On Jan 29, 3:34*pm, RBM wrote:
On 1/29/2012 1:35 PM, wrote:





On Jan 29, 9:17 am, *wrote:
On 1/29/2012 12:15 AM, Evan wrote:

On Jan 28, 7:48 pm, * *wrote:
On 1/28/2012 7:13 PM, wrote:

On Jan 28, 7:09 pm, Paul * * *wrote:
On 1/28/2012 2:52 PM, HeyBub wrote:

I live in a duplex converted to a single-family residence. It is served by
two electricity drops going to two meters connected to two circuit breaker
boxes. The boxes are on the exterior wall and about eight inches apart.

Each month I write two checks. (I tried writing one check for both bills;
one account ended up with a credit and I got a disconnect notice for the
other. Go figure.). Even if I use NO power, there's still a minimum bill,
around $18/month. The power company still has to read the meter, send out a
zero bill, keep records, etc. I don't begrudge them this minimum amount, but
there might be a way to avoid it.

I'm thinking of pushing all the power through one meter and disconnecting
the service for the other side of the duplex. I did this with the natural
gas connection and saved the $17.50 minimum monthly charge.

To do this, my current scheme is a pair of 60-amp breakers in the powered
box leading to the buss on the disconnected side (plus the neutral).

Both breaker boxes are rated for 200-amp service, but the largest load are
the a/c units and they're each served by a pair of 30-amp breakers. All
other electrical items are minimal - lighting, computer, etc. Stove, dryer,
and water heater are all gas.

Comments on the plan/scheme would certainly be welcome. Thanks.

P.S.
I'd be doing the work myself, so a possible $800 charge for a licensed,
certified, and disease-free professional electrician would not enter into
the computation.

If you get your power company involved in any way, you will HAVE to have
a licensed electrician do the work and he/she will have to get local
permits which will require inspection from your local government agent.
There is no way around it.

Paul- Hide quoted text -

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Says who and for where? *What's allowed in TX is likely very different
from NYC. *Here in NJ a homeowner is
allowed to do work on their own home that they occupy.
Perfectly legal as long as you get the necessary permit.

Scary isn't it. I feel like I'm over regulated, but when I read some of
these posts, OMG it really is scary. What really kills me is that some
of these folks really believe that we couldn't function without a
plethora of government regulators, inspectors, agents, and what have
you, following us around and wiping our noses

I am sorry, but until each homeowner who does such "work"
receives a $150,000 bill on top of whatever rebuilding costs
are involved after they burn down their house as they are going
to be making use of the fire department my property tax money
helps to fund to put out the fire that would result from improperly
done "work" which was never inspected nor correctly done, I want
those government regulators, inspectors and agents at least
verifying that the "work" that the DIY types have done won't
immediately set the house on fire... *Especially if said home
is only 30 feet away from mine...

Do you think that your trade would function better without that
layer of the uninterested 3rd party (a.k.a. the wiring inspector)
protecting your business/license in the event something happens
down the line... *Your word that you completed the work properly
isn't very compelling evidence if a fire or worse occurs... *But
when you have the documentation that the work done passed
inspection, you would not remain the default suspected cause
of the problems, if some other cause wasn't glaringly obvious...
Not to mention that the wiring inspector is interested in having
safe work done in their jurisdiction that meets or exceeds the
code standards that the jurisdiction has accepted and operate
under...

So how close to your home would you want an amateur hour
electrical job that even a first year student in the trade wouldn't
do work that badly located to where you sleep at night putting
your life in possible danger ? *Hmm, if not for wiring, as you feel
safe with idiots being allowed to risk not only their lives but others
as well, what about for gas piping or plumbing... *Would your
opinion on the matter change if you were at risk of your neighbor
blowing you up in a gas explosion or having the hot water heater
they tried to "fix" by removing safety devices from the tank land
on you as you sleep in bed at night and you still feel the way
you do about "over regulation" in your own trade... *LOL...

~~ Evan

On another note, some years ago, I pulled into a restaurant parking lot
and as I was backing into a space, a car came into the entrance and
began to try to go behind me, where there wasn't enough room to get
between me and the one parked car adjacent to me. Following the laws of
physics, she hit the parked car next to me and grazed the back of my
truck. When she got out of the car, I asked what exactly happened, and
she told me that she just left the service station down the street,
where she had gotten a brake job. Needless to say, her brakes failed.

OK, here is an example where you have a 5000 pound moving machine,
capable of doing all manner of death and destruction, improperly
serviced, causing a major malfunction. Should this and every service
station have a government inspector on hand to assure each potentially
deadly job was done correctly? What about do it yourself mechanics?
Where do you draw the line?

That Sir is a mighty fine question and a good example.
Next thing the folks in favor of big govt will want to
regulate that too. *Here in NJ we had annual car inspections
done only by state facilities for years. *There was no
statistically significant difference in accident rates
attributable to mechanical malfunction from states
where there was no inspection. *Now new cars are
exempt for 5 years and old cars only get inspected
every 2.

Holy Connolly, I had no idea that NJ relaxed those rules. In NY it's
just getting uglier and just another reason I feel over regulated. I
have a new 2010 diesel Sprinter. Three countys in the state require a
special diesel emissions inspection annually, mine being one of them.

I have a 1980-Mercedes 300SD tubodiesel. One day a
couple years ago it was due for inspection. I drove over
to the state inspection facility and they told me to go
away and NEVER COME BACK. A new addition to
the law is that diesels older than like 1996 don't need
to be inspected at all. The problem is that before that
they don't have an OBD computer with emissions
data which is all they use now.

Which gets into another story about govt waste. Back
in the days of Christie Whitman, the feds imposed
inspection requirements on the NY area states for
emissions. They wanted the cars dyno tested at
highway speeds while the emissions were read.
Instead of refusing to do it, taking
it all the way to the supreme court, etc, she just bent
over. Cost us about $500mil, complete with cost
overruns, late deployment, inspection lines 4 blocks
long, etc.

Then, within about 3 years, the EPA decides that the
info from the computers in the cars is all that's needed.
As if they didn't know that was on the way already.
So, they ripped all of it out within 5 years. Now about
all they check is emissions via connecting to the car
OBD computer and test the brakes on a device where
they roll up and hit them and it shows force at each
wheel. They used to check horn,
wipers, headlights, headlight aiming, turn signals, brake
lights, tires, glass cracks, chips, etc... They lifted the
front-end and tried to rock the wheels to see if ball
joints were loose.

Now it;s emissions, brake, bye.


My
regular mechanic is not going to spend the whatever thousands of dollars
to buy the machine, for the few diesel customers he has, so I'm forced
to go out of my way, to mechanics I don't like, to have this done.
Unlike in ~~Evan's world, where the government does this sort of thing,
we have a more Fascist system, where the government forces the private
sector to do this stuff.In any event, it's just another example of
government interference restricting my choice- Hide quoted text -

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I hear you brother.