Open vault and open neutral...just another week in paradise..

[mxslick]

This has been an interesting week around my neighborhood...

First off, last week as I was heading to work I found an open underground sidewalk vault. One of the 2x5 foot steel plates was completely off and in the road, exposing the transformer and elbows. Lovely. I called into the POCO and they fixed it that same day.

And tonight, as I was walking to the store, I happened to look up and notice that a service drop on a house had pulled loose..it was being held in the air basically by thre hot line crimps,,and the neutral was completely pulled loose and floating!! They must have a good plumbing bond that has been carrying the neutral for who knows how long. The POCO troubleman called me back to verify what I had found, and he said a crew will fix it tonight.

I got a pic on my camera phone, but not sure how it came out. I'll try to post it later.

A little viligance can hopefully save a house..or a life. If you find a hazard, even if it's not your property, call it in to the POCO!!!

 

[mxslick]

A follow-up..

A follow-up..

On the open neutral caper..the POCO, good to their word, showed up and fixed the service drop. The troubleman called me before he arrived, and I met him at the location.

The resident was kinda surprised, and he and I discussed the potential consequences of what had happened, he was very grateful that I had noticed and called it in. The troubleman even took the time to examine the transformer located about 15 feet from my bedroom window (I have an upstairs apt.) to verify that it was a "self-protected" pot (with internal fuses) as there are no external fuses visible. I don't know the outcome of his inspection..if I see a new trans soon I'll have the answer.