Some of you may know that I have had a bevy of electrical problems at my house recently. These problems have cost thousands in replacement applainces and such... the dishwasher alone went out twice and once dumped 100's of gallons of water into the basement destroying sheetrock and papers in Yopu's office down there...
Today, I had SMUD our local provider out here to check the electrical system because I thought this could be power spikes and such... Some of you who have been here know that I live on 2 acres in the middle of the city up 100 yards off the road and a good deal of my property is wooded and wild. Out in the woods they discovered that my ground cable had been severed by a tree. No wonder...
Anyway, this destroyed my chance to go to WCR as I have been cleaning up and replacing appliances...
I haven't checked but I suspect SMUD isnt responsible for my applainces and DVD players and such...
It's only money I guess...

Rob, that sux! We missed you up here. We can invite your an Yopu to a special debrief weekend if you want!

Typically a power company is responsible for the line up to the meter. Where is the meter?

Meter is on the back of the house. Street side, my house faces away from the street.

You'd think right? But the guy made a special point of telling me that they were only responsible for the high tension cable not the ground and that they were doing me a "favor" by removing the offending limbs and reconnecting the ground with a jumper... I think he was trying to head off some kind of liability for all the damage that has been caused inside the house. Let me tick off what is destroyed, Washer, dryer, dishwasher, Tivo box, 3 DVD players, Bose Wave Radio, programmable thermostat, Heat/AC electronics, probably the CD player in the stereo but I seldom use that... One desktop computer $400 in sheetrock repair to rescrew two sheets in the basement ceiling and retape and texture.
I have to check just what their limit of liability is... Possibly my homeowners insurance but I have to check that too...

I have a couple spare programable stats at work Rob, I'll see if I can snag one...I believe they are Honeywell T7350's.

Rob, call me. I called my contact at SMUD and he will get you a manager to talk too.

Im confused a bit.
Here in the Northeast, we drive an 8 foot copper spike into the ground right at the meter location...that is the ground.
It belongs to the power company...they install it while installing the meter.

If you have a ground wire going to the street, or the transformer, its certainly the power companies issue, not yours.
When the house was built, the power company charged the builder to install BOTH lines.
Therefore, THEY own them.

The only trick is similar to how my house is setup.
I have poles coming in from the street to a termination pole about 25 feet from the house.
From there, I ran a conduit underground..so the power company owns everything to the conduit.

After all is done, get an electrician to add a long copper spike next to the meter and have double grounds...it will ensure that it does not happen anymore.

BTW, Im not talking out my ass, I have built a few dozen houses.

Rich

Dang Rob, what a mess to deal with. I hope you get some reimbursement.

I would have guessed insurance would cover this. And if so, maybe they would assist in pushing SMUD to pitch in. Kind of like how auto insurance companies go to bat for you and try to get money out of the other side.

Unless you are built on bedrock there should never be a reason to run a ground cable. Standard practice is to sink a spike; and only one spike IIRC. I suspect that if there is a ground cable then it should be the responsibility of the power company.

http://www.iaei.org/subscriber/magazine/06_b/lund.html

Rob! So sorry to hear about all these problems you are having. First the skate board issue now this and you still want to have donuts? Dam! Lets go out and have dinner or something! ( oh and your buying)

It's a bitch for sure... My Tivo is the most annoying thing for me... I like to watch what little TV I watch on my schedule. Nicho only has about 3 weeks of cast time left. We should do dinner soon. But, Wanda is buying. Heck if I had her money I'd throw mine away for sure...

It was not standard practice here (I live a few miles from Rob).

Last summer I got to replace my main panel when one of the bus bars had a major meltdown (Friday afternoon of course).
After SMUD came and disconnected the cable from the pole to my house I replaced it with new panel and matched how everything had been connected. County came to inspect and informed me I needed to add a 4ft copper spike with #4 solid copper wire from the panel to the stake and then to my water line. The previous panel had no separate ground, only grounded thru the utility's cables. Of course my house was built in 1955.

Good luck with SMUD they were helpful the county was not.

Jim

wow. hangers, tapers, and texture guys make good money in sacramento.

k

Rob... sorry to hear about the pain you are going through. It sucks trying to get things replaced. I hope everything goes well.

That was a former student who does sheetrock on the side. His family is in that business. I let him gouge me a bit since he significantly underbid the original work...

Sorry about all the trouble. If it makes any difference the WCR was a complete bust. Nobody enjoyed themselves at all. The ride to Ranier was long and boring and I'm told the ferry almost sank and scared the hell out of everyone. The food was lousy and so was the hotel. Half the group was arrested for drunk and disorderly one of the guys was arrested for swimming naked in the pool. The Issawhatsit police were giving out nasty looks to everyone. One of us was even given a speeding ticket (a story that has yet to be finished) immediately upon entering the state of Washington. I myself was forced to drive through the Mt. Hood National Forest!! Nothing but curvy roads, huge pine trees, blue sky, and SNOW. I had to deal with snow in July!! Can you imagine? It was horrible. Because of the fires in California, I was forced to drive up the coastline of California and Oregon, adding literally hours to my trip up there. Nothing to look at but more big green trees and ocean. What a bore! Why your problems PALE in comparison to what we had to indure on the WCR. Count your blessings you weren't there.
Elliot

LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Elyut, I feel much better now... I would have hated having to chase you like last year. Your car is just too fast even with a broken shock! Sounds like we need to have group therapy for those of you who endured WCR in Seattle. I can't believe you had to deal with snow and big green trees in July. You must be crying even now...

Rob