# Water coming from underground service conduit



## jcrispy3

I got a call from a customer looking to have his meter pan repaired. It's a 200A underground service. His house is on a hill. The padmount is on the top and his meter pan is at the bottom. There is a 2" RMC conduit going into the meter pan. I have to assume that it is a continuous run from the padmount to the meter pan for the following reason. He has water coming out of the conduit. And due to this over the past ~25 years, it has rotted out the bottom of the meter pan. Everything is exposed from the bottom.

Has anyone seen this and how did you repair it? I have two ideas:

1) Unthread the vertical length of 2" going into the 90 (seriously hoping that they used a manufactured 90. Separating the vertical length from the rest of the conduit will give the water a place to escape. The POCO service feeders are rated for DB so I think leaving ~2" exposed to earth would be okay. Hell, it's sitting in water right now.

2) Remove the vertical length of 2" and stick a piece of 3" or 3-1/2" RMC in its place. Sleeve the existing 2" with the new piece. This would give whatever water coming down the hill a place to escape. I hope the gap between the old pipe and the new pipe would be sufficient for any water to percolate back into the ground. But this option would at least provide complete protection to the UF.

Thoughts?


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## Jlarson

http://www.polywater.com/ductseal.html

For the longest time I used great stuff foam for this but after one instance where it wasn't enough I tried this stuff, worked great. 

They also make this awesome stuff called InstaGrout for sealing the open bottoms of pad mount stuff.


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## jcrispy3

Have you ever used this with water still in the pipe?


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## jcrispy3

Just checked the website. You can actually install it with running water coming out of the conduit. I'm gonna check with the POCO to make sure they have no issues with me using this on their cable. Thanks JLarson! Appreciate it.


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## Jlarson

No, I like to get with the POCO and shut the equipment down and blow and/or suck the water out before we seal conduit with anything, regular expanding foam or this stuff. They claim it works wet though.

That also lets us work with them to seal their end of the pipe too.


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## backstay

I had water running into a broken service head above a meter. Then thru the meter it's self. Then entering the customers neutral at the connection in the middle of the meter, traveling 160 feet underground inside the neutral and dripping inside his service panel in the basement. PoCo came out and fixed the top of their loop and said I find all the weird ones.


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## chicken steve

Gotta call a while ago from a lady who had 2.5" sch 40 into the house , and into her panel asking _"should my panel be leaking water?"_

Also got one asking why the panel stinks_ (UG pipe near leach field)_

I guess 230.8 exists for good reason(s) 

~CS~


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## woodchuck2

Who is to say the conduit did not come apart in between somewhere and that is the point of entry for the water? IMO i would dig down, break the conduit and give it a place to drain. Obviously you will need to pull the wire and install adapters/bushings. I have done this once before on a home that was taking on water somewhere over a 300' under ground run and was letting water run into the service panel in the basement. I dug up the outside of the foundation, cut the conduit "installed adapters/bushings" and backfilled. The water then could drain down next to the foundation and run off through the perimeter drain. No more leaks inside.


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## TOOL_5150

You could test your luck and drill a 1/8th hole in it. If it doesnt blow up, go get a lotto ticket.


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## butcher733

Any type of "sealing" solution will have to fight the pressure from the water and will eventualy fail, you need to give the water a place to escape. Why not get an expansion joint and take the o-rings out?


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## hardworkingstiff

butcher733 said:


> Any type of "sealing" solution will have to fight the pressure from the water and will eventualy fail, you need to give the water a place to escape.


I am on the same page as this.


> Why not get an expansion joint and take the o-rings out?


Well, the OP said it was RMC, do they make an expansion joint for RMC?

I was thinking you could install a pulling C and drill a drain hole near the bottom of the body.


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## Hippie

I wouldn't count on drain holes to fix the problem, chances are they will get blocked eventually and end up leaking inside again. Sealing one or both ends would be the most efficient and effective solution


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## drumnut08

jcrispy3 said:


> I got a call from a customer looking to have his meter pan repaired. It's a 200A underground service. His house is on a hill. The padmount is on the top and his meter pan is at the bottom. There is a 2" RMC conduit going into the meter pan. I have to assume that it is a continuous run from the padmount to the meter pan for the following reason. He has water coming out of the conduit. And due to this over the past ~25 years, it has rotted out the bottom of the meter pan. Everything is exposed from the bottom.
> 
> Has anyone seen this and how did you repair it? I have two ideas:
> 
> 1) Unthread the vertical length of 2" going into the 90 (seriously hoping that they used a manufactured 90. Separating the vertical length from the rest of the conduit will give the water a place to escape. The POCO service feeders are rated for DB so I think leaving ~2" exposed to earth would be okay. Hell, it's sitting in water right now.
> 
> 2) Remove the vertical length of 2" and stick a piece of 3" or 3-1/2" RMC in its place. Sleeve the existing 2" with the new piece. This would give whatever water coming down the hill a place to escape. I hope the gap between the old pipe and the new pipe would be sufficient for any water to percolate back into the ground. But this option would at least provide complete protection to the UF.
> 
> Thoughts?


Raychem makes something called rayflate . It's an inflatable bladder that goes between the conductors and the conduit wall . I used these once and they worked great ! A little on the pricy side , but very quick and easy .


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## hardworkingstiff

Hippie said:


> I wouldn't count on drain holes to fix the problem, chances are they will get blocked eventually and end up leaking inside again. Sealing one or both ends would be the most efficient and effective solution


I don't agree.

I would also be willing to wager that the water is not entering at the transformer, so sealing there (while a good idea) would most likely not stop the water entry.

A seal over time has a chance of not holding. We don't know how much head pressure is on the water. Then, once you seal (assuming a seal capable of holding back water pressure), conductor replacement may become a problem.

A drain hole is a common way of dealing with the symptom of water penetration, and has been for years. 

I'm not saying a seal should not be installed, I just think a drain hole is a better solution. Yes, I understand that you don't agree.


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## dogleg

Just finished a 3" and 2" run of 200' up a hill from the 320 meter base installed a 3" T and a 2" T at the bottom and put a pvc cap with perforations for the water to drain out the T,then used spray foam to seal the path to the base.I have had call backs where I had to dig up the conduit next to the house and arrange for it to drain .I don't want to do that again.Nothing like a call saying I got water leaking out of my panel to get your attention.


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## BBQ

I was involved in fixing leaking service conduits, we finally had to dig them up at the house and make a drain.

This was after many attempts to seal them including the use of the Raychem inflatable bags. 

To much head pressure, all the sealing failed.


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## jcrispy3

Well, an update. Didn't get the job. Oh well. Probably lost out to some schmuck that is just going to dump a can of spray foam into the conduit.

I totally agree with having to consider head pressure. Polywater's duct sealer says it can hold back 22' of head pressure, which is a lot if you ask me.

Has anyone talked to an AHJ about what they would want to see besides a duct sealer? The T conduit body sounds like a good idea.


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## jcrispy3

Just looked at Raychems bladders. They're only rated for just under 10' of head pressure. It looks like they are more suited for horizontal penetrations as opposed to verticals.


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## BBQ

Here are a pair of drains installed by one of the companies I have worked for.




















The conduits go into a large fountain with a water level much higher than these penetrations.


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## dronai

I've had this problem twice same as you described. Once we had a handhole that we used a duct sealant, and that solved it. Second time I was in the Poco's vault and I just let them solve it. Both panels had the bottoms rusted out.


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## sparky250

Read this post a few days ago. Is this situation in area's where the water table/ground water is high?

Im in BC Canada and all we do is drill a few tiny holes in the underground 3" conduit to the meter and wrap the duct in some landscaping cloth.

On steeper grades towards a house, we will use a Y connection in the ducting and tap the channel that doesnt go to the meter to the storm drain of the house.

Where these drainage methods not used years ago?


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## MDShunk

I've been looking all over for a picture I posted maybe 10 years ago. It made its rounds, so I'm surprised I can't find it. I was a house with yellow vinyl siding, I believe, somewhat downhill from the padmount. The water was coming out from around the meter face with great force, and out of every other crack in the meter pan. Sort of like a meter gusher. Anyone remember that pic? The only "fix" for that was digging up the elbow and smashing out the back with a hammer.


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## BBQ

I do remember it, have not seen it for a long time


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