"dpb" wrote in message ...
Mac wrote:
...
Getting to the point: I found where the power lines come into the house
from the pole (it's a farm house). They come into the crawl-space
through a short conduit but the conduit ends and the lines are just
laying on the dirt. I know this isn't great but I know where to cut the
power at the pole so I can run them through more conduit before entering
the fuse box. My question is this; there are six lines running into the
crawl-space, three of which go to the fuse box and three just laying on
the dirt, no caps or anything, just chopped off flush and laying there.
The box is 100 amp and the previous owner said there is 200 amps coming
into the house. How can I tell if the cables lying on the dirt are hot?
Why are there six lines, does that make 33-1/3 amps per line? I would
like to run one or two of these unused lines to my garage (to it's own
panel).
Thoughts? Comments? Panick attacks?

a) I'd simply pick the cable up and use cable clamps to run it across the
joists -- don't see any real need for the conduit. Can if want, but for
what purpose?

b) The six wires are two sets of two 240V feeds or, more likely a pair of
feeds and a spare/future expansion pull. I'd guess the cut-off set aren't
hot, but I'd certainly not count on that until I had measured the voltage
on them or traced them back to the other end to make sure they're either
not hooked up at the other end, too, or on a pulled fuse or a thrown
breaker at the pole/meter/whereever.

240V service consists of 2 "hots" and a neutral; that's the three of each
set.

What service is rated for depends on what the meter size and the service
wire size(s) are. It sorta' sounds like he had two 100A drops made but
only hooked up one.

Again, I'd not trust that conclusion until verified it.

You _CAN_ measure the voltage carefully w/ a VOM/DVM whatever you have,
but you need to be _dxxx_ careful as you do it. The voltage is "only"
240V max, but there's a lot of current behind it if it is hot and not just
a 15 or 20A breaker for a "little short" to trip. If you're not
comfortable around power and used to doing such stuff (and it doesn't
really sound as though you are), I'd follow the recommendation of the
other poster and get an electrician to tell you what you got.

--


Okay, so I shouldn't stand in a puddle of water and grab ahold of the bare
wires, got it.
I don't mean to be flip, I know a of of folks with a lot of drive and little
sense. Fortunately I'm not one of them. Life's been pretty tough lately, I
don't want to make it worse....or over.
My first thoughts were that the lines couldn't be hot but I checked the
breaker on the pole and it is a 200 amp breaker. Of course everything is
hidden in conduit so I can't see if it's hooked up.
I suppose I need to cal an electrician to access the box at the pole.
Thanks everyone,
-Mac