Replacing electric panel in basement?

S

sofa king

Forum Member
I’m curious if anyone can shed some light here.
My plan is to update my electrical panel in the basement with a new/breaker panel to replace the old fuse panel.
I did this before at my old house, when I needed to do, I called DTE and they came and removed my actual meter and put copper bars in. I removed the bars, hooked up new panel, then put the bars back in. Called them and said its done and ready for new meter. Guy came out and put in new meter.

I called with my plan recently, the lady said I need to have a contractor remove the meter. I took that as not even contact DTE. Sure I can cut the little wire/lock on the meter outside and pull it off, hook up my new service and then replace meter, but, I thought that if the meter is off for too long, it will freak out and shut off? Not saying I’ll pull the meter for days, and not sure of the meter time limit being removed either. It was really confusing discussing with the lady at DTE.

Someone else has done this before, how did you go about it?

Thanks!
 
Just pull the meter and do your work, just remember that if your adding a bigger service panel you need to update the meter can and the wire from the meter to the panel. Then have dte upgrade the wire from the meter up.
 
I just did that on my house. I had a pretty old setup and they had to run two new six foot ground rods in the backyard too.

-Geoff
 
You guys are making this way over complicated. Years ago I simply ran
an extension cord from the neighbor's house one night and its worked
great ever since!
 
4Gas$ said:
You guys are making this way over complicated. Years ago I simply ran
an extension cord from the neighbor's house one night and its worked
great ever since!
Click to expand...

It's funny you mention that - I have a college story!

I was in an Engineering Fraternity when I was in college at Oakland U and we had another chapter down at Detroit Mercy that actually owned a house on McNichols across the street from U of D. The house had been occupied by squatters, but they restarted the chapter and had assumed ownership. It had gone to hell, and everything needed to be replaced. So we were over there one day when they were doing the electrical service. They disconnected the power, but there was still a guys radio playing up on the second floor. We go in there and look out the window - he has a romex line running out the side of the house, hooking into power on the roof of the gas station next door that powered the one outlet by the window. Only in the D!

-Geoff
 
WhiteHawk said:
It's funny you mention that - I have a college story!

I was in an Engineering Fraternity when I was in college at Oakland U and we had another chapter down at Detroit Mercy that actually owned a house on McNichols across the street from U of D. The house had been occupied by squatters, but they restarted the chapter and had assumed ownership. It had gone to hell, and everything needed to be replaced. So we were over there one day when they were doing the electrical service. They disconnected the power, but there was still a guys radio playing up on the second floor. We go in there and look out the window - he has a romex line running out the side of the house, hooking into power on the roof of the gas station next door that powered the one outlet by the window. Only in the D!

-Geoff
Click to expand...


Creative, resourceful, talented & skilled......my kinda guy! :lol:
 
I had two panels replaced in the last 2years at different houses. Dte did not get involved on either. Contractor just pulled the meter and did his work, a couple hours later put it back in and there hasn't been any issues.
 
Just a FYI I have pulled my meter multiple times without issues. Not only for the service change but for portable generator hookup before I had an interlock. DTE did reinstall the tamper seal but never heard from them about why it was removed. They understand that service and what not will at times take a meter out for a short period of time.
 
Underground or overhead?

They'll know something happened if it's down but they won't care. In fact, it likely will never be looked into unless it's down for a long time or if there is a storm. Like a day.

They do analytics so they will know if you have been tampering. At the end of the day the utility is happy to not roll a truck.

My recommendation is to add a disconnect in and have it ready to go. So then you have a very short period of time where the meter isn't powered. Plus you make things a lot easier where now you can run a temporary panel for powering critical stuff while you take all day to neatly and carefully replace the old panel.
 
For every service upgrade I've done on family & friends homes, we replaced the SE cable from the weatherhead on the roof all the way down into the panel -- including setting a new meter socket/box & everything in between. Replacing from the meter down only --- who are you expecting to replace from the meter up to the weatherhead? I don't think DTE will do that... at least not for free. DTE normally runs a new drop from the pole (e.g. 100A to 200A service upgrade) and their termination/demarc point is where the SE cable on the house @ the weatherhead gets lag bolted to the DTE drop from the pole.

Maybe things have changed. I can't see DTE running 8'+ of SE cable down the side of your house to the meter... but maybe...

Plus you really haven't lived until you've tying in a hot 200A 240v live drop with lag bolts to the SE cable while standing on a wet ladder in shit weather. It's quite electrifying!
 
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Both Consumers and DTE post requirements for the mast and/or support (ground) wire attachment points. They also post minimum excess cable to be left dangling out of the weatherhead for a drip loop.

If you replace the cable for a meter to a large one, there is a good chance the meter socket housing isn't designed for the cable or the amperage you want to put through it either.
 
wrath said:
Underground or overhead?
Click to expand...

The service is underground and runs through the yard, I don't plan to mess with that portion.
I'll swap the down side from the meter into the new panel, and the panel.

I'm just having a real tough time believing/buying into what the lady told me on the phone.
 
sofa king said:
The service is underground and runs through the yard, I don't plan to mess with that portion.
I'll swap the down side from the meter into the new panel, and the panel.

I'm just having a real tough time believing/buying into what the lady told me on the phone.
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Which part? She told you to use a contractor for safety (read: liability) reasons.
 
wrath said:
Which part? She told you to use a contractor for safety (read: liability) reasons.
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The part about where they would come out and remove the meter, install buss bar/jumper so that we can interrupt the service, and then replace with a new meter.

When I did this at my previous home, DTE sent someone out and they took the meter out of the box and put the jumper bars in.
When I had the basement ready to go, I pulled the bars, swapped the panel, connected the new service, then put the bars back in.
Called DTE the next day and they came out and installed new meter, and then done deal.
 
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