Input Home Voltage Problem

crunch

My input voltage from the meter to the 100 amp main breaker with the breaker off is 156v to ground on one leg and 96v to ground on the other leg. With the switch off, so no power is going into home, shouldn't each reading be the same at about 120v per leg? I am trying to find out if I need to call the electric company or an electrician. Thanks Larry.

Speedy Petey

You've lost the neutral. This can be either at the main panel, meter pan or at the POCO connections. It is likely one of the latter two.

Call your poco NOW! Do not wait until the morning.

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crunch

thanks That was Speedy. I will call them now! Maybe you could elaborate your jargon for a marine electrician. Thanks Larry

crunch

I guess POCO is power company. They said they would be at my pole within the hour. While I am watching over their shoulder at5 the house, I am told that if the problem is on the meter side of the main switch it is the power co problem, and there is a chance that they will compensate me for the things that smoked inside the house. With your explaination, it seems like most of the problems should be towards the pole from my main breaker. Am I reading this right?? thanks Larry

crunch

thanks E1, I did check with the neighbor and they didn't seem to have the same problem, but I did talk with a transformer person that said that each home is on a different part of the transformer. Also my wife just informed me they were up the pole a few weeks ago playing with the transformer!! There are just two of us un the transformer Larry

Speedy Petey

The connections inside the meter pan can corrode or rust and cause the neutral conductor(s) to lose conctact.
Same can happen to the taps and splices at the top of the service riser and/or pole.
These are especially likely if the areas have been subject to excess moisture, like water getting into the meter pan.

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RobertWilber

might just be a bad connection at the service head [find them alla time] or anywhere in neutral conductor [transformer, meter, splices, panel]
get an electrician out NOW.
You can burn up all your expensive toys in MINUTES with an open or bad neutral
Go to my website and read FAQs about neutrals and my blog
[call if you like]

mdshunk

You havn't been in this trade very long, have you E1? With these classic symptoms, a transformer problem might be the problem, but it almost never is. What he's describing is very classic for an open or loose neutral. Maybe you do mostly or all new work?

crunch

Thank all of ya'll for your interest in my problem. After calling the POCO last night they were out at the pole very quickly. They did the same tests I did and came up with a faulty ground problem between the pole and the meter. Since it was bitterly cold last night, they just pulled a new wire from the pole to the meter for a ground and everything inside that was going to work, did work. They have a crew of six out there now sticking all sorts of equipment in the ground to try to find the problem. It was quite fun to watch as five of the elders were trying to make sense out of the new digital tools, and the youngest member had the instructions out, and was reading them. I noticed the youngest member say they had it connected up improperly, but the rest did not take too much heed to his statement. I had to leave just after that so I could not watch the rest of the circus!!!

I guess my next point of interest is to see what happens about the electrical things, t.v. and things that made some smoke after being connected to over 150 volts. The surge protector on the computer equipment seems to have done it's job since the computur still works, and now that I have power I will check the rest after work.

If you have any Marine related electrical problems, please do not hesitate to ask. All that mess of wires under the console and under the motor cover make sense to me, not that jumble of wires in the breaker box. Larry

POOLMANinCT

mds, did you fire this guy or kiss his wife?

keep the theories/practicum coming i sign on expressly for information. (and a pich of small talk)

ty

mdshunk

I find it important to be as complete and as accurate as I have the ability to be. These posts live on in the archives long after the original problem or issue is solved. Plus, I enjoy writing. What do you do for fun, besides flaming people in all caps, in much the same way that my teenage daughter does?

Speedy Petey

E1, PLEASE turn off your caps lock.
Unless you are doing it specifically to annoy folks, then we can have a mod do it for you.

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mdshunk

content

Speedy Petey

Guess what. This board is NOT a free country. You agreed to a TOS when you joined. You have done nothing but ignore these rules since you joined.
Got it cool dude?

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thom

Many years back my neighbor had the same problem, with underground service. I diagnosed the same, faulty ground, and had him call the utility. Turns out he hit the ground with a trencher when installing a sprinkler system. Didn't touch the hots in the tri-plex.