Secondary Work in the Lower 48

[A Laska Lineman]

Which classification (wiremen or Linemen) excavates/installs/connects U/G services to homes or businesses in your area. I am just trying to see how the rest of the country does the same work.

[Pootnaigle]

The utility I worked for hired a crew of mexicans to put in the conduit, pull in the wire and leave it hanging securley outta the can and the transformer. If it was to go overhead they left about a mile of it coiled up at the base of the pole and the serviceman was dispatched to make all the final connections. None of em had a clue how to make it up and none of em owned rubber gloves or hard hats. Fortunately we didnt have many livefront urd pots or the turnover would have been enormus. They also dug the trenches and covered em up afterwards.

[Mike-E]

Mostly linemen hook it up. Now some grunts and operators are getting qualified to terminate primary and secondary. But during my apprenticeship, we did a few URD jobs and it was all linemen and apes on the risers, terminations and plowing, the grunts and operators did the directional boring. I hooked up a few meters but most of that was done by the linemen that worked for the REA there. They didn't want to give up that gravy:D

[Swamprat]

I love threads like this.:cool:
Really interesting to see how things are done differently in different states.

Myself?
I've basically worked where the "Electrician" layed the conduit, to the house or Riser pole...
from there on...it was Lineman's work.

Different companys "structure" work differently though. Lineman work, or Serviceman work....
Like I said. "Different companys, different "structure".

I've also worked for companys that do the whole nine yards. Lay the underground conduit, pull the wire AND hook it up.

But....THAT...was "back in the day".:D

One of them "Open" type questions A laska.:D

[climbsomemore]

Company crews, sub contractors, sometimes the prime contractor on site will install conduits... depends on company policy and YOUR states Utility commissions rules on URD-Underground tarrifs etc.

Lineman or qualified high voltage terminatiantrained folks usually make up the elbows or other terms.

In house folks (company service men) usually make up services and set meters) --- some companies find it is easier to have a "company" hand do that as there is paper work associated with the account.

If you ever hook up on the Detroit Edison property they have contractors doing almost every company function possible... from my observation they are at the extreme end of using contractors.

We used to supply conduit and bends and would credit a home-owner or contractor for some of the ug costs... if you ever quote URD work --excavation is the biggest cost--- and 'anybody" can dig a trench--- but after you find a lot of plumbers 90 deg bends in a conduit run and back-charge for fixing it... they dont save much.

[A Laska Lineman]

Currently in Anchorage Linemen dig/install/terminate/set meters on all U/G services and primary work. Whether direct burial, HDPE, or conduit we do it all. The wirewomen are starting to claim juristiction of this work because it is the first pull from a xmer and claim that is standard practice in the 9th District. I have read the 1962 ruling from the I/O that lays out the juristictional boundries between the inside and Outside crafts. Linemen here have done that work for 30+ years that I know of, and there is no reason to give it up now. Juristicational issues are coming up more and more up here and this why I posed the question. I want to see if wirewomen or building trades are performing this work. Thanks for everyones input, I can use all the ammo I can get.

[scamplineman]

Any where I have been in NY... the wireman does all the UG secondary installaton, Inspected by third party, then service or lineman terminate and set meter.

Most of our primary installs is trenched by the contractor / homeowner, and cable and or conduit is placed by us lineman. We do some of our own trenching if it is a replacement or something special.

ALL UG secondary is owned by the customer. ALL PRIMARY is owned by company.

[graybeard]

For homes in my area our line crews do all that work. The company does treat buisness's differntly. The narrows will dig in conduit but primary or secondary we pull in. Here in Iowa everything is perty much direct bury. Houses the mtr box is mounted and we wire the line side and tust use the temp mtr for the perm. In my are the only place we've seen the narrows term primary is at the ethenol plants and they don't do it anything like we do.
Gota really watch them though because they get things screwed up. The customer hand book says wild on the right in the meter box and they like to put in the center like main braker. Acouple of weeks ago we had a 3 phase conversion from o/h to u/g and they had a main and meter box combo put the line into the bottom of the meter box. they buryed the u/g and we ran it up the pole and hooked it up. The checked the voltage on the bottom of the meter and it was like what the heck.
Guess I'm getting off alittle, inside work - outside work. LINEMAN DO THE OUTSIDE

[mainline]

It depends at our IOU. Residential customers can build there own Secondary URD, then we connect it after an inspection. If anything goes wrong with it later though they own it, so we either bill them or they call an electrician to fix it. The customer can also choose to have us install the wire. It costs more up front but it removes them from maintanence issues later. Commercial accounts here always have the wire installed by electricians. The company ran into so many problems with them that they only do the connections at the pole end. You definitely have to watch the narrow backs though, the guys out of the hall are fine, but a lot of the non-union guys can't find their rear with a map. We recently had an electrician screw up his connections on a 277/480 service. It torched phone drops, screwed up equipment inside, melted siding, made a huge mess. Always remember, cheaper is better, or so they tell us.

[scamplineman]

You definitely have to watch the narrow backs though, the guys out of the hall are fine, but a lot of the non-union guys can't find their rear with a map. We recently had an electrician screw up his connections on a 277/480 service. It torched phone drops, screwed up equipment inside, melted siding, made a huge mess. Always remember, cheaper is better, or so they tell us.[/QUOTE]

Funny you should bring that up... got a call out not too many weeks ago.

Union wireman was doing a night cut over on a new 3 phase service.... used the white tag for one of his hot legs... only he had tagged the nuetral white.

Tripped the bank on the pole, made a nice mess...

there are good and bad on both sides...

[Figurehead]

At our coop lineman inspect the installation and connect at the pot, single phase or 3 phase, residential or commercial. Union and non-union wireman, homeowners and joe-blow lay the cable. As long as it meets spec and code and has city inspect where required if it's up to snuff we terminate it at the can, pad mount or OH and energize it. I understand this coop is different in the fact that the customer owns their urd service, not the utility. They pay for mtl. and labor and any future faults with it.

[thrasher]

At our coop it's all where the meter is. If the meter is wall mounted we run the service to the building. If the meter is pad-mount transformer mounted (common on large three phase services) then an electrician runs the service. We do allow electrcians to install conduit systems if needed, but our price is usually cheaper than thiers. This is not a statewide thing each company sets their own policy but the majority do the same as us.