Catching up on the recent fun at BrooklynRowHouse, I’ve finally got my electrical back. My electrician strapped the panel so I didn’t have a half-dark house but I couldn’t run any 220v appliances, including my Delta table saw. That brought the woodworking in the bedroom reno to a dead stop.
The stories about the fried feeder line are here and here. I was very concerned that my saw and clothes dryer could be out of commission for months. My neighbor had the same problem and it took Con Ed four months to fix it. That’s why I was surprised that Con Ed made an appointment for t’weaks. Of course, they failed to show up for it.
After spending that day talking with Con Ed droids who played three card monte with my calls, transferring me to voice mail boxes all over Brooklyn, I guess I must have left a message with the right person because later that afternoon I got a callback from a woman profusely apologizing for their “computer screwup”. Someone had flagged my job as being completed. I didn’t want to debate that not being a computer screwup. I just wanted my new wires installed. Previous experience with Con Ed has taught me that cooperative persistence works better than raising hell.
She gave me another appointment for, yep!, t’weaks! Not good enough, sez me. She said it had to be done on an alternate side parking day because they needed to park a large truck at the curb to do the wire pull. No problem, sez me. I’ll ask my neighbors to park their cars at the curb the day before. She rescheduled the appointment for three days later.
Con Ed arrived on time and got to work.
I was looking for a silver lining in this, specifically Con Ed pulling new #2/0 cable so I could install a 200 amp panel. To have this done optionally costs the customer upwards of three grand. The first Con Ed crew that showed up said that since it was their problem they would do this for free. Bonus!
Unfortunately, my underground conduit (what they call a “duct”) is too narrow for #2/0. It jammed at the first underground bend. The only way I’m going to get 200 amp service here is to replace the conduit, which means jackhammering up the sidewalk and my new garage floor. Ain’t worth it. So I’ve still got 100 amp service.
