Loose Wire

[JeffTheTreeGuy]

Good morning!

I did a trimming job over a house, wires, and a well head. Got it done. However, one of the branches got tangled up and loosened the wires.

The general contractor is renovating the whole house and apparently the power to the house is too powerful and causing everything plugged in to burn out or something like that. He was going to have his electrician fix it but told me that the electrician can't touch those wires. So he's contacting public service.

What should I expect with this? Has anyone ever done this and/or dealt with this? What was the outcome?

My thoughts are: cover the expense to fix the wires that I loosened, but how do I know that they were working correctly before I was there? I hate to think like this but I want to make sure I'm not being taken advantage of.

Thank you everyone. Be Safe!

 

[Woodwalker]

After decades as a contractor, I simply eat the expense and don't worry about it for a minute. If I jammed it, I'll pay. The reputation of a stand up guy is that simple.

 

[capetrees]

Burning appliances? Somehow the ground or the neutral isn't doing what it's supposed to. This all just happened to a friend of mines dad. Branch rubbed on the wires, caused all the appliances to burn out. Home insurance will pay for it. I'd be very careful about plugging ANYTHING in in the house.

 

[arathol]

Good morning!

I did a trimming job over a house, wires, and a well head. Got it done. However, one of the branches got tangled up and loosened the wires.

The general contractor is renovating the whole house and apparently the power to the house is too powerful and causing everything plugged in to burn out or something like that. He was going to have his electrician fix it but told me that the electrician can't touch those wires. So he's contacting public service.

What should I expect with this? Has anyone ever done this and/or dealt with this? What was the outcome?

My thoughts are: cover the expense to fix the wires that I loosened, but how do I know that they were working correctly before I was there? I hate to think like this but I want to make sure I'm not being taken advantage of.

Thank you everyone. Be Safe!

If the house is being renovated you don't know what the condition of the wiring was before. For all you know the problem was caused by his electrician. You would need to get a detailed list of repairs from the utility company and find out from them what the problem was and what caused it. Don't trust the general contractor or any of his employees to be up front and honest, get the information directly from the people who did the repairs if possible.

 

[pdqdl]

A house that is wired to meet code (in my area) will have no problems if you disconnect the ground wire on the service line. The breaker box and the meter box are each grounded with a copper rod 6' deep, and they have to be 6' apart. That being said, a service line repair should be done by the utility company, generally at their expense. Unless you ripped the wire off the building, they probably won't even think about send any fees your way.

Ask the homeowner to call the utility company and ask for an inspection of the service line. In my experience, they will usually sprint right out within a couple hours if they think there is a risk of their wires burning down a house. I have been know to toss a branch over a service line to get them to come out and lower it, too.

Anything after the meter is the homeowner's responsibility, and the wire up to the meter belongs to the utility.

Now if you messed up the service wire to the well head, it is behind the breaker box. Just kill that circuit and fix anything damaged.

 

[JeffTheTreeGuy]

Conclusion:

The homeowner's electrician couldn't touch the wires. So he ended up calling public service. They fixed it. $260 later, we're good. Thank you for all the input. On to the next one baby. I love what I do!

Be Safe!