A, um, friend was doing some tractor work near their shop (separate meter) and accidently hit the meter with the bucket. Popped it right out :O He plugged it back in and replaced the ring and the seal. A couple years later the utility company 'upgraded' the meter, replacing the old and didn't notice. Whew!

Sorry, but all those saying "hire an electrician" are either A- electricians that want to get paid or B - too scared of the "electrical magic" to take on something a little technical. 20 years ago I wired my entire home. I worked with city and L&I, followed a code book, and passed my inspection.

No disrespect to electricians. There are a lot of things in electrician world that are complicated and require specialized knowledge and experience. When it comes to a household panel swap, or a simple outlet replacement, 99% of the job is manual labor.

So, if you can do it legally (permits/inspections) and safely (disconnect power at meter) then go for it and don't let the A's or B's deter you.

Having said that, there is one additional thing to consider. Since you are replacing a panel, you are likely going to have to bring some items up to current code and not just replace new like the old. You will want to make sure you know what all is involved in said upgrade before starting.

Just like explained in this video

https://www.fluke.com/en-us/learn/blog/safety/arc-flash-vs-arc-blast

Ridiculous way to get yourself killed.

Even a licensed electrical contractor cannot pull the meter. The only people that are authorized to touch your meter while it is energized is the utility company!

Reasons to hire a professional:

• not dying
• not burning your house down
• not voiding any future insurance claims
• not being liable for any damage for future homeowners (if you sell)

If it's been inspected by the ESA, your insurance company cannot deny you.

I would fight any such nonsense.

But if there was no permit pulled and no final passed inspection, all bets are off.

And then there’s a fire and your insurance company won’t cover you. Happened to a place near me. The owners lost everything because they did their own (shoddy) electrical work.

Journeyman Power Electrician for 15~ years,

Im not 100% on Ontario’s requirements are, however in Saskatchewan a home owner can pull a permit to do a service or panel change over, however those two jobs require the homeowner to have a direct family member’s Journeyman electrician licence number filled out on the permit. Tsask will not give a permit for this work without direct supervision/ guidance from a journeyman electrician that is licensed in Saskatchewan.

After the work is completed it would still be subject to an inspection, however re-energizing would happen once the work is complete.

No one other than the utility company in Saskatchewan is allowed to touch the meter and its seal. Our local utility, that I work for, also will no longer book meter disconnects Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Mondays.

In regards to actually doing the work on your own, sure you can just tape up the live ends of the service conductors but anyone suggesting this probably isnt aware of the acr flash hazards of this ‘simple’ task. These wire are not fused or protected. There is no short circuit or overload protection if you have a short. Cat II arc flash ppe is required in the trade to do this work, which includes a shield, class zero gloves, proper fr pants and fr long sleeve shirt. Its certsinly not a low risk job most people assume it to be.

Op hasn't responded so probs didn't make it.

And why would you assume this person would cause a dead short?

You definitely need to test a meter socket with a voltmeter or test switch prior to installing a meter into the socket to ensure that the electrician or “homeowner with YouTube” did not fuck up his wiring.

ESA must inspect all electrical work done. Even if the electrical work is done by a licensed electrician, the ESA is still required to inspect.

Whether he's an electrician or not, I don't know. He may be a CET or even a P. Eng. Don't know.

I dunno.

But let's say that same formerly young guy was now getting older and had learned the pitfalls of cause and effect, like a fire and the insurance company sees a newer panel in an old house and asks about permits.

You could try calling the ESA and asking them to inspect the panel I suppose. They will always help you. And a panel is not hard to inspect. It usually doesn't require opening up walls.

But hopefully that same young guy didn't run any new and obviously new wires. Because new Romex wire is date stamped st the time of manufacture right on the outer insulation. They can easily tell when the wire was installed and if that young guy was the owner at the time, he's in for a world of hurt.

It's built in a factory to any number of specifications. CSA, ULc, ASTM, etc etc.

The factory will have engineered it, signed and sealed the drawings, certified it, submitted it for testing and certification from the various governing bodies, then during production, the manufacturer will have a series of quality control procedures and protocols in place to ensure compliance, most likely ISO certified.

You don't need to inspect it.

Ok. They contract the install of the tag to a contractor. But I call hydro to arrange for that. As long has ESA has inspected it, they will tag it.

Meters are definitely tagged in Toronto, at least where I live, which is high park. In order to remove the meter head, there is a clamp around the circumference of the base of the meter that is loosened via a bolt. The tag runs through the bolt to prevent it from being tampered with. You can't remove the meter without cutting the tag.

I'm 100 percent sure of this.

Everything I've described, I've done myself.

And I'm currently in the process of a full rewire of my current house. The process for that is the same. Phone ESA, pull a permit. They will inspect at the rough in stage and the final stage.

You get 2 inspections at the rough in stage, if you fail the second inspection, you need to pay again.

It's not like it's impossible just very sckech one slip up and kaboom i definitely would have pulled the meater out before doing it like though

Stop being a tool and pay for a professional

So uuhhh, let’s say, hypothetically, that a younger guy trying to save money hired a Licensed electrician to replace the panel but saved by doing it without a permit and making it a cash on the side job….so it was done safely, but without any official inspection. Would walls have to come down for a wiring inspection to get an ESA stamp or after 10 years and no fires is it just ok to forget it ever happened?

I was in a situation recently that I needed to replace my power box but after 3 quotes the cheapest electrician wanted 6K which was like 3x as much as I was expecting. I know you are suppose to turn the power off at the street but I was nervous about contacting the power company.

I ended up just doing the replacement live and it worked great. Wrapped a flat head screw driver in electrical tape and disconnected the main power lead into the box then put a cover on each of the large wires.

Basically just copied the breaker sizes and screwed everything back in the same order. Everything cost like 300$ including the box. Downvote me if you want but skilled labor is a joke these days, do it yourself watch all the YouTube videos available then go for it. You could die but probably not.

This.

I work on 11kV systems, I still had an electrician swap my home DB.

The fun part is paying for someone else to take the responsibility and not giving your insurance a reason to deny a claim.

That is a handyman.

The reason it begins to smell is because it is not draining properly. Water will eventually make it up hill when you backpitch a pipe, but it leaves behind the gummy stuff like toothpaste, oils and soap. This sits in the backpitched pipe building up and closing off the drain. The smell is because it is decomposing right there in your drain.

I'm still alive, I don't recommend this method, if you die that's on you. Cheapest way is also the bravest and stupidest way. Tape each wire lots and don't drink any coffee for a steady hand

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