Customer gets a LETTER from UTILITY for a Defective Meter Socket - DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN ELECTRICIAN

Customer got a letter from the utility saying strained meter socket with a warning notice. Defective meter socket. Oh my gosh. The wire is strained and teared. We got to get it fixed. All right, guys. My name is Hendy the Sparky. I'm an electrician from New Jersey. And today we have a service call. customer called saying that their meter socket was strained and that the utility actually came by. And in New Jersey, guys, they are now putting in smart meters. And in order to put the smart meter in, they need to make sure that the original meter pan is safe. So, they call this out to replace the meter box as well as replace the cable because the cable was strained. Here is the electrical panel, guys. It is a 200 amp panel just to get you guys a reference what it looks like. The plan of attack is guys, we are going to basically give this house a whole new 200 amp service. All right, this home has been here for 50 years. And you could see the rust on this box, guys. Anytime you guys see rust on a box, you know it's been there for a long time. So, and you could see the jacket of the SCU cable, which stands for service entrance unarmored cable is teared. So, it is time, guys. So, this is my brother Ken. He is a journeyman electrician. He is currently debugging the wires from the utility. So, he's using a Milwaukee cable cutter. In order to detach from the utility, you must detach the two hot wires and the neutral. Now, you want to make sure you call a qualified licensed electrician anytime you're doing this type of work because it's dangerous. You got to make sure you're safe. And right now, we are in the process of taking down the service cable. Just want to give you guys a perspective on what that looks like. And uh yes, here is me and my brother. We are taking down the old cable and we're now putting up the new cable. Look, you can tell by the cable, guys. Look at that color difference. This is brand new four aluminum SEU cable rated for 200 amps. He's a journeyman electrician. I'm an apprentice, guys. And as you can see, I'm really just helping out. I was actually trying to throw him a strap. He is strapping in and I make sure I'm getting his tools. And guys, here's a customer interaction. >> How's everything going? >> Everything's going well. That's good. >> Customer is actually super nice, friendly guy. >> Oh, you guys got a great compared to last week. You know what I mean? >> Yeah. >> How long you lived here for? >> I've been here for 26 years. >> Nice. My house on it. I guess it's like 50 years old. >> Nice. Have you always lived in Jersey? >> Yeah. >> Nice. >> Yeah. Born and raised. >> Uh yeah. Grew up in Clinton Town. >> Oh, nice. >> Yeah. We're a familyowned business. Father started. >> Yeah. Back in 1990. >> 1990. >> Yeah. No, you you guys were local, so that's why I uh I said you're 15 minutes away if if you're from >> Yeah. Appreciate it. Thank you. >> Being very careful. Just hook unhook one of these at a time, huh? >> Oh, yeah. >> One at a time. >> I was wondering how the heck you going to do that. I didn't realize that they up there and they were apart like that. >> Yeah. So, uh >> yeah, we still got some strapping. The hard part is just getting the layer. This cable's strong. >> Yeah. >> So, eventually I'll go back up and straighten it out. And >> this looks really very very nice work. One at a time. >> My brother-in-law, he was thinking about he has a 100 amp service right now and transitioning over to a 200 amp. >> Yeah. >> Does give me like a ballpark just off the top of your head like something like that would >> It really depends how many circuits he has overhead. Do you know if he has like a >> like an overhead service, underground service? >> Oh, over Yeah, it's in here. It's down in his basement, of course. >> Same thing. Uh estimated 3,900. >> Okay. Yeah. >> There you go, guys. So we show you how it is straight guys. We have we deal excellent customer service at all times. Okay, that is a must if you were an electrician in your own business. And here is me guys. I am now replacing the service cable that is going to the panel. We are doing a full service cable replacement guys which means both sides of the meter going up on the house as well as going to the panel. So, this customer is getting a full new 200 amp service. And here is me currently tearing the jacket of the SCU cable. Now, we could have ran 2in PVC conduit, guys, but the homeowner originally had service cable and it would be a little tricky to run pipe, especially the customer's service drop. We have to go on an angle. So, we ran 200 amp SCEU cables. And I'm now currently using my socket to get my terminations in. I'm terminating the neutral. And here I'm using channel locks. And this is a Milwaukee cable cutter. Very highly recommended if you're using if you're doing a lot of services. You can see I made a nice cut, especially with that wire. This wire is pretty thick, guys. It's a four aluminum. So, here is me using the tool. And uh it's a really good investment if you're doing a lot of services. We do a lot of services, guys, because residential, we do a lot of electric vehicle charging. I'm currently applying no locks. Any anytime you use aluminum conductors, you need to apply no locks, which is a conductive. And boom, guys. So So we got our neutral and our 240 volt. Two hot wires in >> each leg is carrying 120 volts. So you have total of 240 volts in a residential home. 120 240 volts in New Jersey, United States. And boom, guys. So, we are almost at the home stretch. And you can see guys, here's the electrical panel. We did have to make one cut under the sheetrock, as you can see, in order to actually remove the original cable. So, that is done. And guys, we are getting there. Let's go. Here is my brother Ken. He is currently bugging in back the service to the utility. Now, anytime you are bugging back a service, you need to be extremely careful. Okay, guys. And also, here's our setup. Um, you know, when we do our services, you need to be extremely careful when you're bugging in these services, guys. One wire at a time. All right? Order doesn't really matter. Some people like to say neutral first to bug in, but in all honesty, it doesn't really matter as long as you are careful and one wire at a time. I'm currently putting in the uh meter pan for the new one. And boom, guys, here is the our results. So, this is the old SEU cable and the old meter pan. And here's the new pan. So, look at that difference, guys. Customer is satisfied. See you on the next one, guys. See you on the next service call. Handy to Sparky. Peace. [Music]