Final wire runs, electrical panel upgrade, and... rough inspection.

It has been a very busy few weeks.  My parents were coming in last weekend (June 14th-18th), so my mom could go to a quilt show, and so that my dad could replace the service panel.  I wanted him to be there for the rough inspection/new service panel inspection, so that meant that I had to get all of the rough wiring done in the kitchen, as well as the wiring for the 5 smoke detectors. 

As with many projects, one part can't be done before another.  For example, I needed to run wire to an outlet to the right of the new window, but I couldn't do that until the framing for the window was in.  I did finally break down and call the building/inspection people, and ask if I could cut into the diagonal let-in that was running through the wall, right where the window would be ideally placed.  I explained the situation, stucco wall, single story, yadda yadda, and the inspector agreed that it would be safe to cut into the let-in, as it was probably really only for construction, and the drywall will also function to minimize any shearing.  That really helped to get the window in a better spot.  My co-worker Phil, and father-in-law Kevin, came over one night and helped me get the framing completed for the window.

As time rolled on, and the deadline approached, the week before they arrived was a mad dash to finish the wiring.  One night, by myself, I demolished the south wall drywall, mounted new boxes, and ran wiring for the new circuit back to the panel.  Behind the south wall was a very large cavity between the basement stairs and the attic.  I had to put cardboard over it to keep the curious cat out.

Charlie trying to figure out how to get behind the cardboard.

Friday

My parents arrived, and Friday morning, my dad and I set out to obtain the necessary parts and pieces for the new service panel.  My original plan was to head to Menards with our plans/permit paperwork and pick up what we need.  That morning, after waking up early, I just felt God leading me to head to the only local electrical contractors store that I knew of, Loeb Electric.  By the time we got out of there, I was very, very glad we did.  Ends up that the plans that the Building Department drew up for me, were wrong.  Very wrong.  Very much not up to code, and guaranteed to fail inspection.  And the fact that they were the ones that gave me the wrong info?  Wouldn't have mattered, would have been my time and money to tear it out and redo it.

To start with, their plans, knowing I was upgrading from a 100/125 amp panel, to a 200 amp panel, didn't  call for replacing the meter socket, and the service entrance cable running from the weatherhead to the meter socket.  Additionally, they only called for 2/0 wire, when 4/0 wire (larger) is required for a 200 amp service.  We thought we would need to replace from the wire at the meter socket, to the panel.  In actuality, we would need to replace everything from the weatherhead down.  We would never have found this information out, if it weren't for the great employees at Loeb Electric, along with the  local electrical contractors that were more than generous with free information, all for a guy doing a job himself that most people would have hired them for.  We left with most of what we needed, which was already significantly more than we had planned. 

Unfortunately, Loeb Electric didn't have a meter socket, and we needed to pick up some other small things that they didn't have, so we had to go to Menards anyway.  Again, unfortunately, Menards was out of the rigid conduit that needs to go from the meter socket to the weatherhead.  Meanwhile, because I needed an inspection on Monday, I needed to call before 4pm on Friday to request it.  It was a bit disconcerting to call for an inspection for work that we hadn't even bought everything we needed to do the work, but I called anyway.  A quick trip to Home Depot, and a late lunch at City BBQ, and we finally started to get to work around 4:30pm.

First thing to do was remove the meter from the socket, so that power was cut to the panel.  Now would be a good time to mention that it had been consistently 90ish for a couple days.  Thankfully, my friend/co-worker Phil loaned me a generator for lights, fan, and power tools, and my friend/neighbor Jed ran an extension cord from his garage to our house, so that our fridge could run overnight, without running the generator.  At the end of the night Friday night, the old wires had been cut out of the panel, panel and old plywood removed, new 3/4" plywood base installed, new panel mounted, and service entrance cable installed into the panel, and running outside. 

Old Panel.  New Panel.

Saturday

Because of the heat, we planned to do the outside stuff in the morning.  My father-in-law also came over to help.  My dad, having worked for 35 years as a journeyman lineman, had no problems cutting the power at the weatherhead. 

This weatherhead is so old that it's blurry.  Oh yeah, and the wire insulation is a little frayed.

He still has his gloves that have a safe working voltage of 16,000 volts, but are technically good for up to 21,000 volts.  120v is nothing for those gloves!  He tied a rope to the bare neutral connector, and tied it off to the vent stack pipe coming out of the roof.  We then removed the old meter socket, and old conduit (roof mast), which surprised me, considering it's been stuck there for 50 years.  Installing the new meter socket, conduit, and wires went smoothly, and my dad connected the new wires from the weatherhead to AEP's wires.  Outdoor work was done shortly after noon, and it thankfully stayed fairly cool that morning.  Since we still had no power, we reheated our Marco's pizza from the night before on the grill.

Father-in-law and my dad, mounting the meter socket.

New conduit, with 2 of the 3 new conductors running through it.

My dad making the connection to AEP's wires.

New 200amp service cable, along with the old 100amp service cable.

After lunch, we headed to the basement to wire up the new panel.  Seeing as how we were going from 14 circuits to 21 circuits, there was significantly more wire going into the new panel.  The new panel is  significantly larger, and laid out much better than the old one.  This still took all afternoon, installing clamps, organizing wires, stripping sheathing, stripping wires, and running them to the ground, neutral, and the hot wire to the breaker itself. 

Wires run and clamped, waiting to be stripped and connected

We finished up around 7:30 Saturday night, and started bringing power back online by turning off all the breakers, as well as the main breaker.  We put the meter back in the socket, flipped the main breaker, and started turning on  individual breakers.  Based on my dads' knowledge and always meticulous work, I had no doubts, and the power came back on perfectly.  New panel done!  Celebrated with dinner at Los Gauchos.  Our first time there, and definitely not our last.

The wire artist showing off his work.

Completed panel with cover.

Sunday

Sunday was Father's Day, and my dad opted to sleep in.  He deserved it.  While it was still cool out, I finished up the wiring of the smoke detectors in the attic.  My parents came over around lunchtime, and my dad and I finished up some minor potential code violations in the basement, then headed to Sarah's aunts' condo for a tasty Father's Day dinner.  My parents went back to the campground, and I cleaned up the kitchen and basement in anticipation of the inspection the next day.

Monday

Monday morning, my parents came over bright and early, since we had no idea when the inspector was going to arrive. Because all the work for the electrical inspection was done (YAY!), we tackled re-routing the vent stack pipe. Once I got the drywall off the wall, I was able to see that the two 45 degree angles in the copper pipe caused the vertical pipe in the wall, and the horizontal pipe in the attic, to be offset by about 2".  Because of that, rather than cutting the pipe on the vertical piece near the top plate, we ended up cutting it on the horizontal part that runs through the wall and under the window.  After almost an hour of cutting through the top plate with a hole saw, and the plate where the ceiling drywall mounts to, we were able to feed the pipe through, cement it, and use the Pro-Flex connectors to join the PVC to the existing copper pipe.  Vent stack re-route, done! 

A few minutes later, around 12:15, we got the call.  The electrical inspector was about 10 minutes away.  We finished up with a couple last minute (literally) final conduit and wiring clamps. 

Mr. Inspector arrives.  No sense of humor.  Doesn't say much.  Looks at the meter socket and the ground rod that we'd run. Doesn't say much. Goes down into the basement, looks at the panel.  Doesn't say much.  He does note that our grounding isn't correct.  Even though the house is plumbed entirely with copper pipe, you can't use it for the ground.  You have to run a #6 ground wire all the way from the electrical panel (northeast corner of the basement) to within 5 feet of where the water meter comes into the house (far south side of the basement).  I mentioned the smoke detector wiring, and he said they'll look at that on the final electrical inspection.  He then heads up to the kitchen to look at my wiring.  Everything was labeled, but he kept pointing to wires and asking "What's this?"   He also noted that in some of the larger boxes, I needed a large wire nut to join the ground wires, simply twisting them together wasn't sufficient.  He asked for my permit paperwork, and signed off, letting me know to fix the water/panel grounding wire, and wire nuts, before the final inspection.

That's right. Service panel/rough inspection approval. To say I was happy is an understatement.  I could not have done it without my awesome dad, who did most of the work, and my father-in-law.  6 hands were definitely better than 4.  We went and bought additional grounding wire, and fixed that final, big issue.

Inspection Prologue

It's a few days later before I'm able to get around to writing this, as I've been catching up on web design requests that piled up the previous week.  That, and I've just been totally burnt out by the amount of work.  The phrase "sweat equity" is thrown around a lot, and I know why.  Now that it has quieted down, I ordered the window from Rosati Windows, so that it matches our existing windows.  I also ordered the LED strip lighting that we'll be using for under-cabinet/in-cabinet lighting.

The difficult tedious, really-gotta-think-about-it work is, in my opinion, done.  Not to say the rest of the work wont be difficult.  It will be just as hard, if not harder.  But the amount of brain work involved in figuring out circuits, running wire, etc., is a lot, compared to mudding drywall.  As of right now, I see the order of completing the project as follows:

• Install drywall on south and west walls (interior).
• Install window.
• Get framing inspection.
• Get plumbing inspection.
• Install insulation.
• Get insulation inspection.
• Install drywall on ceiling.
• Install drywall on north and east walls (exterior).
• Finish drywall.
• Install electrical outlets and switches.
• Get final electrical inspection.
• Get certificate of occupancy.
• Paint.
• Install flooring.
• Install cabinets.
• Install counter tops.
• Install back splash tile.
• Enjoy.

Bonus Cat Picture:

Inspector Cat observes your work.