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Negative Pf residential Home

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Rock86

Senior Member
Location
new york
Occupation
Electrical Engineer / Electrician
ptonsparky said:
I'm not entirely into crossed neutral.
How old are these homes? Never seen a inspection?
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This house is brand new.... the people moved in around January of this year. The inspector missed a number of items... if the inspector even showed up.
 
R

Rock86

Senior Member
Location
new york
Occupation
Electrical Engineer / Electrician
ptonsparky said:
Gas furnace have been polarity sensitive for quite a few years in that they will not operate. I have never installed a 240 AC unit that required a neutral. So, IMO, crossed neutral is very much in question.
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Agreed. I asked him if he was sure it wasn't a 240V circuit. But I wasn't there, and I have to take the word that his electrician knew what he was talking about.
 
Joethemechanic

Joethemechanic

Senior Member
Location
Hazleton Pa
Occupation
Electro-Mechanical Technician. Industrial machinery
Rock86 said:
Agreed. I asked him if he was sure it wasn't a 240V circuit. But I wasn't there, and I have to take the word that his electrician knew what he was talking about.
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Are you sure these guys are electricians, and not someone they picked up hanging out in front of home depot?
 
R

Rock86

Senior Member
Location
new york
Occupation
Electrical Engineer / Electrician
Joethemechanic said:
Are you sure these guys are electricians, and not someone they picked up hanging out in front of home depot?
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hahaha. Well, they were hired by a builder, so probably home depot pickups. But I would hope if the HVAC guy had doubts, the electrician he brought in would be an actual electrician. I have not met any of them.
 
tortuga

tortuga

Code Historian
Location
Oregon
Occupation
Electrical Design
I bet its worth more than beer and pizza to fix this issue.
It would be fun to see one of the regulars on here go to one of these type of mystery threads.
 
R

Rock86

Senior Member
Location
new york
Occupation
Electrical Engineer / Electrician
Oh, I believe this would be a good experience for anyone to learn troubleshooting and problem solving from. Technically the job is in PA. It is just over the boarder.

ptonsparky said:
and beer?
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is bud light acceptable? 🤣 (oops, i went political, sorry.)
 
Fred B

Fred B

Senior Member
Location
Upstate, NY
Occupation
Electrician
Rock86 said:
UPDATE:
The owner had AC issues. HVAC guy told him the line and neutral were crossed and it was causing issues on the electronics. Original electrician came and said nothing was wrong. HVAC guy brought in a different electrician and found more than one crossed neutral.

Utility company has responded and will come out to conduct a more thorough test.

refrigerator and freezer (separate circuits from separate panels) shut off around 5:30-6:00am, lights flicker regardless of bulb type and brand now. I guess the GE ones didn't hold up as well as he thought. Dimmable or not, doesn't make a difference in the house.
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If you have a L/N reversal it would show up on any given 120V receptacle with one of those plug in testers on the line that is reversed. Simple point to test would be to set up a temp receptacle at the panel, and test with your known correctly wired receptacle. If one of the lines is reversed it would be evident there.

If you have amperage back feeding on neutral you should be able to read that with mains turned off as reading from N/G.

If the issue presents specifically at a specific time of day you may have a utility issue (substation switching etc) or loads from another upstream customer that comes on at a specific time.
Rock86 said:
Oh, I believe this would be a good experience for anyone to learn troubleshooting and problem solving from. Technically the job is in PA. It is just over the boarder.
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where about in PA? not too far from PA.
 
tortuga

tortuga

Code Historian
Location
Oregon
Occupation
Electrical Design
Fred B said:
If you have a L/N reversal it would show up on any given 120V receptacle with one of those plug in testers on the line that is reversed. Simple point to test would be to set up a temp receptacle at the panel, and test with your known correctly wired receptacle. If one of the lines is reversed it would be evident there.

If you have amperage back feeding on neutral you should be able to read that with mains turned off as reading from N/G.

If the issue presents specifically at a specific time of day you may have a utility issue (substation switching etc) or loads from another upstream customer that comes on at a specific time.

where about in PA? not too far from PA.
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There we go!
Make a video of it.
 
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