My house experienced light flickering and several electronic components failed, including the washing machine w/ electronic controls. The cause was a floating neutral (240/120 VAC single phase service). The utility's neutral conductor came loose from the meter base neutral terminal connector, which left the house neutral floating. This in turn created a voltage divider affect on the 120 VAC loads. The greater the imbalance of the on-line 120 V loads, the greater the voltage on the 120 VAC loads up to 240 VAC. The utility confirmed in writing that this is what occurred.
I made a claim with the utility and was denied. They (the claims agent) stated that if my ground rod at the home was properly grounded then this couldn?t happen. I disagree. If the transformer is properly grounded, and the home is properly grounded, then you still need current flow from the home?s neutral to ground through the ground rod, through earth, and back to the transformer. The pole mounted service transformer is approximately 100 feet away, so that?s still a relatively high resistance current path. A properly grounded (low resistance) ground rod only assures that the neutral stays at zero volts. If there is a good ground path back to the transformer, it could minimize the voltage divider affect by allowing current to flow through the neutral of the transformer...but no guarantees.
He also said that the electrician measured from each phase to ground rod and read 120 VAC with no loads connected, which somehow means there service was good.
Does anyone have experience with this issue?
I made a claim with the utility and was denied. They (the claims agent) stated that if my ground rod at the home was properly grounded then this couldn?t happen. I disagree. If the transformer is properly grounded, and the home is properly grounded, then you still need current flow from the home?s neutral to ground through the ground rod, through earth, and back to the transformer. The pole mounted service transformer is approximately 100 feet away, so that?s still a relatively high resistance current path. A properly grounded (low resistance) ground rod only assures that the neutral stays at zero volts. If there is a good ground path back to the transformer, it could minimize the voltage divider affect by allowing current to flow through the neutral of the transformer...but no guarantees.
He also said that the electrician measured from each phase to ground rod and read 120 VAC with no loads connected, which somehow means there service was good.
Does anyone have experience with this issue?
