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New Service

Now that the blog is up and running again I thought I should probably post about what we've been doing for the last month. In addition to replacing the plumbing and heat we also have to update the wiring. The house does not have a single grounded outlet and most of it is the original cloth-wrapped wire from 1953. Currently our power is controlled by this disconnect that supplies power to the upstairs circuit panel.
The breaker panel is currently in the hallway linen closet.
Code does not allow panels in closets and we'll be ripping out the linen closet during the kitchen remodel. So to bring the house up to code we removed the disconnect and installed a new panel in the laundry room.
While we are doing all this electrical work we decided to upgrade to 200 amp service. Northwestern Energy offered to replace service to the house for free but we had to upgrade our equipment to meet current codes. We took advantage of a beautiful November day and replaced the service to the garage. The old wire feeding the garage was rated for direct burial but since it was never buried it did not hold up well.
So we dug a trench from the house to the garage and ran conduit. Digging the trench went better than expected even though we had to go under two sidewalks.
We ran conduit to the garage then Luke installed the meter base and masthead while I was at work. Once the new equipment is powered up we can get rid of the old service on the right.
Of course we rewired the house but if you thought the last few pictures were boring then Romex pictures would be even worse. We've passed our electrical inspection but now we are waiting for the power company to switch over the service.

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