Thomas Horne wrote:

Joe wrote:
tysteel wrote:
Hi everyone,

At the moment I'm currently having a electrical problems with the
lights in my house flickering on and off, and there were a couple of
rooms (living room and one of the bedrooms) in the house wherein the
electricity had completely shut off. I checked the breaker box
inside the house, but nothing had tripped. So I went outside and
walked over to where my electric meter is located, and there is a 100
amp breaker in an outdoor box directly under the meter. I flipped it
off, and then flipped it back on. When I went back inside the house,
all the electricity was back on in all of the rooms. But after a
couple of hours, the problems resumed with the lights flickering off
and on in all rooms, and the electricity again went completely out in
two rooms.


I called up the electric company yesterday because I wondered if it
could be problem on their end, so they sent out a utility to crew to
check on things with their gauges. They told me that the problem was
that the outdoor 100 amp breaker was getting too hot and needed
replacement. Hopefully I can find one that matches at home depot or
one of those other places.

I was just wondering what precautions I should take before replacing
this outdoor breaker that's in this box under my electric meter? Or
is this too dangerous a job and I should call an electrician? I
would like to try and do it myself and save some money, if it's
possible.

I looked the breaker over (after removing the panel) and noticed that
it's hooked up to two thick wires. When replacing this breaker,
should I contact the electric company and have them cut off all the
electricity going to the meter beforehand? I'm thinking that it's
very possible that one could get electrocuted while disconnecting the
breaker when pulling it out of the slot..if one of those thick wires
make contact.

I have replaced breakers inside the breaker box in my house, but
whenever I worked on those, as a precaution I always shut off this
outside breaker. But now I need to replace the outside one. I'm
just wondering if any of you reading have ever replaced an outside
breaker like this, and what precautions you took...

thanks,
tysteel

please email me at:

tysteel5000 @ aol.com

A journeyman electricion will simply call the power company and tell
them that he is dfisconnecting the power. He will then clip the seal
on the meter band clamp and remove the band and unplug the meter. When
the work is completed the meter is reinstalled, the power company is
notified, they send out a tech and a new seal is installed on the
meter band.
FWIW, in many locales an outside breaker is almost unheard of. Most
service entrance panels now come with a main breaker already
installed. You would be wise to consider upgrading your service panel
and it would be best to have a pro do it. Have the grounding system
inspected and brought up to code while you're at it. Good luck.

Joe

Joe
The Southern Standard Building Code required an outdoor disconnecting
means on dwellings. I do not know if it still does. Many towns and
cities that once used the SBC have retained the outdoor disconnect
requirement in their present code as a legacy requirement. The fire
service is real fond of that rule.
--
Tom Horne

I think the fire folks in other areas just figured out how safe and easy
it is to pull the meter and get the same effect. Of course if the whole
structure is going up they do like to get the utility over to cut the
lines at the pole, something the outside disconnect wouldn't do anyway.