Out with the old and in with the new!

We upgraded the service on this vintage home on Woodlawn Ave recently. Notice how the old white metal box which contains the original meter was only fed with a small cable? While that was adequate for 75 years ago, it falls way short today. The 2" rigid pipe that goes up contains the large power cables for the new 200 Amp service. Also notice the small 1/2" pipe that comes from the bottom of the meter housing and goes down to the sidewalk. This provides the supplemental grounding cable, which is bonded to an 8' driven copper ground rod. The Chicago Electrical code now calls for a more robust main ground and a supplemental grounding system on every service. This is very necessary for fire safety and protection from severe over voltages.