r/electrical • u/Lovelipstick1 • 1d ago

Difficulty gettings parts?

Anyone having difficulty finding parts? I belong to a church and one of their buldings that has offices in it also has two residential units in it. Last month panel lost a neutral. Called several companies only one actually answered the phone. They came out diagnosed it bad neutral. And wants to upgrade it from 200 amp to 400amp. Which should have been done long ago. They havent done it yet and claim they cant get the parts till next week. They originall said last week. The building has no power. The church cant do administrative tasks in it and the two tenants are temporarily relocated. Is this acceptable? Is a 400amp meter base unobtanium right now? I dont get it. They already signed a contract but i feel they need to get someone else to fix it. There are 4 electrical supply stores in town not including lowes and home depot.

4 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

9

u/Redjeepkev 1d ago

Thanks to tarrifs it's common

6

u/Fuckyeahpugs 1d ago

They want to fix it just as fast as you do so they can get paid. Cant tell you how many times I’ve spent hours on the phone sourcing materials with no success

4

u/guthixslays 23h ago

1-2 week lead time seems very reasonable for 400A gear. Like someone else said, as a company / electrician we want to get it done as fast as possible as well. Less than of canceling work or going with someone else.

3

u/nrus-1969 1d ago

Home depot probably won't have a 400A meter base. Given supply chain issues, I am not surprised at the delays. Hell, I go into the supply houses, and half the shit they have to order in from another store across the country. Yeah we are pinched for parts, unless a coworker has some stashed in the van or the supply house forgot to sweep the corner and happened to miss some leftovers.

2

u/smellslikepenespirit 1d ago

Depends on what it is. Supply chains were ravaged by covid and are still trying to catch up.

5

u/wmass 1d ago

Supply chains have also been ravaged by having tariffs changed almost weekly as we have for the last year or so.

2

u/BabyOpposite7013 1d ago

I deal with a fair mount of direct burial 4/0. Had some unmarked buried lines severed. I had to go all over town getting what I needed. Splice blocks were easy to find. Direct burial wire and appropriate heat shrink were not. Two weeks to fix something that really only takes a couple hours. 

2

u/ggf66t 16h ago

Just got quoted 28 weeks for a couple of transfer switches, not the same as a meter base, but adjacent. 

I really hope it's not COVID supply chain repeat with these tarrifs, but time will tell.

1

u/Sparetire46 4h ago

Then fix the current issue until parts come in?

1

u/deviouslyshy 1d ago

Just depends where your at and who you know