Here is the situation: I’m moving my service to a new part of the house. The feeder lines will drape over about 20′ of my roofline now, so I want to keep them as far away from the roof deck as possible. According to the electric company, I can have my weather head 9′ above the roof line if I use 2.5″ or 3″ heavy conduit. I would place the counduit where and interior wall meets the exterior wall, so it is supported in axis.
Under the roofline, I start running into problems. The wall where the service will be located is only 7′ tall. That means I might have 12″ of solid tube to bolt to the stud walls before it branches off into the breaker panel. I’d like to have a longer, more secure surface to secure this 10′ pole to. I was thinking the most secure way would be to weld 1.5″ angled steel to make a flat surfaced half of the tube. This would extend down to the sill plate and be bolted to the exterior wall and interior wall studs.
The grey is the round counduit tube, the black is the angle steel support. My question, can conduit be welded for this reason – or must all support be screwed or clamped on?
Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
Edited 10/18/2006 12:57 pm ET by xxPaulCPxx
Edited 10/18/2006 12:58 pm ET by xxPaulCPxx
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never ever saw it welded and accepted at inspection time..
not saying it wasn't done in the field.. if it wasn't OEM it didn't fly..
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Without commenting on the electrical code - I'll save that for those who knnw - I would say three things,
One, I don't entirely understand the Q and drawing
Two, It is possible to weld galvanized, but two things happen - you breathe extremely toxic fumes, and you destroy the zinc coat on it so it will then begin to rust which will weaken it
Three, I doubt the wisdom of extending nine feet into the air with a seven foot wall. i'm suprised teh power company would approve that without a guy wire reinforcement.
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1. This is what a top or bottom view would look like. The angle stock provides a bracket to bolt to as well as a continuous support. The idea is that I cannot take the entire tube to the floor, but I can permanently attach a very strong bracket that will. This bracket will also provide more support than two U bolts through wood.
2. I've welded before, and I know how to re-protect a bare metal finish to prevent rust. Your caution about the fumes is always a good reminder, thank you.
3. Here is the document that SoCal Edison gave to me:
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The point of this was that I DIDN'T want to have 9' of tube supported by only 1' of support - I want to make the support the full 7' of space. Kind of like a fencepost - 7' below should secure 9' above.Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
Now I undeerstand. Sounds doable, but you probably still want it totally approved by them BEFORE doing the work. I have seen times when a difference of interpretation at the last minute is a real budget killer
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That's why I bounce my dumb ideas off you guys first. I'd rather y'all laugh at me instead of the BI!Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
> The feeder lines will drape over about 20' of my roofline
I think that's your real problem.
No kidding! They do that here thoughRebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
If you are moving your service entrance, why don't you take this opportunity to go underground with it?
350 bucks around here I believe. No welding required.
Sweet for you! I've been trying to do that, but they make it very hard to do that here. For me I would have to pay them $2000 to build conduit up from the base of their pole and feed the wire... this is after I go through the legal moras of getting an easement with a comercial entity who owns the land under the pole (no underground easement for electricity here. This is also besides my laying all the rest of the conduit myself of course. My other idea of putting a pole on my land and going down from there didn't fly either, because they won't use a pole that they didn't put in themselves - about $12,000 for that piece of work.Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
In our part of the country, there is a maximum of 4 feet allowed from the mast to the edge of the roof. I seem to remember a maximum height of the mast, but don't remember what is was - and I could be wrong.
Use a standard code approved union at the joint. Weld up a bracket somewhat on the order or what you described, weld on four tabs to accomidate the threaded ends of 2 sets of U-bolts. Bolt the spliced conduit to the weldment with the U-bolts then lag bolt the assembly to the house framing. You will have to uses spacers to get clearance for the coupling, I'm sure you can figure it out once you get started. I have had to use this method twice and both times it passed inspection.
OK, let me state what I think you are saying:
Create the standard conduit path from the weatherhead to the box, create the steel support as well, but U bolt them together instead of welding them.
Do I have this right?Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
Yes. it's just as strong and unless your a really good pipe welder probably more weather tight. The problem with welding as you describe and the code is welding can set up corrosion on the inside of the pipe where you cannot inspect or clean it, not to mention slag, sharp edges to cut the wire, etc.
Edited 10/18/2006 8:27 pm ET by riverman