HELP! 120V on Neutral Bus

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Hello everyone, I need some help figuring something out for sure that we found at my brothers house............here is what i got.

100Amp Overhead Service
In the panel I was getting 120V from Phase A to B
120V from Phase A to Neutral & Ground (first point from meter so panel bonded)
0V from Phase B to Neutral & Ground
Went down panel and turned off breakers until the voltage came back(Old GFI Breaker that was bad.)
THEN, I found that from the neutral wire that originally went to that circuit had a 120V from the wire(not landed anywhere) to the bus bar.
Soooooooooo then I once again began turning off breakers one by one until the issue went away (different breaker/circuit).
That circuit is still turned off but at this point haven't been able to find what it ran(12:30am so we called it a night).
Any ideas on what is happening here, never ran across this for no longer than i've been at it. Thanks!
 

hurk27

Senior Member
you lost phase "B" some where ahead of the panel, could be the meter all the way back to the transformer, time to call the utility out to check there side, unless they allow you to open their meter, other wise you will have to wait for them.

keep in mind, any 240 volt loads can re energize the "B" phase and make it look like its ok, but when you measure between "A" and "B" you will have 0 volts or close to 0 volts.
 
What would've been causing the one circuit to give me 120V from neutral wire, which wasn't laded on anything to the neutral bus??? Obviously some type of miswire:confused::confused:
 

hurk27

Senior Member
What would've been causing the one circuit to give me 120V from neutral wire, which wasn't laded on anything to the neutral bus??? Obviously some type of miswire:confused::confused:

if that neutral was the return from another circuit, and that circuit was still on then you would have the 120 volts on the neutral from the hot through the load, probably why the GFCI breaker seemed to be bad, as this would have cause the GFCI to trip, was it a multi-wire circuit?
 

Buck Parrish

Senior Member
Location
NC & IN
I agree , you have a phase out. Around here a licensed electrician is allow to open and pull the meter. (Then report it the next day)
With the symptoms you have described that is the only way to check the power.
Other wisw you can get false readings such as ...
If one phase is out you will get 120 on the bad phase because the good one travels through the elements on water heater , etc...
 
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