[6fthook]

Today we were hoping to get our certificate of occupancy for our new home. Got everything signed off, but when engineering came for their inspection they noticed something pretty concerning, our utilities conduit on the pole at the street had ice coming out of it and running down, starting at a joint around 15' high. We are in the process of getting this issue addressed.

My question for you all, is this a safety issue at all? The excavator guy said it can short out the cable and cause an overload and a fire or damage the cable in which we would have to spend a fortune to dig up and replace (700' long run). The builder says the cable is rated for wet conditions and conduit is only for physical protection and we have nothing to worry about. Even though the cable is rated for wet conditions, does ice change anything?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide

 

[Speedy Petey]

Tell the excavator to stick to digging.

It is perfectly normal for the top of the conduit to be open on the utility pole. The fact that there is ice coming out the top is strange though.

 

[joed]

I am going to guess that your house is up a hill from the utility feed? Water or condensation in the conduit is running down hill and coming out the opening which even though it is up a pole is probably still down hill from your house.

 

[ER2]

Today we were hoping to get our certificate of occupancy for our new home. Got everything signed off, but when engineering came for their inspection they noticed something pretty concerning, our utilities conduit on the pole at the street had ice coming out of it and running down, starting at a joint around 15' high. We are in the process of getting this issue addressed.

My question for you all, is this a safety issue at all? The excavator guy said it can short out the cable and cause an overload and a fire or damage the cable in which we would have to spend a fortune to dig up and replace (700' long run). The builder says the cable is rated for wet conditions and conduit is only for physical protection and we have nothing to worry about. Even though the cable is rated for wet conditions, does ice change anything?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide

Post some pic's

 

[6fthook]

Yes the house is quite higher than where the conduit comes up the pole at the street, the total run is about 700'. About 550' in from the street is where our meter pedestal and transformer box is, and that location looks similar in elevation to where the ice is coming out at the conduit seam. I'm guessing maybe water is getting in somewhere there and filling up, and the water pressure and downhill elevation is causing the water to go up the conduit at the pole?

Is there any safety concern with water being in the conduit, and ice buildup in the winter? Will it do any harm to the power or phone/tv/internet cables, and could the conduit break from the water and ice pressure? We used sch80 by the way.

I'll try to get some good pics tomorrow. Thanks for the help so far

 

[Desertdrifter]

Typically, no. Post that picture and we can see what you're seeing. Another guess is that it's just external.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[joed]

Will it do any harm to the power or phone/tv/internet cables,

There is no way that phone/tv and internet should be in the same conduit with power cables, especially high voltage lines that are before the step down transformer for your house.