Still without power here.. Ahh insurance companies.. Old service is underground caught the meter socket main shut breaker box on fire when energized the neutral.. Because of fire .. power company will not give meter back until it's up to today's code.. 4 wires .. Its 3 wire code in 80 S.. Insurance company wants an official to say need to be updated.. No supervisor above master licensed electrician in this state.. His electrician statement no way am I reusing 35 year old aluminum wire in ground without conduit that's had over 15k volts through.. What switch was rated for that's fried.. Soo.. Tomorrow if insurance company doesn't pull head out.. I will kill generator.. Move into 200 dollar a nite hotel until they decide to make a decision
Thoughts and prayers headed your way LodgedTree .. Of course my sister called and I said we are good.. You had a fire! Yes no one hurt.. we are warm still have a house health so were good
The lower Merrimack valley had almost half of the customers without power in MA. The sad part is, people coming over to curse at the line workers instead of thanking them.
I hope you can get insurance to pay for new wiring. It seems obvious, if it was on fire. My grandfather's house which he built in the 50's had aluminum wiring, (he was "economizing") which had to be replaced later after some close calls with fires. Cold weather and maybe snow headed your way, I'd move into a motel too!
I know that looking for one that's convenient accepts pets and has a wood burning heater.. still looking guy has to have standards
Ok guys its below freezing and electrical cords don't let door shut., well that's a problem for some red neck engineering so remove deadbolt
The first set of linemen said they loved our area because they were getting coffee, thanks from people, and free food and late hours from the restaurants. Dysarts in Hermon had a huge sign up when you walked in: "Line Workers Served First!" They were appreciated, not scoffed at. But they said their friends down in Southern Maine were getting screamed at. The sad part is, these same landowners that want their power on NOW also will not let those same linemen cut limbs that come down on the wires and put their power out in the first place. Me...my property STARTS at 33 feet from the center of the road. Those trees are not mine, I have no say in what limbs get cut or not. They did say they could just cut a homes lines if the line from the pole to the house was impaired, but mostly they fixed problems as they went. They said there was one exception, A woman called 911 and said she was trapped in her house from a down powerline. They went to her house first to find a tree had landed on her wires and the tree "barely scratched her siding, nowhere near her door, she was not elderly, and her brother had the tree cut up and was clearing brush." They said they cut the line at the transformer and kept going. She should have been charged for 911 abuse. Overall the power company is a monopoly still and it behooves homeowners to appease them. I joked with them that Katie would give them more then a coffee, but they only laughed and refused the offer. Being from Illinois I thought they might be lonely! The tactic must have worked to some degree though. They are NOT responsible for fixing the wires from the mast to the meter, but redid them for me anyway. They said they felt bad I was without power because no one came back to check to see if I really did have power or not for several days.
So the emergency linemen are just supposed to fix the wires along the road, not the drop to a house? How does it get done then? Every power outage we've suffered through has been somewhat bungled. The biggest frustration has been a lack of information and communication about the status of the repairs. I don't know how it could be improved; the money needs to go to doing the work, not appeasing the public. I hope everyone has their power back before this cold snap! Lots of households have no backup heating source.
Here in Maine anyway, the wires along the road, AND the wires going from the pole to the houses are to be maintained by the power company. That however stops at the connection to the mast. The homeowner is responsible for the wires going from the meter and the mast. If there is a problem there, it is on the landowner. It might be paid for by insurance, or from cash, but it is our responsibility. In my case they felt bad for their delay and undid the mast head and shoved the pulled up wires back down tp teh meter. The meter box was broken from being tugged on, but I happened to have spare parts too.
I had a bad meter socket inside the box, (caused by former Tennants jumping the meter) I called because our house kept flickering and the lineman came and told me what I needed. Went to the electric supply house and got a new box. Called CMP again and the guy disconnected the lines at the pole. I swapped the box, and the lineman looked at it, installed the meter and reconnected the wires at the pole. the only thing he asked me is if I knew how to do it, never asked for a license. In mass I would'vehad to call an electrician, got to love maine!
in VT power company owns the poles on your land and has a ROW to get to them or they don't install power.. you are allowed to hook up your own electric but you cannot touch pole.. no authority on residential above master electrician If and only if there is an electrical fire then you need a permit and master electrician ask me how I know no power yet
We get our power from the local coop and their responsibility goes to the meter on the house. They have a ROW to keep lines clear of trees and brush. They even came out one time when I called them about a tree that was leaning towards their lines. They took the tree down and I got the wood for no charge. If one likes to have reliable electrical service, I can't understand why anyone would refuse to allow the power company to keep their lines to your house safe from trees.
I have a right of way on me. A camp behind me wanted power so they asked another neighbor where their road crosses if they could use there land and the landowner said no. It was silly on their part...another person to put power poles on you for free? The land value would go way up for those future house lots... So they came and saw my Grandfather, he was like "darn right you can", but I want the wood. What a ton of wood there was. Here is the killer. The woman at this camp goes to our church so I knew the trees on her line would mean they cut the power to her place and keep going (it is 4 poles back). So I went down and cut the trees off the line for her. I would have been alright but she told CMP about the trees. he came back and walked the line and then saw the trees were clear and was not very happy. But I did the woman a huge favor. But the sad thing was she had power on the 4th day, I had power on the 9th. No good deed goes unpunished I guess.
Another load of maple joins the rounds pile, this had been cut by someone with a saw that cut sideways, and cut to 24" lengths, I did what I could to get 17" wood, and gave the rest of each section to my friend, he has one of those tiny Jotuls in his basement, 12" or less is perfect for that stove And a nice load of oak as well.
