I inspected this house built in 1915 with some electrical problems at the attachment point of the overhead service conductors, the depth of the drip loop, and the service mast that was made of lead pipe. Any feedback on my comments below or the reasons for the standards that are applicable would be appreciated.
For this questionable attachment point of overhead conductors I’m putting the following comment in my report:
The service mast failed to run through the eave(s). The point of attachment for the service conductors to the home was lower than 18 inches from the surface of the roof. A licensed qualified electrical contractor should evaluate and repair or replace as necessary and according to current standards.
The drip loops at the top of the gooseneck service mast is insufficient in depth. To prevent the entrance of moisture, service entrance conductors shall be connected to the service-drop conductors either (1) below the level of the service mast head or (2) below the level of the termination of the service-entrance cable sheath. The lowest point of these loops should be 12 inches below the point of entry into the masthead itself. This is to prevent rainwater from migrating along the conductors or cable assembly and pouring down into the masthead. A licensed qualified electrical contractor should evaluate and repair or replace as necessary and according to current standards.
Also, is there any standard that prohibits someone from using lead pipe as a service mast as I’m showing you in this photo below?
Are you sure that it’s a lead pipe? It look like RMC, rigid metallic conduit. Also your comments mention goosenecks there is no gooseneck in this installation. Given the age of the house I would guess that the installation is obsolete. What did the rest of the service look like?
My main concern would be the insulator attachment method on the roof. As far as moisture getting into the conduit, I don’t see much of an issue there based on your pics.
Then there is the damage that is occuring to the roof due to that installation. Hope you added that to the roof section of your report. Definitely a leak waiting to happen, if it hasn’t already.
I’m not totally certain that it’s lead pipe, but the reason it looks like lead to me was the way that it glistened when I scraped it with a screw driver. Also, it’s squirrelly, wavy non-straight appearance was what made me think that it was lead. Plus, can 2 inch rigid metal conduit be bent to that angle without breaking?
Since it had a masthead at the end of it with service conductors going into that mast head, what would you call it instead of a gooseneck? How is a masthead different from a gooseneck?
My Inspection Agreement says that I follow InterNACHI Residential SOP, and InterNACHI gives the following image for helping to determine the configuration:
In InterNACHI’s How to Perform Residential Electrical Inspection Course it says,
The lowest point of these loops should be 12 inches below the point of entry into the masthead itself. This is to prevent rainwater from migrating along the conductors or cable assembly and pouring down into the masthead.
The drip loops for the masthead that I inspected are for sure not 12 inches below the point of entry into the masthead. Either way, InterNACHI’s course says that the mast should go through the eave and for the masthead to be above the attachment point, doesn’t it?
It appears that InterNACHI standards outlined in the course require the attachment point to occur below the masthead on the mast.
Thank you, Robert. I called out the exposed fasteners on the roof.
Yes rigid metallic conduit can be bent with a bender.
A gooseneck is used on SE cable not on a raceway. It is used in lieu of a weatherhead and is made up of tape so what’s shown in the photo is not a gooseneck. On conduit the fitting on the end is a weatherhead.
That’s if you have a mast which is used to attach the service drop from the pole. If the required clearances can be met the use of a mast may not be required. In this case it would have ensured that the drop condcutors were the proper distance above the roof.
For those who are acronym challenged (like your clients) EGC stands for Equipment Ground Conductor. These would be the grounds coming from the outlets or appliances. GEC stands for Ground Electrode Conductor. This would be the single 6 AWG copper wire going to the ground electrode outside of the house. AWG stands for American Wire Gauge.
