Electrical Conduit Full of water

[@rupe53]

Running behind in posting but thought this would be an interesting addition to your video since underground feeders are now more popular in residential situations. Went to a customer's place on a stormy night a few years ago because of an issue with a large standby generator. It wasn't starting automatically and with a manual start it would not transfer. The set was only a year or two old. Went to the basement to find a 400 amp service rated switch mounted on the wall with the UG feeder directly through the back of the cabinet to the main breaker. The inside of the cabinet was completely soaked and crusty with rust marks running down the wall. It seems the long downhill UG run (several hundred ft) had turned into a French drain and the conduit must have been damaged at some point. This cabinet was 4 ft tall and the top was also soaked so must have been enough water pressure to spray everywhere. Needless to say there was no quick fix and the entire installation needed to be redone from scratch.

[@iamthemoss]

I have never seen an underground electrical conduit that didn't get some water in it.

[@tomtillman]

yep. mine had water in it. full of it.

[@pensive69]

This is really crazy. Most times we see water near electrical services due to surface, utility pole, or roof leakage. Hot water? Not so much. I guess when things got resealed I'd have tried to sump pump those service pits.... I'm glad you shot this for us.

[@TheTheo58]

Years ago at my former job tree roots had broken through the conduit beneath the street of our electrical system 600A 208A 3 phase water had gotten inside the conduit shorted two of the hot phases blew out two fuses in the under-ground utility vault. A crew from the power company responded, discovered our main panel was "hot" A few lights still were on in the building with the remaining phase but very dim with the loss of the two other phases. Power was de-engerized at the vault, following day an electrical contractor came and pulled out all the damaged conductors, started pulling in new ones. I was off work the following day, a generator was brought in to restore power, while the new electrical service entrance was being installed. They tested the installation if they got the phasing right by running our fright elevator which was hydro electric and a 3 phase motor. It turned the right director. Cab traveled up. It was an expensive job about $20.000.00

[@nuker2007]

Great to see another video from your channel, always fun and informational to see what kinds of stuff you find.

[@electricalindustry]

Thanks!

[@johngibson3594]

You gotta love it wacky stuff at least no one got hurt or dead thanks for sharing

[@B3ND3CO]

Good to see you posting again. That looked like a fun project.

[@electricalindustry]

Hey Josh! Not much on the electrical end but the plumbers had a great time.

[@hgbugalou]

In IT we have something called converged networking where your voice, data, and storage IO all travel through the same wire. This is just converged utilities with water and electric through the same pipe! It's a feature, not a bug! Think of the cost savings! (yes I am being sarcastic!)

[@rmhanseniii]

Every PVC pipe underground has water in it, and that’s OK... it’s still better than direct burial. Obviously the cabinet needs to get replaced

[@andrewjacobsen8621]

You still doing videos bro really enjoyed watching what you had to offer.

[@electricalindustry]

Thanks Andrew,making videos has been on hold due to the fact I've been working in some facilities that won't allow me to take pictures let alone videos.I had to sign a confidentially agreement that prevents me from showing ANYTHING in their buildings. It's too bad because some of the stuff I've been working on is really interesting. To put it another way"Some really cool s*%t!

[@seanpduffyeng]

Cool, nice hot water to wash your hands when you've finished at the dist board, lol, never seen anything like that before thanks for sharing.

[@JamesWalton1999]

Finally another video! Thanks sparky

[@electricalindustry]

Thank you!

[@paulzeev]

Dude that's water cooling totally buyable now adays

[@romprpmpor2223]

nice to see you posting videos again!

[@joemc111]

Nice to see you were fixing this, the water heating bill must of been sky high. Did you ever here how much the bill went down?

[@frederickconner8572]

wow super interesting, thanks for the upload!

[@daviddunn7817]

Old video, but thought I'd comment anyway. When the power company's contractor came out to pull wire at my new house, he said more often than not, the conduits fill full of water over time. Wasn't unusual to them at all.

[@phiksit]

From what I've read they get condensation in them from being buried in the cold ground, assuming the joints or conduit wall haven't been compromised.

[@tribulation138]

why is the water hot? shouldnt hot water pipes be only inside the buildings.

[@Mike-01234]

No water in my 1" conduit for my pool pump I installed in 2007. Put shop vac on one end no water came out of it I'm in AZ dry here.

[@travis4798]

Drill and tap a hole for a spicket, hot water access haha!

[@SirDeanosity]

Underground hydro-electric power? Whoda thought it possible.

[@kennysboat4432]

wait why haven't you made more videos??? i love your work!

[@mainelyelectric]

I don't recall or remembered ever hearing in the video if you ever mentioned how long you thought the Watermain was broken for. Kind of odd having a hot water main underground uninsulated!!! I would think that they would notice a huge use in hot water and find out why so much hot water was being used. Good video by the way.

[@electricalindustry]

Thanks Ben. We estimated that the water had been running for about a week. It is common on this property to have underground leaks due to the age,about forty years old.The first clue was that the boiler ran 24/7 for several days. We knew there was a leak but couldn't find it till it surfaced. In this case filled the service pit.

[@mainelyelectric]

+Electrical Industry Network wow crazy

[@kennysboat4432]

will he ever post again? I really do enjoy your content!

[@zanelile2991]

What a dam mess.Inspector should have decided to shut it down til you fix it.

[@electricalindustry]

I agree 100%. Damn HOA got involved and the rest is history.

[@highlander511]

Should I have been glued together to prevent water from entering or maybe entered from another place but my question really is when You are installing underground conduit should All fittings be Glued together

[@TheTinkle1]

Are you telling me their was running water in a live wire pvc conduit

[@electricalindustry]

Absolutely ! Craziest thing I've ever run across.

[@TheChipmunk2008]

sorry for what may be a stupid question, but is the service 120/208 or 277/480? 120/208 wouldn't scare me as much as 480 would! It's one of those situations where you have to be pragmatic.Yes ideally it'd be shut down right fricken now, but people rely on their power!

[@electricalindustry]

It's a 120/208 system

[@TheChipmunk2008]

Thanks... I thought it looked residential but you can never tell :)

[@juve3030]

Electrical Industry Network 208 in residential? I thought it was 240.

[@meerscan9101]

so did you have to pull the wire, then refeed new? we miss your videos, please make new vids...

[@electricalindustry]

No the wire was not removed. Both ends drained for quite sometime after the water line was repaired.

[@tready2008]

SPARKYS! Back

[@willquimbo3654]

Though not bad is it may seem, the audio is a little bit weak would you please make it least in the range audible to average listener. Thank you.

[@Gizmodi]

bet that was fun looking for the leak. let me guess, property owner wanted to still use the existing switchgear.

[@electricalindustry]

Yep,nobody wants to upgrade unless they have to.

[@paularyaninc]

When the place goes dark, they'll understand!

[@tastasmanianjumper3875]

So you drained it all, did you replace all the components that may have been water damaged?

[@davidcochran5071]

Had a hot water pipe crack in the crawl space and the steam was rising up through the wall. We didn’t catch it until three breakers exploded in the panel box

[@christopherplunz7779]

How do I find an electrical locator? I have water coming into my garage electrical conduit. please help!

[@electricalindustry]

Just Google underground utility locators in your area.

[@rupe53]

Oh, forgot to mention a line from an old 3 Stooges flick called "A Plumbing We Will Go" Hey Moe, I found the problem.... there's wires in the pipes! The usual madness ensues as they begin to cross-feed gas, electric, and water pipes through the whole house.

[@3fingerclay439]

Water cooling

[@3949zxcvbnm]

Heavy Machinery damaging PVC pipe and, not enough PVC glue seem to be the culprit in this scenario.

[@goosubux]

Reminds me of a Three Stooges episode.

[@rangudevendar6938]

Super

[@victorromero4216]

there is water in pipe all the time! no biggie

[@electricalindustry]

did you watch the whole video? It's not really about the water in the pipe. It is about the oddity of the situation and condensation inside the SES.

[@johnstancliff7328]

where was this?

[@justin0957]

Nice. So how did you repair that coupling?

[@electricalindustry]

Something along the lines of a split duct with h-channel. I think it's made by cantex

[@feistyferret]

Any pictures of the repair? I would love to see it

[@shawnwaterssw]

Water line ??? Ha ha ha

[@sparkyfla9686]

it always seems to happen lol

[@sparkyfla9686]

running water lmaoo