This is a 3-4 month old service that was inspected by the AHJ. Are weather heads not required on SEU cable services anymore? Were they ever required? I have been calling this condition out without complaint, but this is the second one I have run into like it.
NEC 230.54 still requires a weatherhead or a gooseneck. That goes not look like a gooseneck to me.
I found this one on a ten year old home. I called the agent and sent her this picture and all she said was " not much wrong there, just needs to be stood up nailed back to the house" I don’t think she got it.
They allow these in our area as long as the dead head is through bolted into solid framing. Not sure from the picture if that is the case. I think it is a disaster waiting to happen.
This is nothing more than vinyl tape wrapped around the SEU. How can it be bolted without a weather head?
Thank you Jim. I was second guessing myself.
I think the dead head mentioned would be the triplex anchor.
Yes you are correct. Just another name for them.
It’s hard to tell from that photo angle, but the SE cable might turn down after the clamp which could be considered a gooseneck, which can be used instead of a weatherhead.
The thing I dont like is how they landed and tapped the bare grounded messenger wire. Looks like just two strands of the wire go to the anchor … :roll: … instead of the full wire going to the anchor with a tap off that for the SE cable neutral … see the attached diagram.
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Goosenecks, which are formed with just a bunch of identified tape and are permitted by the NEC. They should look like the one in Bob’s diagram. Here’s the NEC requirement for the tape:
Those attachments products are referred to as galvanized steel dead end grips and are added by the POCO to secure the drop to the point of attachment. It is not strands from the grounded conductor.
After looking at the image again I can see why they opted for the rather ugly gooseneck over the weatherhead. Weather heads are not designed to be mounted on an angle as would be required by way the SE cable is installed. The top of the weather head would need to be mounted with it’s attachment screw on top. That would not have been an easy task given the way that the cable was run.
Haven’t heard that term here before. That’s what I have been calling the SE cables from the POCO since 1975.
Brian, around here if someone says triplex they would typically be referring to the power company overhead cable.
Someone else mentioned only one or two strands around the anchor. That cable has a steel strand that is used to carry the weight and provide the strength.
That’s what I was referring to…just called it “SE cables from the POCO”.
Don’t like that “gooseneck” method…have never seen one here in 39 years of working around houses and farms. In this picture, with high winds and rain, I see that as an easy entry point for water.
In your areas, are any there special requirements to prevent water that got into into the service conduit from entering the panel? I see a fair amount of corrosion here on the SE terminals/wires from water entry.
Jim’s correct, those service drops typically have a steel center strand. However in the setup in the photo that strand is not connected to anything.
So they attached the wrong part of the wire? Just curious because I dont see that type of triplex locally … but it doesn’t mean I wont eventually. And why not just use the supporting steel center strand as the grounded messenger wire?
Probably due to the conductivity of the steel is less than the aluminum.
We also use the term triplex in here SE Michigan and NW Ohio.