Came home and the metal post of the lamp post was sheared in two and
the lower half full of water as well as electrical cable. (Looks like
the result of metal fatigue and heavy winds.) Spent an hour and found
the breaker. It is no longer live, but unfortunately the breaker
controls the same circuit for my livingroom and bedroom lights, so I
would like to get this lamp post replaced as quickly as possible.

1. Who would take care of something like this? I can't picture
electricians digging out the concrete footing. A landscaping company?


2. What is an acceptable temporary solution? Remove the lamp, wrap
wires in wirenuts, wrap the whole in electrical tape? I don't like the
idea of live wires laying about on my lawn where postal carriers and
squirrels frolic, and yet, would very much like to have light in my
house.

Advice, please!

I dought if water will hurt anything, turn your lights on, if you want
to be sure put an amp meter on the circuit to check, but any short
should blow the breaker/

If there's a junction box at the base of the lamp, disconnect the wires and
wrap each one with a wire nut. Then wrap a whole lot of electrical tape
around them and raise them about ground level as much as possible. Then call
an electrician.

"Melissa" wrote in message
oups.com...
Came home and the metal post of the lamp post was sheared in two and
the lower half full of water as well as electrical cable. (Looks like
the result of metal fatigue and heavy winds.) Spent an hour and found
the breaker. It is no longer live, but unfortunately the breaker
controls the same circuit for my livingroom and bedroom lights, so I
would like to get this lamp post replaced as quickly as possible.

1. Who would take care of something like this? I can't picture
electricians digging out the concrete footing. A landscaping company?


2. What is an acceptable temporary solution? Remove the lamp, wrap
wires in wirenuts, wrap the whole in electrical tape? I don't like the
idea of live wires laying about on my lawn where postal carriers and
squirrels frolic, and yet, would very much like to have light in my
house.

Advice, please!

the wire run to the yardlight must start from a junction box, probably
inside the house. If you take the shortest route from the post to the
foundation, there should be a conduit or UG cable entering somewhere near
that point.
bill

"Melissa" wrote in message
oups.com...
Came home and the metal post of the lamp post was sheared in two and
the lower half full of water as well as electrical cable. (Looks like
the result of metal fatigue and heavy winds.) Spent an hour and found
the breaker. It is no longer live, but unfortunately the breaker
controls the same circuit for my livingroom and bedroom lights, so I
would like to get this lamp post replaced as quickly as possible.

1. Who would take care of something like this? I can't picture
electricians digging out the concrete footing. A landscaping company?


2. What is an acceptable temporary solution? Remove the lamp, wrap
wires in wirenuts, wrap the whole in electrical tape? I don't like the
idea of live wires laying about on my lawn where postal carriers and
squirrels frolic, and yet, would very much like to have light in my
house.

Advice, please!

The wires appear to enter the lamppost about 2 or more feet down.
Light excavation around the lamppost got me down to a plug of concrete.
I would have to go lots deeper (and beyond the concrete) to get to the
place where the wires enter the lamp post. Easier to take the wires at
the top, where they enter the lamp. Can't find a junction box on the
outside of the house.

Is an electrician going to want to dig out an old lamp post?

There may not be a junction box on the outside of the house. Normally, I
would tell you to do what bill said and find the wire where it comes into
the house, but seeing as it took you an hour to find the breaker, I think
you could be searching all night. Does the light still work? If you leave
the breaker off, can you run extension cords to your bedroom? Not having
seen the situation, I can't tell you what an electrician would want to do.

"Melissa" wrote in message
ps.com...
The wires appear to enter the lamppost about 2 or more feet down.
Light excavation around the lamppost got me down to a plug of concrete.
I would have to go lots deeper (and beyond the concrete) to get to the
place where the wires enter the lamp post. Easier to take the wires at
the top, where they enter the lamp. Can't find a junction box on the
outside of the house.

Is an electrician going to want to dig out an old lamp post?

Is an electrician going to want to dig out an old lamp post?

Want to? Probably not. But they'll doubtless let you pay them an
electrician's hourly rate to do a laborer's job. If you're so inclined, dig
it up or get someone cheap to dig it up.

Meanwhile, just cap the wires in the post. Keep them as long as possible
(don't cut them short). Fold 'em back into the broken base and securely cap
it off with something. An old traffic cone or something would work. Just
enough to keep anyone from accidentally getting to the wires. Tape down
whatever's covering it.

Is this lamp controlled from a photocell control located in the post and
the power feed is always live? Or is there a switch in the house? If the
latter then (with breaker off) open the switch, remove the wire that feeds
the lamp from the switch and wire nut it and close back up to await the
electrician's attention.

Or just make sure the switch is off and put a piece of tape over the switch
to keep from accidentally turning it on. As long as the switch is off the
wires outside will be dead. It will be safe to turn the breaker back on.
This presumes there is no convenience outlet on the lamppost that was live
even with the lamp off. Nor that the line to the post goes on to feed
anything else. In that case you'd have to go back to the first idea of
disconnecting the wire(s) in the house.

Note it's the black (or red or other color other than green or white) wire
which is "hot" and could cause shock. White and green are neutral and
ground respectively and need not be disconnected. Black is the most
typical color for the hot wire. Sometimes another color indicates the hot
after passing a switch.

Yes, it did take me quite a while flipping breakers and running outside
to see if the lamp was on.

I've got the breaker off and the switch off; I'll tape it up today.
Guess I'll call an electrician to dig it up . . .

Thanks for your help!

If the breaker is off, dig it up yourself, just be careful not to hit the
wire. This should save you some money, which could justify taking time off
of work.

"Melissa" wrote in message
oups.com...
Yes, it did take me quite a while flipping breakers and running outside
to see if the lamp was on.

I've got the breaker off and the switch off; I'll tape it up today.
Guess I'll call an electrician to dig it up . . .

Thanks for your help!

My outside lamp is a solid wire to the lamp socket, it is no threat to
that circuit if it falls, if it shorts breaker will blow. You will
likely dig for nothing, a short can be measured with an amp meter, a
smart thing to do on any house to be sure electricity isnt wasted
through a short on all circuits.

My outside lamp is a solid wire to the lamp socket, it is no threat to
that circuit if it falls, if it shorts breaker will blow. You will
likely dig for nothing, a short can be measured with an amp meter, a
smart thing to do on any house to be sure electricity isnt wasted
through a short on all circuits.

The problem isn't a short in the line. Actually, the lamp is working
perfectly well, although it is laying on the ground. The problem is
that the lamp post, in King James English, is "rent in twain." The
problem with digging up the stub is that it is two feet down and
surrounded by an unknown quantity of concrete, which may, if people
weren't careful, have a wire cable buried in it. I am not sure I can
get it up by myself, although odd visions of pulleys and automobiles
are dancing in my head. I've called a couple of electricians and been
told that they don't do things like this. Somebody must, but I'm not
sure who.

According to Melissa :
1. Who would take care of something like this? I can't picture
electricians digging out the concrete footing. A landscaping company?

Contact an electrician _first_ and see what they say.

Chances are that the post can be repaired or spliced and the concrete
doesn't need to be touched.

When a lamppost sheared off at our local high school, they just powered
it off, and a few weeks later someone came along and welded a new mounting
plate on to the post and re-erected it.

If, as seems likely, your post is a hunk of pipe buried in concrete,
if there's a stub left, it can be welded or mended with a pipe joiner.

Even if there's no stub, they may be able to internally sleeve it with
piece of slightly smaller pipe.

As such, you don't want to cut the wires - that will make more trouble.
Just get that part of the circuit killed (the electrian you called in to
look ;-) and the loose ends and bottom end of pipe protected from the
weather.
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

For this type of job, I would look for a general handyman. Look in your
local newspaper (or the free weekly paper) in the want ad section. You
really don't need an electrician for this.

I you decide to do it yourself. You could dig it up and use a small
sledge hammer and chisel (with the necessary safety gear) to break the
cement into manageable pieces.

Exactly.

Don't go looking for things that aren't broken, to break and then fix
them.

Besides K.I.S.S.

HTH,
J

The problem isn't a short in the line. Actually, the lamp is working
perfectly well, although it is laying on the ground. The problem is
that the lamp post, in King James English, is "rent in twain." The
problem with digging up the stub is that it is two feet down and
surrounded by an unknown quantity of concrete, which may, if people
weren't careful, have a wire cable buried in it. I am not sure I can
get it up by myself, although odd visions of pulleys and automobiles
are dancing in my head. I've called a couple of electricians and been
told that they don't do things like this. Somebody must, but I'm not
sure who.
============================
I am forever grateful to the nice electrical supply guy who cautioned
me when I first bought my post DONT CEMENT IT IN!

It doesnt need to be! doesnt really add much stability, poles arent
supposed to be hung from

A cheap fast fix is build a wooden frame around the post, stand and tie
post upright, then add concrete.

You will end up with a post on a little pedastal. yeah its cheesey but
works.

now lets assume you dig up the concrete and acciudently cut the wire
POWER BREAKER OFF BEFORE BEGINNING WORK!

You might relocate the pole a little closer to the house shortening the
cable.

or use a special underground wire splice and add a length of
underground wire to the pole. these are preetty new and can be directly
buried

when your done DONT cement it in, just backfill and tamp dirt with your
foot

That way the next time its no big deal.

in the 20+ years I have been thru 2 poles, the first got smacked by a
unknown car and being already rusty snapped off at the ground. some
kids pushed over pole 2, no biggie I dug it up carefully and reset it.
they did it all thru the neighborhood

if these had been cemented in I may have had to replace that long cable
run twice.

Incidently my mailbox pole is a I beam, I didnt cement it in either,
which made things easier when the sewer company dug it up replacing the
main sewer line on the street.

Thank you very much! Wires are now in nuts, electrical taped, etc. A
handyman seems to be just the ticket and will be coming out soon. With
it taped up and the switch off, I feel comfortable turning the breaker
back on and restoring lights in my house.

I hadn't thought about options that didn't involve pulling up the
concrete base. Thanks for these tips, as well as the question mark
over setting the post in concrete.

Melissa,

The circuit to an outside lamp should have been fed by a GFCI. The
circuit feeding your bedroom and living room lights would not be. get
the electrician to trace the circuit and split it into two circuits.
Or tie the OD light into an existing GFCI(ground fault circuit
interruptor). I have an electronic circuit tracer that puts a radio
signal into the wires so the wires can be traced, even underground if
not too deep. A good electrician should have one too.

Stretch

Presumably it was code compliant when built.

On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 20:16:59 -0500, "Bob" wrote:

There may not be a junction box on the outside of the house. Normally, I
would tell you to do what bill said and find the wire where it comes into
the house, but seeing as it took you an hour to find the breaker, I think
you could be searching all night. Does the light still work? If you leave
the breaker off, can you run extension cords to your bedroom? Not having
seen the situation, I can't tell you what an electrician would want to do.

Arrrghhhh ----- Quit making things complicated......
LOOK IN THE BASEMENT for the cable from the light...... (Not outside).
There is likely an octogon box on the wall. Draw a straight line from
the post to the house. Measure that spot from the corner of the
house. Go in the basement and measure the same distance and look for
the box. Once you find it, disconnect the wires inside that box and
put wirenuts on the ends. Turn you power back on and dont worry about
it till you get an electrician to replace the thing.

Another thing. Is there a switch that turns off that light? If there
is, remove the switch, wire nut the two wires and turn your power back
on. Most likely that IS a switch.

For posterity, I called Mr. Handyman, a franchised handyman service in
my area. He checked, and there was no electricity going to the post
wire when the switch was off. The gentleman first noted the absence of
GFCI on the circut for the post. Because there were some problems
putting a GFCI on at the panel, we installed it on the first outlet of
the series (the outlet was wired as a junction box!). He then dug up
the concrete plug and using a body length chisel, broke the concrete
apart and chiseled out the electrical cord where it had been cemented.
At night we covered the hole with plywood and rocks. We installed a
new post with a convenience outlet, filling the hole with cement only
below where the wire entered the post, and protecting the wire with a
piece of PVC pipe.

How much did it cost?

"Melissa" wrote in message
ups.com...
For posterity, I called Mr. Handyman, a franchised handyman service in
my area. He checked, and there was no electricity going to the post
wire when the switch was off. The gentleman first noted the absence of
GFCI on the circut for the post. Because there were some problems
putting a GFCI on at the panel, we installed it on the first outlet of
the series (the outlet was wired as a junction box!). He then dug up
the concrete plug and using a body length chisel, broke the concrete
apart and chiseled out the electrical cord where it had been cemented.
At night we covered the hole with plywood and rocks. We installed a
new post with a convenience outlet, filling the hole with cement only
below where the wire entered the post, and protecting the wire with a
piece of PVC pipe.

again I wouldnt of cemented it in but at least now you know what to do
the next time.

sounds like he did a good job...