New power service

@retiredfarmer ,

I don’t know if the current electrical code in Canada requires an SPD (Surge Protection Device), at the electrical service as is now required here in the US 2020 NEC, (For States that have adopted the 2020 NEC), but I would bet Canadian electrical code does not prohibit them. (NEC 2020 SPD requirements for New houses as well as New electrical service.)

If you are interested in having one installed contact the Electrical Contractor that installed the new electrical service.

FWIW most if not all SPD manufacturer’s SPD warranty requires that the SPD must be installed by a licensed electrician.

Doing a quick Google search I couldn’t find the Canadian equivalent to the US NEC.

I did find this though, FWIW.

Note the date 2015... I would imagine that it is not current residential electrical code.

Homeowner electrical wiring guide - IJD Inspections

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Likely  not code north of the border yet  would be my guess

Hey OP:

Siemens (Boltshield), Square-D and Eaton make plug-in protectors for their panels. Others may too. They take up 2 breaker slots and take about 5 minutes to install. I am surprised your electrician didn’t recommend one as they are required as of the 2020 NEC guidelines.

At the stereo or PC I use either Furman with SMP or Tripp Lite for the PCs and less sensitive stuff.

I’m afraid I’m often away from home when thunder comes rolling around so I know for sure I can’t always be around when it’s time to unplug things. I work from home too so the amount of surge protection and UPS units I have is a little ridiculous. 😁

For your cable/network coaxial line put a gas discharge protector with replaceable gas tubes outside at the ground block.

The whole house surge suppressors are a no-brainer when you consider how much they cover.  They won't keep your delicates (PC/Stereo) protected, but consider I have 8 GFCI outlets in this modest home.  They cost about $20 each.  Add to that all of the smart switches (about 10 of those) for lights and ceiling fans around $30 each, plus the new AC units... a $150 surge protector + installation makes sense.  Plus, they help surge strips work better by keeping most of the current at the entrance. 

@ erik_squires what would you suggest for one. I have never cares for any type of surge protector  in my system  tried a bunch  years ago and I just gave up on the idea and plugged everything  directly  into the receptacles. Most years I unplug the solid state stuff during  thunderstorm season  and listen to the tube system  instead  it gets turned off each use. 

@soix  if you do decide  to look into it. Have them take the meter off the meter base that took about half a minute  the meter has a couple of large  spades that push into the receptacle.  Lol kind of like a king sized plug in. I should see if I can take a picture  of mine and post it. Thinking a bunch of magis is from the meter base replacement.  Thinking I might end up listening  to the different  receptacles  and plugs on power cords again things have changed enough  it will likely  be easier  to come to a judgement but a fellow might change his mind. 

Regards

Very interesting, and congrats on the improvements.  Just goes to show that in audio everything really does matter.  My panel sounds just like your old one — time to call the electrician. 

Very nice, enjoy!

@carlsbad yes that is likely  the burns look old the service  to the house was redone 20 years ago and likely  that is when it happened. I was luck because  the house is in an area where they upgraded the wiring  so I can put in the two hundred amp  service.  At one point if electric  cars really end  up coming about I got the service upgrade for free except my end after the meter. That will not stay that way if everybody  wants that. 

@jea48 no it is underground  from the back alley. I had the line hydro vaced  so the cuty did not have to splice the line to the new service the line goes into the garage  and main panel there and the house is a sub pannel now instead of the other way around. I didn't  like that idea but from a practical  standpoint  that was the only way. I read one time that dan de agustino paid the utility  company  to change the wire to copper all the way back to the transformer that fed his house. It was a few blocks and cost a small fortune  at the time. He went on to say how much better his  system  was. Lol thirty years later i thought i would make sure i had  copper feeding the house. Lol i dont have that kind of cash to go all the eay to the transformer but copper from the city's  junkson box to the meter and from the meter to my house. 

Did you have a whole house surge protector put in?  You really should.  Protects everything you can't put a high quality strip on, like your GFCI outlets, smart devices, refrigerator, AC, etc.

Also improves performance of high quality strips you use at your PC or stereo. 

Highly recommended.

Aluminum oxidizes and the mechanical connections degrade with time.  They make special grease to isolate it from air and this is generally successful.  It sounds like one of your connections wasn't adequately greased and developed a poor connection that heated up.  Poor connections are like resistors that heat up.  Thermography is done in industrial applications looking for poor connections.  

The good news is that that your issue never burned down your house.  Others haven't always been so lucky.  

Jerry

The old meter base when they removed the old meter was burnt wondering if there was a short in the meter at some time in the past

Probably more than likely a loose and or corroded connection on one of the live phase conductors. If the connection has degraded enough the load will cause arcing in the bad connection. Arcing creates heat and burning. Enough heat can be generated to cause the insulation covering the conductor to burn at the termination. The arcing can and does cause higher than normal harmonic distortion on the Line.

Is the electrical service fed overhead?

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@lak I have 6 dedicated  lines into my room. All on 20 amp circuits all on the same leg of the box. All the wires are the same length in the wall to the receptacles.  Mostly furutech  rhodium  top of the line receptacles 55 if I remember  the number correctly  and two with the top of the line gold receptacles. Everything  needs  a week to settle  in but first reaction is a huge change for the  better. Got rid of the aluminum  wire and the new wire is copper. And with the old meterbase that was burnt out of the power delivery a total of a huge difference.  Thinking  that I had most of it right or close to it that the power feed into the house showed how bad it was. Lol I was trying  to make a silk purse out of a sows ear. I was surprised at the betterment I was hoping  that I would not be down grading.  I never would  have had this done but I needed more power for my woodshop. So the woodshop produced its first beautiful  piece of art! 

Regards

Excellent, and I believe the upgrade was a wise decision.

What AC outlets are you using for your components?

Are AC lines for your system dedicated?