Calling POCO meter experts

[hockeyoligist2]

I was given a power pole by a friend, with meter can 200 amp service, (if i took it down, from his old singlewide that he lived in while building his house) POCO had cut the wires and removed the meter. I noticed some strange wiring and asked him about it. He said when they hooked up the power it blew everthing that was on one leg at 120 V he called POCO and they sent a guy out and he said he done a little rewireing and that the ground had been connected wrong because the ground didn't come out of the center of the weather head ( friend put it together himself)

I know long story..... But what the guy from POCO did was swap the wires on the bottom of the meter removed the bond between the meter and the ground strip in the breaker box. attached the center tap in the meter box to the main breaker and one leg off the meter (the grounded one) to the ground bar in the breaker panel.

I hope this isn't too confusing. So, I'm thinking with this setup he wasn't paying for power on the side that didn't go thru the meter? or at least the 240 volt stuff? basically he had one 120 volt and the ground going thru the meter. the other 120 V was bypassing the meter?

I'm sure i will get a lot of please explain better's here...........

 

[hockeyoligist2]

I guess no one knows the answer?

 

[charlie tuna]

hock,
send a picture ---you know what they say about pictures being worth a thousand words???

 

[hillbilly]

I was given a power pole by a friend, with meter can 200 amp service, (if i took it down, from his old singlewide that he lived in while building his house) POCO had cut the wires and removed the meter. I noticed some strange wiring and asked him about it. He said when they hooked up the power it blew everthing that was on one leg at 120 V he called POCO and they sent a guy out and he said he done a little rewireing and that the ground had been connected wrong because the ground didn't come out of the center of the weather head ( friend put it together himself)

I know long story..... But what the guy from POCO did was swap the wires on the bottom of the meter removed the bond between the meter and the ground strip in the breaker box. attached the center tap in the meter box to the main breaker and one leg off the meter (the grounded one) to the ground bar in the breaker panel.

I hope this isn't too confusing. So, I'm thinking with this setup he wasn't paying for power on the side that didn't go thru the meter? or at least the 240 volt stuff? basically he had one 120 volt and the ground going thru the meter. the other 120 V was bypassing the meter?

I'm sure i will get a lot of please explain better's here...........

I'm gonna learn something here. That a strange set-up and a new one on me.
It seems that you're right, one leg wasn't metered.
steve

 

[al hildenbrand]

From what I understand of your description, L1 and N run through the meter coils. N would have the unbalance current, the difference of L1 and L2.

If all the load is 240 volt, there is no unbalance current, so the energy registered by the meter will be half of actual energy consumed.

If all of the load is 120 volt and supplied by L1, the energy registered by the meter will be double the actual energy consumed.

If all of the load is 120 volt and supplied by L2, the energy registered by the meter matches the energy consumed.

 

[hockeyoligist2]

Thanks Al!

Thanks Al!

From what I understand of your description, L1 and N run through the meter coils. N would have the unbalance current, the difference of L1 and L2.

If all the load is 240 volt, there is no unbalance current, so the energy registered by the meter will be half of actual energy consumed.

If all of the load is 120 volt and supplied by L1, the energy registered by the meter will be double the actual energy consumed.

If all of the load is 120 volt and supplied by L2, the energy registered by the meter matches the energy consumed.

Thats kinda what I was thinking, He may not have paid full price for hot water, heat, and AC. But the load on the L1 might have made up for it. He did say that during spring and fall when there is no heat or AC on, it costs more for his house than it did in the singlewide. It would be hard to figure in the heat and AC since he has a lot more square footage to heat and cool. So he may have saved a little due to a lazy POCO man!

 

[77401]

I'm lost... down here there are only connection on the single phace meter for L1 & 2 to go thru the meter.
Is yours different?

 

[al hildenbrand]

77401,

From what I understand of the OP, the meter hookup, as left by a PoCo employee, had the service conductor L2 connected to the meter pan neutral lugs (floated), and the service grounded conductor run through the meter instead.

As you point out, the common single phase 120/240 meter only has two current paths through it.