Service Entrance Conductors Concealed

[Roy D. Cooke, Sr]

example why they do it .Free power.This just came in
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?sec...cal&id=4521675

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6 Pot Houses Raided Around Sacramento



Brings Total To 21 Homes Raided

Sep. 1 - KXTV - The number keeps climbing: six more so-called pot houses raided today in Elk Grove and Sacramento. That brings the total number to 21 and drug agents say they may not be finished yet.
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A home on Aviator circle sold five months ago for $549,000. But the buyers apparently never planned to live here. This is one of the 21 homes in Sacramento and Elk Grove that were purchased just to grow pot.
Millions of dollars worth of marijuana was growing in nice homes; On nice streets, in nice neighborhoods. All this pot was growing right under the noses of the neighbors.
Chris Trim, Elk grove police department: "That's the best operation they can do. They can hide it right in plain view of normal citizens."
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The clues were there. The trash cans never taken to the curb; heavy shades on the windows to hide the growing lights.
Ludwig Fleming, neighbor: "I mean we saw these people very little. You know, they were in and out."
From Elk Grove to Natomas, the clues were there.
The neighbors who never saw their neighbors.
Vadim Dragnev, neighbor: "I don't really have a description. I haven't seen them. They come in and out. I haven't really seen who they are."
George Warren: "Can you describe them?
Lee McFarlane, neighbor: "No, I haven't seen no one there. Since they moved in close to a year ago, I probably saw them maybe only three times."
And then the mystery neighbors stopped coming altogether.
Gordon Taylor, Drug Enforcement Administration: "The plants were extremely dry."
At some of the homes, drug agents found plants left without water.
But the growers had bypassed the mud meter; So the lights could stay on forever.
Gordon Taylor: "Well, this particular organization doesn't care if these houses burn down. It appears as if they've walked away from these houses because maybe they're spooked or something. But everything's on timers. All the lights continue to go on and these plants don't get water, they start withering."
We've been analyzing property records for the 21 pot houses and discovered something very interesting. All of the transactions we've analyzed so far involved 100-percent financing, no money down. We also discovered a real estate agent in the bay area who handled at least fifteen of the 21 home sales. We called him wondering what he knows about this remarkable case. He had no comment other than to say he's "shocked," and had no idea the homes would be used in this manner.

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Roy Cooke

[Pierre Belarge]

The NEC reference that would be most closely tied to this thread is,
230.70(A)(1) Readily Accessible location.
the service disconnecting means shall be installed at a readily accessible location either outside of a building or structure or inside nearest the point of entrance of the service conductors.

Note: notice how it says "service conductors". A lot of people believe if the conductors are installed in a raceway, that it excludes this requirement. It does not, conductors are installed in assemblies or raceways.


Another note:
There are many municipalities that ammend this requirement. I have heard of some that will permit up to 15 ft of service conductors inside a building. I also know of some municipalities that require the service disconnecting means to always be located outside.

230.6 permits several methods to extend the raceway inside of a building before the disconnect is terminated.

[jtedesco1]

Pierre:

True, and I agree, but the location of the disconnecting means was not discussed or considered here, we were concerned about the "CONCEALED" Type SE cable assembly from the drip loop to the meter.

Joe what happens to the Type SE cable after it passes through the meter socket enclosure?

Is there a readily accessible main, and is it located as described in Pierre's reference?

[Joe Funderburk, CMI]

It feeds to a panel directly below the meter. No main breaker (< 6 individual breakers).

[jtedesco1]

It appears that the old equipment was replaced using the same Type SE conductors, often done without the benifit of an electrical permit. I would call attention to the records in the building department, which should have a permit on file, if any.

Do you agree?

[Joe Funderburk, CMI]

I got a call from the seller yesterday. She didn't understand the issue and wanted me to discuss it with the utility. She gave me the name of a person at the utility to call. I did. They quickly understood the issue and sent someone out there to investigate. (I don't know the result.)

They also said the porch was likely added without a permit (I agree and I also addressed that in my report). They called the county to have them address the lack of a permit issue. The owner may be in some hot water. I don't know what the authorities do when a structure has been built without a permit. Anyone know?

[Bruce A. King]

Sometimes they just charge 2x the permit fee and let it go.
The big problem is when it will not pass zoning requirements, then it has to be removed unless a hardship waiver is obtained. Cost and trouble is not a hardship in their eyes.