Neighbors House leaking current into another Lawsuit

[romex jockey]

While a lot of the farm issues are poor wiring practices at the farm, some of it is the voltage drop on the multi-grounded neutral if the utility is using wye distribution, but in either case the bonding only masks the problem.

I absolutely agree Don

In fact, i've had an entire career trying to 'splain that to farmers

It's been quite the chore....

~RJ~

 

[Fulthrotl]

If I suspect the neighbors house is leaking current through the water line into said house (energizing aluminum siding, bathtub piping etc...) and I remove EGC from the water pipe and neighbors house blows up or sends 240V to everything and causes damage can I be sued for being a nice guy and trying to help my customer out ?

of course you can. let us know how that turns out for you.

 

[sameguy]

Do call the poco.
Do make contact with the neighbors.
Yes, anyone can try to sue anyone at any time, how far it makes it is an other story.
Had a bad poco transformer on the pole at my old house, I went to everyone connected to it then called the poco, took about a week but had a shiny new xfmr.

 

[ptonsparky]

Do call the poco.
Do make contact with the neighbors.
Yes, anyone can try to sue anyone at any time, how far it makes it is an other story.
Had a bad poco transformer on the pole at my old house, I went to everyone connected to it then called the poco, took about a week but had a shiny new xfmr.

Wow, I shake my head in disbelief again. Same day service here. Maybe within an hour or so.

 

[kwired]

That's exactly what I meant. When we shut the main breaker to house the current is still there so other than maybe service wires or seu wire touching metal, overhead lines or things of that nature (which I haven't seen) the problem must be underground. I was just thinking of being a really nice guy and lifting the egc for a few seconds to take a quick measurement then put back. But I guess nice guys finish last so I'll have them call MR. Sparky I guess at this point

What kind of voltage are you getting from metal siding? If it is 120 volts or close to it even with service disconnect open, then a faulted service cable to the siding is maybe more likely than stray current issues on the water pipe. Do you measure any current on the service neutral when the service disconnect is open?

While a lot of the farm issues are poor wiring practices at the farm, some of it is the voltage drop on the multi-grounded neutral if the utility is using wye distribution, but in either case the bonding only masks the problem.

We do similar with swimming pools, we are masking problem whether it truly exists or not to hopefully prevent an undesired result.

Wow, I shake my head in disbelief again. Same day service here. Maybe within an hour or so.

Even if on Christmas day. Now widespread damage as reason for outage is understandable to take more time - but they are still out there ASAP working on it and even if bad weather is still happening.

 

[don_resqcapt19]

...

Bonding the siding would give the voltage a metallic path back to the service conductor’s neutral making it safer than not bonding it until the neutral issue gets resolved

According to your post that will have no effect on the touch potential at the siding


His grounding electrode conductor to rods is bonded in the meter enclosure not the service panel so the bond would be to the service conductor nuetral not the service entrance cable nuetral

If the siding is already energized, a connection back to a compromised neutral will not make it safer. It won't change anything.

 

[don_resqcapt19]

...
We do similar with swimming pools, we are masking problem whether it truly exists or not to hopefully prevent an undesired result.
...

With pools the result of the code rule is that we actually energize the water and associated conductive objects.

 

[DanS26]

If I suspect the neighbors house is leaking current through the water line into said house (energizing aluminum siding, bathtub piping etc...) and I remove EGC from the water pipe and neighbors house blows up or sends 240V to everything and causes damage can I be sued for being a nice guy and trying to help my customer out ?

This is very common....you interrupt the voltage from the neighbors water line by breaking the copper line and installing a dialectic union (or section of plastic).......then you say nothing to the homeowner or any neighbor since you do not know which neighbor is at fault.

Not your or your customer's problem anymore.

 

[sameguy]

Wow, I shake my head in disbelief again. Same day service here. Maybe within an hour or so.

This was many years ago, but I had to fight them over the phone (2 days) they finally sent out a guy with a stripchart recorder (2 days) when I got home the next day a new xfmr.
The "engineer " told me I couldn't tell what was wrong by using a meter at first; that is when I turned into the here take this rope put it around your neck and run so I can step on the rope and you hang yourself, which he did guy.

 

[kwired]

With pools the result of the code rule is that we actually energize the water and associated conductive objects.

Correct, and we do that with equipotential bonding in the agriculture buildings also, though not always to the same extent. Dairy barns they are more particular than most anywhere else and may want you to do more than code minimum, stray currents that you or I may not even feel do affect milk production in the cows.