Neutral Removed at Pole by Utility Co!!! oops!

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Rivkid

Member
Location
Amesbury, MA
I was called out to a service trouble during the NE storm last weekend.

Contractors removing the tree from the house said that everything started flickering, dishwasher, microwave, garage door openers, etc. all started humming and smoking, things flashing, etc.

One guy had the presence of mind to open up the main in the house--turns out the utility company took the neutral off the drop (inadvertently) at the pole. Some of the circuit breakers are tripping open still and others are OK--I've left de-energized all of the multiwire branch circuits.

What are the chances that the inside wiring is cooked? What do I advise for the estimate to the insurance adjuster? I've heard of horror stories where the wiring was glowing in similar situations. Could this have compromised the integrity of the insulation?
 
mivey

mivey

Senior Member
Rivkid said:
What are the chances that the inside wiring is cooked? What do I advise for the estimate to the insurance adjuster? I've heard of horror stories where the wiring was glowing in similar situations. Could this have compromised the integrity of the insulation?
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Depends if the loads got extra voltage long enough to cook the wire from excess current. For a resistive load you could get up to twice the current before the breaker tripped. The voltage alone would not kill the conductor (it is rated for 600 volts) but it could very well damage a lot of electronics.
 
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satcom

Senior Member
How do they know the utility opened the neutral? my guess would be the tree guys stressed the cable and the neutral pulled off at the pole Just a guess
 
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Rivkid

Member
Location
Amesbury, MA
satcom said:
How do they know the utility opened the neutral? my guess would be the tree guys stressed the cable and the neutral pulled off at the pole Just a guess
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That was my reply to the contractors--when one of the guys went outside to tell the guys at the pole what happened he notice it was the ECo's trucks...so he says.
 
Sierrasparky

Sierrasparky

Senior Member
Location
USA
Occupation
Electrician ,contractor
yea, leaving just the multi-wire circuits off is not going to create a safe situation. If the nuetral is lost the whole place needs to be shut down until this is fixed.
 
Sierrasparky

Sierrasparky

Senior Member
Location
USA
Occupation
Electrician ,contractor
mivey said:
That's true. Only the 2-pole loads would be "safe".
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not necessarily.
If another service is fed by the same trans on the pole it could affect the service of this home. also voltage would float if there is no ground reference at all. I would think this could harm certian devices.
 
infinity

infinity

Moderator
Staff member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Journeyman Electrician
The wiring should be fine. Even without the neutral the OCPD's should protect the conductors. I'm guessing that this area doesn't have metallic water piping systems?
 
mivey

mivey

Senior Member
Sierrasparky said:
not necessarily.
If another service is fed by the same trans on the pole it could affect the service of this home. also voltage would float if there is no ground reference at all. I would think this could harm certian devices.
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It can't float much as I bet you the utility had their transformer grounded.

If it were truly floating, where is the reference frame for damage? You would need a line to ground load or impedance.

I guess there might be some line-neutral loads fed by a 2-pole breaker so it would be more correct to say 240 volt loads would be "safe". Which, I think, is what I said.
 
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Rivkid

Member
Location
Amesbury, MA
This is helpful...

The service remained off until I coordinated with the Utility Co. to reconnect the neutral at the pole (a couple days after the contractors shut off the main). I got there a day after the initial trouble. When I re-energized the individual CB's a few tripped instantly while the others powered receptacle/lighting loads w/o issue.

2 mo. old condensing boiler is fried (along with taco), dishwasher, disposal, nuke, etc., frig is fine (for now), freezer's dead. The multiwires fed loads to the bed rooms, etc. so I just left them off (air conditioner still in window, tv's plugged in).

My only concern is the possibility of insulation overheating during the two-three minutes it took (as was reported to me) to get the main shut off. I've heard of issues with currents going through the ground system and weak links in that system reek havoc.

Thoughts... and thanks!
 
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Rivkid

Member
Location
Amesbury, MA
infinity said:
The wiring should be fine. Even without the neutral the OCPD's should protect the conductors. I'm guessing that this area doesn't have metallic water piping systems?
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...and yes, the principal ground for this house is the iron casing to the well pump and there is (1) 1/2" Fe steak at the meter.
 
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Rivkid

Member
Location
Amesbury, MA
What would you suggest to the insurance adjuster? ...about the wiring system, etc... I forgot to mention, the countertop (kit) GFCI's are OD, too...didn't bother checking the bathrooms...
 
e57

e57

Senior Member
Location
San Francisco, CA
jumper said:
2 mo. old condensing boiler is fried (along with taco)

What is this? And I do not mean the food.
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Locally - Often refered to as the manufacturer name - most often to mean the control box for thermostats for hydronic and other heating...

Taco - doesn't have much of a market for pumps and such here at least.
 
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