Any licensed electricians on the board?

[dutchboy]

250 in parts and takes less than a hour to change. Do it yourself. Remove the meter and youll be fine. Its easy prolly done a 100 or more.

[Couver]

250 in parts and takes less than a hour to change. Do it yourself. Remove the meter and youll be fine. Its easy prolly done a 100 or more.

If the contract says someone with a license then it is supposed to be so. The liability doing it yourself is not worth it. I would offer a warranty first then change it depending on how bad I wanted out of the house I was selling.

[STANGGT40]

250 in parts and takes less than a hour to change. Do it yourself. Remove the meter and youll be fine. Its easy prolly done a 100 or more.

I don't know anyone that could do this in an hour! Lol

You'll need to do it right, which likely means a ground rod, bare 6awg wire to connect it...some 2/0 wire, 200 amp main breaker 40-42 ckt panel with breakers, cold water clamp and 6awg wire to connect to cold water at water heater, some romex connectors or 2" PVC connectors to bring cables through, possibly some additional wire and wire nuts to extend wires that isn't long enough, etc...realistically, you'll probably spend 300-400 and the better part of 8-hrs. A good residential service guy can knock it out in about 4-6 hrs. If you decide to go this route, I'll go into more detail and give you a better list. It's not extremely difficult, but it's definitely going to take you more than an hour.

[dblack1]

I don't know anyone that could do this in an hour! Lol

You'll need to do it right, which likely means a ground rod, bare 6awg wire to connect it...some 2/0 wire, 200 amp main breaker 40-42 ckt panel with breakers, cold water clamp and 6awg wire to connect to cold water at water heater, some romex connectors or 2" PVC connectors to bring cables through, possibly some additional wire and wire nuts to extend wires that isn't long enough, etc...realistically, you'll probably spend 300-400 and the better part of 8-hrs. A good residential service guy can knock it out in about 4-6 hrs. If you decide to go this route, I'll go into more detail and give you a better list. It's not extremely difficult, but it's definitely going to take you more than an hour.

What is a cold water clamp? Never run into one, but I've only done gas installs on older homes? Can you wire nut to extend wires inside a box and it still meet code? I changed one with 22 circuits and it took me almost all day.

To the OP, you have to get a licensed installer so no diy on this. My wife recently went through this on a house she sold and was lucky I had a bud who was willing to sign off on the unlicensed work done.

[STANGGT40]

What is a cold water clamp? Never run into one, but I've only done gas installs on older homes? Can you wire nut to extend wires inside a box and it still meet code? I changed one with 22 circuits and it took me almost all day.

To the OP, you have to get a licensed installer so no diy on this. My wife recently went through this on a house she sold and was lucky I had a bud who was willing to sign off on the unlicensed work done.

Yes, you can use wire nuts and extend the wire in the panel. A cold water clamp is just a clamp that goes on the cold water pipe and has a termination point for a ground wire, to bond the water pipes to the ground and neutral...usually at the water heater, as the cold water pipe is easily accessible there.

[mikec]

Nothing a fox body and four grand can't beat!

[TRAXX]

I got a licensed guy coming out to help me this weekend. Hes going to do the permit and all and quoted me a great price. To help out, I am trying to figure out all the code stuff figured out for him...mainly what will they enforce what they wont.

Regarding that cold water clamp (which I dont think I have), my water heater is clear on the other side of the house. The closest water line is the laundry room right next to the garage. Can I clamp onto that? Is another option a grounding bar just outside of the meter? (I will verify with the city, just looking for opinions of those that have more experience with this crap!)

FWIW, I spoke to Carrollton's Inspection dept the other day and the guy that answered made it sound like they are fairly reasonable with the code if you're just making the change to get rid of the known problematic panels. In his words "we want to encourage people to update their boxes as they are already creating a safer condition...so we don't throw the book at you and require everything like arc fault and ground fault breakers in certain areas as the house wasn't wired with that in mind." The grounding via cold water clamp didnt come up, so ill call again and ask.

[TRAXX]

oh and looks like Home Depot is going to be the best place to get this stuff. Anyone know a good way to get a % off coupon?

[fordracing19]

oh and looks like Home Depot is going to be the best place to get this stuff. Anyone know a good way to get a % off coupon?

Lowes 10% off from the movers packet at the post office. Hd will take it.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2

[TRAXX]

Good deal...didnt know they would take it.

[STANGGT40]

I got a licensed guy coming out to help me this weekend. Hes going to do the permit and all and quoted me a great price. To help out, I am trying to figure out all the code stuff figured out for him...mainly what will they enforce what they wont.

Regarding that cold water clamp (which I dont think I have), my water heater is clear on the other side of the house. The closest water line is the laundry room right next to the garage. Can I clamp onto that? Is another option a grounding bar just outside of the meter? (I will verify with the city, just looking for opinions of those that have more experience with this crap!)

FWIW, I spoke to Carrollton's Inspection dept the other day and the guy that answered made it sound like they are fairly reasonable with the code if you're just making the change to get rid of the known problematic panels. In his words "we want to encourage people to update their boxes as they are already creating a safer condition...so we don't throw the book at you and require everything like arc fault and ground fault breakers in certain areas as the house wasn't wired with that in mind." The grounding via cold water clamp didnt come up, so ill call again and ask.

If the cold water pipe is accessible, then it's ok...usually the water heater is the only accessible location. Your guy should be able to let you know whatever you need to know, but let me know if you have any questions.

[crooner]

I had to replace a federal pacific Monday. It burned up the bus bar due to no dead front holding the breakers on.

The inspector red tagged me and made me run two ground rods 20 feet apart since they had the plumbing changed over to PVC and install a ground bridge.

Fort Worth inspectors can really blow sometimes.

And lol at changing a panel in 1 hour. I'm a journeymen electrician and there's no way it can be done that fast.

The home owner panels for federal pacific are not that bad. It's really more on the commercial end older panels that would never trip.

[TRAXX]

how hard is it to get the ground rods 10 ft deep in the north dallas clay soils?

[STANGGT40]

how hard is it to get the ground rods 10 ft deep in the north dallas clay soils?

It's not difficult...the secret is water. Stab it in the ground, pull it out and pour water in the hole...put it back in and push and pull it out of the ground fast, like a jackrabbit going to town...go as far as you can, then pull it out, pour more water in go again...repeat this process until you can't go any further, then hammer it the rest of the way (you should be able to get it about 80-90% in before hammering)...make sure to put the acorn clamp on before hammering, as you'll mushroom out the top of the ground rod, which will make it tough to slide the acorn clamp on.