Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Around The House). This thread is read-only.
The electric service on my new-to-me house is distributed through the city on wooden telephone poles at the easement line, in my case about 10′ away from the asphalt roadway paving.
On my street the electric power gets from the street to the house w/ a buried service, not an overhead wire to a drip loop.
In my case the secondary transformer electric 220VAC power runs down the pole, covered by a screwed-on thick, ribbed rubber protector, then buried underground to a nearby junction box.
Recently I removed that electric service junction box cover to examine the interior.
What I discovered is that the box and wiring is halfway submerged in water, not what I was expecting, as water and electricity don’t mix well. It must be fine as this has not been problematic.
The image also shows the nearby rainwater swale, to help create a planned exit path for that water.
My box has one input and two outputs on all three conductors, to share that power feed for me and my neighbor.
One image shows low voltage communication cable entering vertical Schedule 80 plumbing, extending several feet above ground. I will be cutting that wire / conduit soon, as those are for poorly installed and currently unused Comcast and AT&T feeds to my neighbor’s house. Those conduits are filled w/ water to the top and the feeds provided horrible signal quality at the house.
Buried Shared Electric Service Box (Tan) and Water Meters Box (Black)
[External image (live.staticflickr.com), not copied]
Submerged Buried Electric Service Box
[External image (live.staticflickr.com), not copied]
wow, that is crazy. You would think something would go wrong there.