Hydro Service Entrance

[ROBERT YOUNG]

Century home. Attached triplex.
Decorative metal parapet.

The exterior hydro service wires contact the parapet.

The entrance is underground.
The service is installed on the next building roof, drops down the front facade in a conduit before entering the building I inspected.

What are the safe distance requirements in this particular installation.
PS: Sorry for the edit.There appears to be lag in the website prohibiting or deterring my posting.

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[Jerry Peck]

Robert,

The title confused me as (at lest here in the States) hydro mean water ... I suspect you are referring to the electrical service from the hydro-electric generation plant, or, as we call them - the overhead service drop from the transformer on the pole to the house.

The service entrance conductors go from the utility connection end of the overhead service drop down to the meter and to the service disconnect.

Do you have a photo?

I'm not sure what the Canadian Electrical Code call for heights at which locations, the NEC here requires different heights for different locations (by location, I mean what the conductors are crossing over - driveway, walkway, deck, balcony, windows, yard which is only subject to pedestrian traffic {means fenced off or otherwise blocked to vehicle access}, etc. ).

Oops ... took so long for the photo to load that I did not see it until after my post was posted - I will look at it and add to this reply.

The utility overhead service drop are the conductors to the left, which go down to the weatherhead, then go back up that conduit on the right?

[John Kogel]

Hello Robert. That would be Quebec Hydro, JP, or what you call the PoCo (power company).

I see two service drops, the one on the left having two conductors, the one on the right having the neutral as well, which is tapped at the Emily knob. I see the white conductor going across to the left side and then joining the other two conductors up and over the parapet. It is totally wrong and unsafe. If the right side is less than 1 meter from the window, that is also a violation. Then there is the tree, also.

We don't have the height above the walkway or driveway below the service drops. But that should be addressed when they fix the other stuff.

[ROBERT YOUNG]

I was wondering if I should narrate Hydro or electric service.
It is also a century building which may make it grandfathered or exempt from certain municipal electrical codes.

Thanks.

[ROBERT YOUNG]

I missed the other service drop.
Thank you for pointing that out.
I suspect the conduit is there due to the window proximity.
I called out the wire contact.

[ROBERT YOUNG]

Robert,


Do you have a photo?

The utility overhead service drop are the conductors to the left, which go down to the weatherhead, then go back up that conduit on the right?

Not in this situation.
The underground service is at the rear of the right hand attached triplex.
What may appear to be a mast and weather head is a conduit.
The service drop is near a window.

By any stretch of the imagination, I have seen several peculiar utility service drops in this older part of Montreal.
I will try to post a particular utility service that would make you think twice about, "What the hell was that master electrician thinking?"

[ROBERT YOUNG]

New Computer is built.;)
I will have the image of a very unsafe service drop shortly.
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