all.
The rules I was taught were clear - grounding to the box is fine, but don't attach to or get in the way of any cover. Makes it more challenging to work on, but also might not get a reliable connection.
That connection is a very poor ground. I suspect a lazy CATV lineman or 15 foot super hero. I cut those off when I see them. No point in getting someone hurt with that attached to the cover.
As for the damage? I know what will be the out come? It wasn’t my kid? I see it all the time. Pass the bill to the town. Everyone pays then for irresponsible people.
@@johnclyne6350 The ground connection on the lid would really depend on the type of ground clamp, we use ones that have a wing out the back that digs into the base of the box so regardless if the lid is loose it would still provide an excellent ground. However i do agree the lid is a bad placement as i typically attach mine to the top of the box on the side to allow clear access into the box.
However you going around cutting these grounds because the tech was lazy is a huge no no and massive safety concern, i surely hope you're replacing these grounds and not leaving these services ungrounded.
On the DSL side if that ground isn't in place there is no protection on the customers end and could cause severe injury in the case on a lightning strike on that customers service.
Only authorized and properly trained individuals should be touching the telecom network, especially grounds.
How do you think that meter got busted like that, it looks like it was whacked really hard, especially given the fact that the entire screen, contactor etc was missing and the meter socket had a big dent in it and internally had damage. To me it looks like a bunch of punk kids went after it with baseball bats or tire irons
There was a stack of bricks that were previously inside the compound.... owner said he found them on the ground around the meter but brought them back inside before I got there
How do meters get damaged
Typically from ice sliding off a roof or it accidently being struck by a vehicle. In this case it was a brick. 😦
@@Bobsdecline I was gonna guess baseball bat...
I don't get why you don't put meters inside the buildings, here in the UK the majority of residential meters are inside, those that are outside are fully enclosed in a box, also we have a fuse (usually 80-100A) right before the meter.
They used to put meters inside, but before smart meters, it was hard to read them when nobody's home.
Has to be somewhere they can inspect and read it regularly. Also if there's an emergency in the power to the house has to be disconnected they need to be able to get to it, for example if the house is on fire you don't want to have to enter the burning house to turn off the power to the burning house.
Even if you added some kind of disconnect before the meter now the disconnect is the next thing to be vandalized and now you're back to the same problem again
I’m a little surprised you didn’t also find a dead body in addition to a dead meter… 😬
Probably static charge since it's no longer connected to anything and in the vicinity of the power line. No meaningful current can pass. It just has floating potential voltages.
@@benargee When the meter was destroyed it was connected to the live power lines going to the building. If their hammer or axe (or whatever they used) had come into contact with the current shunt (those big metal links you can see on the remaining parts of the meter before it was removed) they could have been electrocuted or caused a powerful arc flash which could have been fatal.
Wander if it got hit by a stray ball
Meter is the property of the power supply company. No one has right to even touch it let alone vandalize it. Those who did should be prosecuted or sent to jail for a lesson.
Its not prohibited to touch, but tamper and vandalize is of course prohibited. On some meters there is buttons for the consumer accessible through holes in the casing, that is meant so consumer can see tariff, meter value, voltages, currents, watts etc. Some meters even have the ability to "pair" a consumer interface that you then could have inside house, requiring a button press to put meter in "pairing mode".
Of course you may not break any seals.
Looks like potentially a baseball got hit just the right way to come on down and smack that can. Then again.. it could potentially be vandals. How do i reach these kids?
So somebody take a baseball bat to it?
A brick! 🤦♂️
Those high capacity assault bricks should be outlawed.
Lol
@@JCWren For the children!!
we don't even need that much power 12 v is more than enough to run anything when will people wake up and stop paying these people.
I know a guy who was owed money from a job he did at a small market. Let's say he quoted 10k, they only paid him 7k because they said that's what that job was worth. A few months later a holiday pops up, eveything is closed and all their meters were stolen. I don't think he did it, I assume it was some crack head.
We all end up paying for vandalism AND theft from stores‼️
Don’t you wonder what’s gone wrong with this society we’re living in today❓
As a senior citizen, I could never have imagined what I’m seeing today 😢
They need to raise it 6 ft higher
No, that will just make it harder to work on.
code doesn't allow it to be higher.
Sorrey
Anyone else notice the sparking as he wiggled the lug?