Electrical Service disconnect question **update**

My client sold a portion of their farm with a barn on it.

The sold barn has electricity that is run underground to a larger barn with the meter that is still my clients.

In a perfect world I would think disconnecting the power and pulling the underground wire would be the way to go but I do not know if it would be an option at this time.

If I do not pull the wire from the underground conduit, is there a specific codes compliant method to disconnecting the service and leaving the wire in place?

I would be concerned about just leaving the bare wires hanging loose outside of the box or inside the box even though there is no meter or service at the other end.

PS that is an old picture. Wasps have been removed and the conduits connected to the box correctly at this time.

Actually, the incoming power is the two hots at the top (your red line point to one of them). Is this the Box you want to kill or the feeder box??? You want to kill the hots (and ground) at the feeder box, which is likely as simple as Turing off the breakers at the feeder box.

Turn off the 200 amp bteaker

My apologies, I am terrible at descriptions but I know can turn off the breaker to disconnect the wires. What I really need to do is to disconnect those wires from the breaker box so the barn that was sold has no power. The new owner needs to get his own service and not use my clients.

If I leave off the 200 amp breaker I also shut off the barn and greenhouse, and they need to stay on.

I just want the disconnect to be safe so I referenced codes but it may just be unscrew and cover with tape.

I may be overthinking it and all I need to do is disconnect those wires and pull them out of the service box. But I worry that somebody would connect the other end to a new service by accident.

So when i disconnect these wires what do I do with them?

I am assuming the two wires fed from the lower bus bar lugs feed the remote barn. Obviously turn off and verify that you have de-energized the wires in question before you attempt anything.
You have three/four options IMO:
:
A, Disconnect the two wires and remove them from the conduit all the way back to the sold barn, with new owners' approval, sell wire for scrap/beer money.
B. Cut the wires, leave in the box and safely tape/insulate, which will make the wires forever too short and unusable.
C. Cut the conduit and tape the wires at ground level, plug the conduit hole to keep out wasps and backfill the hole of the cut conduit and forget. (leave the cut wires varying distances longer above the cut conduit, after taping/insulating cut ends, bend wire 180 degrees and shove ends back into the conduit before burying)
D. You can disconnect all the wires in the conduit, cut the conduit but not the wires at ground level, tape insulate the wires safely, and bury the coiled wires in the ground, allowing a future reconnect without too much hassle/cost. I prefer this option the least, but feel it should be mentioned.

Anyone qualified addressing the other end at the barn in the future would normally remove the wires from the other end, disable or remove them to their satisfaction. Anyone not qualified might ignore and/or do nothing, at their own potential peril.
I will not address the legality of doing any of the above regarding local codes, but everything I have noted above I believe to be safe practice. It would be proper to tag the wires at the other ends as disconnected feeders with a date.

Cut them short in the box and use these in the correct size.

Heat Shrink Cable Caps

Thanks

I am hoping for Option A
I may have to settle for Option B

The pull is about 600 feet and I can not see me pulling the wire out without a lot of help that I don't have. Tempted to hook it up to the tucks bumper and hope for the best. LOL

Even though every electrician I have seen out here is licensed, a lot of this farms electrical is not up to code. That is why I am concerned about leaving them in place.

Chances are the same nutcase who installed all this will end up at the barn that was sold and I don't want him to do anything that would effect my client.

Disclaimer: I'm not an electrician

If you leave wires from the barn to the house (or wherever that box is), whenever the new owners restores power, those (now) loose wires will become energized; a potentially deadly hazard.
I'd (permanently) cut the power from both ends. Whether you pull the wire is up to you.

Turn off the main breaker, remove the feeder wires at the bottom, along with the lugs. Don't forget to remove the "neutral wire" that is going to the neutral block on right side of main bus in picture. Cut the wires at the conduit. Reinstall the cover, then turn main breaker back on. Next I would cut the conduit and wires inside, maybe a couple inches above ground (??) and then put a plug on the end. As well, put a hole cover on bottom of panel where conduit used to go into panel. I would say it's up to you if you want to leave the wire or pull it out of the conduit . . .

As stated previously, you need to make the disconnect at BOTH ends. You don't want someone in the future to be energizing those lines again from the other end, even if they are disconnected on your end.

I am also questioning if in fact the cable is actually in "Conduit" the entire 600' to the other barn? Often, (more often than not) this cable is direct burial and the conduit you see above ground on both ends only goes a couple feet down below surface and then ends. If this is the case, you will play H**L trying to "pull" this cable. Gonna need a BIGGER truck to pull that one!

I'd hire a licensed electrician and have them de-energize the feed to the barn. They'd be knowledgeable about the right way to
terminate the wires. You don't want to do something unsafe and be responsible if there's a problem.

Thank you all for the advice.

Just got back and found they sold 2 barns with lots.

I got the approval to remove the wire between the barns.


I had not thought about the wire being direct burial. Very good point, as was cutting offset lengths and everything else too.

One set (pictured above) could be direct burial and one definitely is not direct burial grade wire, but hey they screwed up so much it's a fifty fifty chance.


Today I disconnected both ends of the power and sealed the ends.

Next weekend I am going to start pulling the cable out of the conduit. If it is direct buried then I will cut it even with the ground at both ends and call it a day.


Any good ideas on how to pull it?

I like the idea of recycling it for money. It will probably be gas money but just as good.

I was thinking an engine crane to get it started gently and then literally hooking it to the truck and pulling away. Nothing needs to be saved as long as I do not damage the barns.

If you have settled on trying to pull the wire out, don't cut if off even with the ground, you need something to attach to. And most important, wait until the spring thaw is about over, the ground is softest and if the wire can be pulled, this is when it can be. As to what to use, a winch is probably the best. If you don't have a winch, a font end loader is probably a good choice. One of my friends has a fairly large CAT and last spring we were pulling out tree stumps up to about a foot with it and a long chain.

That or a tractor, if one is available. Since you're recycling it, bring some bolt cutters along in case you need to lop it off for any reason.

You'll get more beer moneyu if it's clean. Strip the insulation off and now you get more $$$

As a lineman for over 40 years I'm guessing from your picture that it's direct buried #2 alum triplex and is only in conduit from the ground to the box's on each end.

disconnect from both ends as has already been stated.
you do NOT want to see LIGHTNING BOLTS in front of your eyeballs.................[i'm speaking from experience !
my one cousin who is a licensed electrician, laffed his AZZ off when i asked him to help, and told him what happened.

If that wire is direct buried, there's no way in the world you'll pull it out. If it's in pipe, it may pull, but it won't be easy. That is 2/0 direct bury UG triplex and it is wrapped together from one end to the other. You will have to pull all 3 wires at the same time. If you can get a Kellum grip (works like Chinese handcuffs) to slide down over the wires when you get them out of the box, that will make them easier to pull. If you have a BIG tractor handy that has a front bucket loader, you could catch the wire as low as you can, then raise the bucket up to pull it out of the pipe. Repeat that about 872 times and you'll have it out! LOL. Good luck to you. It will be a lot of work for no more money than you will get out of it.
You can buy a cover at the electrical supply house for a few bucks to close up that hole the conduit and wire went thru. Close up the hole the bare ground goes out of with plumbers putty or caulk to keep the wasps and dirt dobbers out.

it is time for you to call a good electrician and have them do that work properly so it is up to your local code

People back feed panels all the time(cause they are stupid & idiots)! Turn off 200 amp breaker check dead/no voltage, unbolt phases & neutral. Wire exposed ends of both phases and neutral together to make a direct short (use a bare 12 or 10 gauge skinned length of wire)Bind it tight! Tape it up.That way if they try to back feed the panel in the future it will trip/short out their feed or generator. Otherwise if they back feed later on and you only taped up the ends separately you will have energized cables in your hands and assume they are de energized.Seen it happen all too often. Be safe,people are stupid. More people die of house voltage 120/240 than high voltage 277/480-138k

Also remember the first thing to do when checking for voltage is to check the voltage meter to make sure it works.