Lost Neutral/Partial connected

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AC\DC

Senior Member
Location
Florence,Oregon,Lane
Occupation
EC
Hello, got a call of light catching fire. Whet to check light turned on breakers and TV went POOF. Ran to turn breakers off, Found Neutral to L1 is 89E and Neutral to L2 was I 140. Had to call power company because meter in this Trailer park are all over the place. Found it 5 house down the road. Turned Breaker off and took cover off to check line side, was good. Turned breaker on and check load of breaker was good. Dang Break somewhere underground. Whet back to double check it was the right panel and now I was reading L1-N 120 L2-N 120 L1-L2 240 :mad:

So I have a partial connection for the Neutral. I am calling the power company out to verify its not on there side.

So question is Can Turning the breaker off and on make a partial connection on the neutral.kinda. Its weird that it tested as bad nutreal till I cycled the breaker a couple times.
Will be going back and loading house up with heaters to try and make the issue again.

I know its a Neutral Problem no other way a TV would go Sizzzzzzle.
Parks a joke. Has 2/0 ALU off a 200 amp breaker and all house have exposed wires in crawlspaces its kinda scary
 

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Well went out with heater found the bad neutral its on load side and is A nightmare to get across. Park bans boring, have to hand dig all trenches because how shallow plumbing and electrical and sewer is in park.
locator For are area is banned from park for mouthing of to owner.
this lady has no power and the power company will hock up the one leg to neutral to one Phase to give her 120v

I am kinda scared to go this route just because the wire currently is undersized for the 200 amp. We will be installing a new underground service so it’s temp but the liability “knowing “ that it is undersized.

do you see an issue for a temporary use till she gets her new service next week.
 
AC\DC said:
Well went out with heater found the bad neutral its on load side and is A nightmare to get across. Park bans boring, have to hand dig all trenches because how shallow plumbing and electrical and sewer is in park.
locator For are area is banned from park for mouthing of to owner.
this lady has no power and the power company will hock up the one leg to neutral to one Phase to give her 120v

I am kinda scared to go this route just because the wire currently is undersized for the 200 amp. We will be installing a new underground service so it’s temp but the liability “knowing “ that it is undersized.

do you see an issue for a temporary use till she gets her new service next week.
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The power company doesn’t have a service saver you could use temporarily?
that would get her 240 but at 80 amps

only issues is no 240 loads will work
 
AC\DC said:
no the service engineer I know did not mention a service saver. He said for emergency they swap legs for conductors are broken
Click to expand...
??

swap legs? Why?
All that does is make the other 120 side hot, and you lose the side that did have power.
It would make more sense to jumper at the breaker to feed both sides with 120...
 
sorry let me try again.
‘since it’s on the load side the only way to feed her power is to take one leg off main breaker and use it for the neutral. Do you see any liability for a temp use for about a week For this setup. It’s currently 2/0 alu on 200 amp breaker so it’s already a violation.
i Think this came out better.
 
AC\DC said:
He has to swap at his end to feed me a good neutral I could jumper in panel once that is accomplished to feed both sides. Liability has me worried should I not be for a 2/0 Alu on 200 amp breaker
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Are there any MWBC's? If so then jumpering both busses might allow the common neutral of the MWBC to be overloaded.
Maybe you could ask the customer if there are any non-essential 120V circuits, then label the corresponding load wires and disconnect them. Just turning off the breakers may not be enough if the customer is resourceful. Doing this could reduce the maximum loading on the 2/0 and also on MWBC neutrals, if any.
 
No multi wire In house. I am just worried that if something happens some one will say what i did was unsafe, I don’t trust people especially customer.
house has some issue such as EGC from 200 amp just cut and laying under house. plumbing piping for conduit couple other thing. So it’s got my paranoid but poor lady needs power.
I would disconnect every breaker but fridge and some lights, maybe washer and she can hang them to dry.

would a simple letter to her stating this is temp and is not a permeant fix get me out of a legal issue is said home burned down? Probably will never happen but you never know
 
AC\DC said:
Well went out with heater found the bad neutral its on load side and is A nightmare to get across. Park bans boring, have to hand dig all trenches because how shallow plumbing and electrical and sewer is in park.
locator For are area is banned from park for mouthing of to owner.
this lady has no power and the power company will hock up the one leg to neutral to one Phase to give her 120v

I am kinda scared to go this route just because the wire currently is undersized for the 200 amp. We will be installing a new underground service so it’s temp but the liability “knowing “ that it is undersized.

do you see an issue for a temporary use till she gets her new service next week.
Click to expand...
What is anticipated load look like? Most mobile homes don't need more than 100 amp supply unless they have electric heat, which you likely not using during the heat wave that has been going on out there.

Have layed conductor/cable on the ground before - usually in winter when ground was frozen to get by, find a way to protect it if necessary. Slip PVC over it but don't glue fittings works.
 
kwired said:
Have layed conductor/cable on the ground before - usually in winter when ground was frozen to get by, find a way to protect it if necessary. Slip PVC over it but don't glue fittings works.
Click to expand...
cant do that her meter goes across the street and down 3 property. Wold have a new speed bump lol.
 
Another thought is that you could jumper the two busses using a 2-pole 50 or 60A breaker with the two output terminals of the breaker jumpered together. That would limit the max current drawn by the backfed bus to the rating of the 2-pole breaker. Perhaps you were already intending to do it that way. Then put the refrigerator on the bus getting power directly from the main breaker so that if the backfed breaker trips it won't spoil any food.
 
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AC\DC said:
cant do that her meter goes across the street and down 3 property. Wold have a new speed bump lol.
Click to expand...
RMC then :cool:

Steal a temporary neutral from a neighbor? won't even run up their bill.

Is there disconnects within 30 feet of the mobile homes like code requires or do these basically have "service conductors" to the panel in the homes?
 
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