sparky1118
Senior Member
- Location
- Massachusetts
- Occupation
- Master Electrician
I got a call to wire for a electric hot water heater. When I took the panel cover off this is what I found.... I've heard of a 120 volt service but never seen one before.
Has anyone else seen a 120 volt electrical service to a house?
- Thread starter sparky1118
- Start date
- Status
I got a call to wire for a electric hot water heater. When I took the panel cover off this is what I found.... I've heard of a 120 volt service but never seen one before.
goldstar
Senior Member
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
Yes I have. What surprised me was the house was in a well developed area where other homes had 120/240 services. This guy just never wanted to invest the $$$ to upgrade his system.
Hendrix
Senior Member
- Location
- New England
Yes. In some of the old neighborhoods on Long Island NY. The services were daysie chianed from one house to the next. If one wanted to kill the 120v feed, sometimes they would have to go next door to the neighbors house.
mgookin
Senior Member
- Location
- Fort Myers, FL
- Occupation
- Retired inspector, plans examiner & building official
I remember areas where POCO only had 120V service in remote areas of the Everglades.
K8MHZ
Senior Member
- Occupation
- Electrician
I have. I kept one of the old disconnects. They fused the neutral and the hot.
In all my years, I have only seen it twice.
In all my years, I have only seen it twice.
K8MHZ
Senior Member
- Occupation
- Electrician
A while ago we had a thread about a 120 volt panel. The picture in this thread shows jumpering the main to make all the breakers live like I mentioned in that other thread.
- Location
- Massachusetts
Not the same situation at all.
K8MHZ
Senior Member
- Occupation
- Electrician
Please explain. Both are using a 240 volt panel for 120 volts with no 240 present. How else would that be accomplished? The jumper can consist of a small wire like in the picture, or 2 feeds tied together at the end not coming into the panel.
Beside the two 120 residences, I have seen the same thing done at a new power plant.
- Location
- Simi Valley, CA
Yes I have and luckily there was 240 coming to the house (only one side connected) and we were able to do the upgrade and rewire.
- Location
- Illinois
- Occupation
- retired electrician
There were a number of 120 volt 30 amp services in our town. The power company started replacing the service drops with triplex and connecting both hots at their transformer....they soon found out that sometimes when they did that, the residents would connect to the other (un-metered) hot leg for some free power.
petersonra
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern illinois
- Occupation
- engineer
I have heard of it but never actually run across one. But I am not involved in residential services, other than my own.
JFletcher
Senior Member
- Location
- Williamsburg, VA
Never seen one. Was the water heater a 120V model?
Barbqranch
Senior Member
- Location
- Arcata, CA
- Occupation
- Plant maintenance electrician Semi-retired
A friend in collage lived in a rental that had a 120 V feed, that used 2 fuses (hot + neutral). I told him he should pull the neutral fuse and put a penny behind it (pennies were copper then!).
- Location
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Occupation
- Retired Electrical Contractor
Same as Don. When I first moved down here around 1980 there were a few homes left with 30 amp 120V with the disconnect in the attic. The disconnect was a knife switch with no enclosure and the service conductors from the power company ran thru the attic space to the switch.
grich
Senior Member
- Location
- MP89.5, Mason City Subdivision
- Occupation
- Broadcast Engineer
I grew up in a 120V 30A house. Single conductors ran through the outside wall in standard porcelain tubes, then down into the fuse box. No worries about setting the siding on fire, it was Transite.
Box was above head height at the top of the basement stairs. Recessed wooden box lined with asbestos and had the usual knife switch with fuses for hot and neutral. There were two other dual fuseholders for the branch circuits, and all of the fuses were 30's.
Mom quit smoking around 1980 and saved the money to end up with a new 100A service and a breaker panel, along with two new small appliance circuits in the kitchen and a 240V A/C outlet. Now we could make toast and run the microwave at the same time!
al hildenbrand
Senior Member
- Location
- Minnesota
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor, Electrical Consultant, Electrical Engineer
Back in the early Eighties, I was brought in to upgrade a gutted two story Victorian that had been built as a modest duplex in the very early 1900s. The overhead drop hit the high gable end and immediately went into the wall. But the black paint metal boxes housing the two services and the meters were in the basement, high, above six foot six.
The service conductors (attached to the overhead drop), ran down in the 2 x 4 wood stud walls, from the gable, through the second and first floor outside wall, and popped back out into air just under the first floor subfloor directly above the meters.
These #12 copper RW unfused service conductors were run on plain old porcelain posts and through porcelain tubes as needed along the way. The first overcurrent device was the one 20 Amp fusestat after the meter on the load side of the service disconnect knife switch. The neutral screw shell in the knife switch was populated with a screw in short.
The house had a pair of 120 Volt 20 A services, each supplying two 15 Amp branch circuits.
Being gutted, and owned by a young guy, the house became a single family with a 100 Amp service with all new wiring.
I have always been absolutely amazed that there was no sign of overheating anywhere along the "service" conductors.
The service conductors (attached to the overhead drop), ran down in the 2 x 4 wood stud walls, from the gable, through the second and first floor outside wall, and popped back out into air just under the first floor subfloor directly above the meters.
These #12 copper RW unfused service conductors were run on plain old porcelain posts and through porcelain tubes as needed along the way. The first overcurrent device was the one 20 Amp fusestat after the meter on the load side of the service disconnect knife switch. The neutral screw shell in the knife switch was populated with a screw in short.
The house had a pair of 120 Volt 20 A services, each supplying two 15 Amp branch circuits.
Being gutted, and owned by a young guy, the house became a single family with a 100 Amp service with all new wiring.
I have always been absolutely amazed that there was no sign of overheating anywhere along the "service" conductors.
Yes but that 100A breaker looks a little big for that #8 or #10 type R wire. And hopefully there is a little red thinngy behind that 100A main that keeps that back fed breaker from popping out.
There is one 30A 120V service we still service, the utility has a gigantic brand new 480V three phase meter in the old 'banjo' meterbase. It threw me for a loop until I looked closely at the meter and it said it was rated for 100-500V L-L.
I gotta say my favorite is old 5 wire two phase services. I asked an inspector where I could find some when I was in Philadelphia last month and he said "everywhere downtown".
RLyons
Senior Member
- Location
- Changed for anonymity
Not a 120 service but a multi dwelling with 120 meters. Which wasn't realized until a service and panel change was done and the old meter was re-installed.:slaphead:
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