Water is one of the most common reasons that damage occurs to homes. The exterior is especially vunerable to the onslaught of water and moisture, the slow but sure deterioration of a homes cladding, windows and foundation if not properly maintained. I have written many articles on the value of proper drainage and grading of building lots etc but there is always a surprise or two waiting for a chance to damage your home.

I recently came across a rather unique story regarding water intrusion into a home, and from a very unusual source, the hydro service.  This homeowner had a basement room which had a moisture odour but no source could be detected. The odour would come and go with no apparent source for the problem.  This spring the carpet got wet and this being an inside wall, again no apparent cause.  After removing the carpet and then the drywall the source became apparent, the hydro service was leaking water down the wall and under the carpet. 

The homeowners insurance would not cover this as the source was from an un-heated area.  As always you can always count on your insurance company to stand by you when it is time to collect money, but when it comes to paying out any, there is always a loophole which prevents you from being covered.  This particular home owner had to add another main panel, run hydro from the service at side of garage overhead and then down the wall into the existing panel, then capping off the leaking underground service.

Personally I have never heard of this type of water penetration before and unless the service was leaking or there were signs of water penetration, would be impossible to pick up on a home inspection.  An example of some of the un-expected problems that can occur for home owners.

Written by

Roger Frost

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The Canadian Electrical Code Part I gives electrical utilities an exemption from the code for "installations and equipment in its exercise as a utility, located outdoors or in buildings or sections of buildings used for that purpose." The CEC Part I is "a voluntary code for adoption and enforcement by regulatory authorities." When adopted into the provincial regulations, this exemption is almost always maintained for work that falls within the scope of an electrical utility’s business.

The Canadian Electrical Code Part I gives electrical utilities an exemption from the code for "installations and equipment in its exercise as a utility, located outdoors or in buildings or sections of buildings used for that purpose." The CEC Part I is "a voluntary code for adoption and enforcement by regulatory authorities." When adopted into the provincial regulations, this exemption is almost always maintained for work that falls within the scope of an electrical utility’s business.

Over time, many electrical utilities have either developed their own design standards or use standards developed by others. Two CSA standards are often used as authoritative references for utility installations. These are CAN/CSA-C22.3 No. 1- M87 Overhead Systems and C22.3 No. 7-94 Underground Systems. In some instances, utility standards may meet or exceed electrical code requirements, or they may also fall short. One would hope that utility standards should satisfy minimum electrical safety requirements, especially for installations on private property.

In a brave new world of less regulation and greater competition, electrical utilities may want to take a closer look at their own design standards, to determine whether they should conform with the Canadian Electrical Code. In this article, we will look at some examples where the CEC Part III standards fail to meet the minimum safety requirements of the CEC Part I, and visit another issue that might affect electrical utilities as changes evolve.

Let’s begin by comparing some of the differences in high low and high voltage clearances. I will refer to the Canadian Electrical Code as CEC Part I and the CSA Part III overhead standards as CEC Part III. Both prescribe minimum horizontal and vertical clearances for a broad range of voltage classifications. As an aside, there are a few instances where the CEC Part I actually references CEC Part III when an installation strays beyond the parameters set out in the code. As a result, some paragraphs of CEC Part III actually become requirements of our electrical code.

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