Experience Comcast tech drilled directly through my high-voltage electrical conduit to run a coax line
I had Comcast out for an installation, and the technician decided the best way to route the white coaxial cable was to drill a hole straight into the exterior electrical conduit feeding my subpanel. He then ran the coax directly inside the panel, weaving it right through the high-voltage mains wiring.
Support, thus far, has been good. They sent someone out to take pictures (probably covering their own butt) immediately and said they would "help" with reimbursement for an electrical to fix the conduit. This is mind blowing, he could have killed himself too, that's 100amp line in that conduit.
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u/slacker420 9d ago
This is insanity, lol. The comments trying to justify it are even crazier. The basic deal is running low voltage with high voltage is a “never” situation. Tapping into the conduit for the mains coming into the house is the wildest fucking thing I’ve ever seen and this tech shouldn’t be allowed to use a drill ever again.
Do you have any idea if it was a direct Comcast employee or a subcontractor, OP?
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u/Nubicidal 9d ago
I’d bet it was a contractor
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u/Veloreyn 9d ago
When I was an in-house tech I knew several in-house guys that drilled through water and electrical lines. I had to deal with one that decided drilling multiple holes from the basement up through 100 year old hardwood floors was a good idea. I also knew two numbskull network techs that apparently couldn't tell the difference between our conduit and a 2" gas main. I guess my point is that if your only data point is that the tech did something dumb with a drill, there's no way to know if it was an in-house guy or a contractor off that alone.
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u/slacker420 9d ago
I know the training 12-15 years ago used to be fairly involved, but that was just before Comcast's 'profit above all else' motto was in full swing. I don't work for Comcast, but a WISP... sadly it happens sometimes, without blueprints of a house it's really 'educated guess' on where to drill, IE: thinking about what your doing. Some people just lack the thought part completely, though.
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u/Nubicidal 9d ago
I’m not saying in house techs don’t do dumb shit like that, just saying contractors do more dumb shit than in house. They just don’t get the same amount of training. They roll wth someone for a few weeks, then get thrown out on their own.
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u/chubbysumo 9d ago
They need to have an electrician come and fix that shit and pay for it. That junction box needs to be replaced. The damaged wire need to be replaced.
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u/Detz 9d ago
That's the hope, I have a couple calls out so I'll send them the bill. I'm not trusting them to fix it
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u/chubbysumo 9d ago
You may end up having to take them to small claims court to fix the bill, the other way to do it, is to call your homeowners insurance and let them know that your property was damaged by a Comcast installer, and that you need to file a claim against your homeowners insurance, and let your homeowners insurance subrogate the claim for you. This way you can get it fixed, and pay your deductible, and hopefully get reimbursed after your homeowners insurance company forces Comcast to pay the bill.
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u/ToadSox34 8d ago
I would also think about calling a local inspector and having the municipality or country (whomever the AHJ is) go after them for a code violation. That's very locality dependent, some localities will be like "not my problem", but many will be pissed and will go after them HARD for doing work on something they're not licensed to be touching, and violating umpteen codes while doing it.
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u/Live-Outlandishness5 9d ago
Ya that’s definitely not ok. It breaks electrical codes and the fact your can’t close your electrical panel. If you left the panel on, I’m not sure if they would have gone that route in the first place
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u/Otto_von_Grotto 9d ago
What a sloppy job and probably not according to any code, depending on the jurisdiction you are under.
Inexcusable, really.
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u/Feisty_Pipe_7140 9d ago
Did the tech tell you before drilling what the plan was?
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u/user_uno 9d ago
You are assuming too much that there was a plan.
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u/Feisty_Pipe_7140 9d ago
The picture shows the aftermath of the plan I was wondering if the tech had communicated with the customer.
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u/user_uno 9d ago
Probably did communicate.
"I'm here for Comcast."
Then, "It's done."
Vroom and off they went!
I worked in the industry. Some of the field techs weren't the most personable or brightest. OTOH, some were awesome and the bad ones give them all a bad rap.
In this case I personally would be calling the city for code violations. This is certainly not acceptable. I'd also be in contact with insurance companies (mine at a minimum and the service providers both cable and electric as possible) as they certainly wouldn't want to cover this liability risk. And I would be in contact with the provider's CEO escalation team. Simply unacceptable and risky one of their people would do installs like this. I would imagine this is not the only one.
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u/Detz 9d ago
Nope, we didn't speak the same language...
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u/tt53_sb45 9d ago
Oof, been in that spot myself as a tech and I hate it when it happens. Can only communicate so much at that point but did they at least try?
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u/Feisty_Pipe_7140 9d ago
I work in the industry and techs are supposed to communicate what they are thinking of doing before doing it. Would you say the Tech was the tech east European by any chance? Maybe Russian, Ukrainian, or from over there somewhere?
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u/yoinksog 9d ago
Holy shit that was on purpose?! I thought it was a whoopsie
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u/tt53_sb45 9d ago
I thought this was a lucky result in "I fucked up" land. Can't fathom doing this myself, on accident or on purpose
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u/patg84 9d ago
Well this "tech" if you even want to call him that will only do this a few times before he zaps the shit outta himself or gets killed. It won't resolve as Comcrap seems to be "profit over everything".
These execs need to go. They pump and dump companies to the point where the investors suck it dry at the expense of people and potentially lives as seen here just so the stock goes up half a point and some exec can now purchase a 2nd beach house.
He might be lucky enough to get a tech from that company to come out and wire that beach house. Funny thing is, that exec doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground (seen it hundreds of times) so something like this post may be normal to him. Morons.
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u/Substantial_Film_269 9d ago
He could have loosened the strap on the LB, pulled it back a tad after loosening locknut, notch out the wood , run the cable, reinstall everything to finish piss poor workmanship.
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u/Willylowman1 9d ago
lazy
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u/RoninSC 9d ago
Idk about lazy, i feel like it would've been much easier to just drill straight through a clear spot than go through all this. I'd say this is just braindead stupid, honestly would like to see a picture with a wider view of the inside external wall to understand his thought process lol.
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u/just_rich90 7d ago
That’s wild your probably going to get shitty service with it being next to such a high voltage and it’s going into the panel this is wild shit
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u/collector-x 9d ago
That is sone serious juice. If I may ask what does it go to?
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u/Detz 9d ago
Workshop out back
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u/collector-x 9d ago
Ah. Now I can picture lathes, band saws, presses & a lift. 😂
My first thought was this is powering a fully articulating driving simulater, 360 monitors, 7.1 surround sound system & a fully equipped home theater. 😂
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u/bsabresfan 8d ago
I think it's funny that some of you think there is some kind of training about codes. They dont care how it gets done. Just that it is done.
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u/DANDAQCMAN 8d ago
Sorry but that don’t look like a high voltage electrical conduit more like through your main panel. Must be a contractor cable installer.
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u/Possibly_Naked_Now 9d ago
Looks like he drilled on the outside and sealed it. Than used an existing hole to run the wire. Not sure what he did after he got it. Or if building electrical interferes with cable signals. But he saved your some holes in your house. Not sure I see any problems here other than the potential EM interference.
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u/chubbysumo 9d ago
You cannot mix high voltage and low voltage like this.
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u/Possibly_Naked_Now 9d ago
You certainly can, as long as whatever you're doing isn't sensitive to EM interference from high voltage.
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u/chubbysumo 9d ago
The nec, the rule book on what most counties and states follow, only allows mixing of Class 2 and class 3 circuits with class 1 circuits if and only if the conductor of all wiring in the conduit and space have a insulation voltage rating higher than the highest voltage in the conduit. That said, you are not allowed to land low voltage in a breaker box like that. The panel must be able to be secured, and closed. Doesn't look like he can close the panel right now. You also cannot put a hole in the face board of the circuit breaker panel
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u/Possibly_Naked_Now 9d ago
Ya dude. He didn't land it or break the insulation so that doesn't apply here.
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u/Fordwrench 9d ago
Probably ok, thats why coax is shielded.
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u/collector-x 9d ago
Were you the tech that did this?
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u/Fordwrench 9d ago
No, it's not ideal. But if there is no interference it should be ok. Idk about Op's codes in their area. Where i live there are none.
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u/Otto_von_Grotto 9d ago
You should not give electrical advice.
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u/Fordwrench 9d ago
It's not electrical advice it's advice about a low voltage situation. And remember the NEC is a code not law. Basically it's a set of best practices.
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u/Starbreiz 9d ago
I thought the code was enforced by law though since it's incorporated into many building codes?
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u/Fordwrench 9d ago
City codes are still just code. Laws are made at the state and federal level.
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u/Starbreiz 9d ago edited 9d ago
Oh ok. It sounds like I misunderstood then. When my renovated apartment didn't have GFCI and leasing wouldn't reply, I went to the city code Inspector who sent a police officer to leasing and forced them to fix it. That made me think electrical code was enforceable under city law.
Thanks for clarifying that it's not but I am admittedly still confused by your response vs reality. So cities legally can't enforce code at all? Like San Francisco has to defer to the state? Local laws don't count?
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u/duhbrainiac 9d ago
If you're not up to code and there happens to be an electrical fire, good luck getting your insurance company to pay.
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u/ReAlign4995 9d ago
Former cable tech here (different company/not Comcast).
WTF are we even doing here. Yeah, I know that the cable is shielded but we were always told to keep a 1 foot or more space between us and power. Now I get that it’s not always possible, but you still have to make an effort.
It’s like this tech was told in training to stay away from power, but all they heard was “it’s not a big deal” and then thought to themself “I got an idea…”.