Service call today has me stumped

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nickelec

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I received a call today from a friend of mine not really a customer that half the house was out so I immediately figured most likely scenario was that there was a phase out. When I arrived at the location wataya know everything was working fine!!. My then proceed to tell me that when the power went out that it did not just go off quickly like normal. He had explained to me that he saw the lights actually seem to dim slowly then go out. So I'm guessing grounding issue maybe a bad grounded conducter from Poco? Tested every thing and seemed to be OK. The service is actually pretty old also an for and did recommend a service up grade at a bare minimum. There currently is no ground rod and the water ground is just grounded to the nearest water line.. any of the older members ever here of anything like this? Pics attached are of service
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nickelec said:
I received a call today from a friend of mine not really a customer that half the house was out so I immediately figured most likely scenario was that there was a phase out. When I arrived at the location wataya know everything was working fine!!. My then proceed to tell me that when the power went out that it did not just go off quickly like normal. He had explained to me that he saw the lights actually seem to dim slowly then go out. So I'm guessing grounding issue maybe a bad grounded conducter from Poco? Tested every thing and seemed to be OK. The service is actually pretty old also an for and did recommend a service up grade at a bare minimum. There currently is no ground rod and the water ground is just grounded to the nearest water line.. any of the older members ever here of anything like this? Pics attached are of service
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Not sure if I'm older than you, but...

it sounds like a POCO issue to me. I'd ask your friend to consult his neighbors that are fed from the same transformer if they experienced similar issues.

I do like the mouth guard hanging by the FPE panel though. I'd say arc flash PPE would be a better option but a mouth guard is a good start. :D
 
Years ago, we went to a relative of mine's house where part of the power had gone out. When we arrived, it was also back on. Could not find anything. The second time, same thing. Then we happened to look at the overhead service drop. BIG bulge in one of the insulated conductors feeding the house. Problem solved!
 
Need some more information: how long was power out? Did it come back on automatically? Any bad weather?

If it came back on by itself that pretty much rules out a customer issue imo. and "half the house" could be one branch circuit in an older home. In this subdivision, most of the houses have half of the lights and receptacles on one 15A breaker.

We had an outage here a few months ago where there was apparently a fairly large fault on the POCO primary that caused an enormous and somewhat sustained voltage drop before we were in the dark. Reclosers closed and there may have been 5V on the secondary; I heard the room fan hum but not turn, and the lights didnt come back on, not even dimly.

Agree that checking with the neighbors is probably the most prudent idea.

Any idea how old that Murray meter is? Never seen one inside; how would the POCO read it every month? Knock and ask to read the meter? :huh:
 
JFletcher said:
Need some more information: how long was power out? Did it come back on automatically? Any bad weather?

If it came back on by itself that pretty much rules out a customer issue imo. and "half the house" could be one branch circuit in an older home. In this subdivision, most of the houses have half of the lights and receptacles on one 15A breaker.

We had an outage here a few months ago where there was apparently a fairly large fault on the POCO primary that caused an enormous and somewhat sustained voltage drop before we were in the dark. Reclosers closed and there may have been 5V on the secondary; I heard the room fan hum but not turn, and the lights didnt come back on, not even dimly.

Agree that checking with the neighbors is probably the most prudent idea.

Any idea how old that Murray meter is? Never seen one inside; how would the POCO read it every month? Knock and ask to read the meter? :huh:
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The weather was fine today 60 degree high and tomorrow we're supposed to get a foot of snow go figure! Power was out for about 30-45 minutes and came back on by itself. As far as the meter goes the homeowner been in the house for 50 years and he bought it that way if I had to take a guess at the meter age I would guess 40s 50s maybe. And in NYC it's pretty common for meters to be inside even in new construction Poco does knock every month lol. But in the newer construction the meters that are indoors are being read via Bluetooth by a poco rep driving down the block.

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Yes, they used to knock for access, but now read them remotely.

In the City of Richmond, the gas meter readers had rings of keys issued everyday for their appointed rounds. Knock, no response, unlock door, go in read meter, leave. I know this was still being done in the early 80s. Then by late 80s they were installing wire from the meter sensor to a jack on the outside of the building. Meter reader still had to insert reader into jack, but no keys were needed to be issued by then.

Surprising, even in the 70s, how many of those keys were the Skeleton variety.

I see nothing surprising in the pictures of that service. Very typical, especially the one ground to the nearest water pipe. I have even seen the meters in the ATTIC! After all, the power comes in up there.:D

Frank DuVal
 
Is that meter ring lock standard procedure?
Around here you get one of those if they suspect you of or caught you stealing power.
 
nickelec said:
By bulge do you mean a taped splice or something?

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In my experience with residential wiring (even my own house) the symptom you describe indicates a bad and intermittent connection at the butt splices where the POCO wires connect to the cust wiring at the peckerhead area entering the house. I would check this location first. If that fails then check the phase connections at the Meter/ fused disconnect panel or the distribution panel on the other side of the door. If that checks good then contact the POCO for them to check/ test upstream to the connections before or at the pole supply xfmer terminals. If at the xfmer then the neighbors will be having the same problem.
The problem can be elusive at first but will always get worse to the point when you can go to one of the two pictured panels and measure 0 volts on one of the phases to neutral/ gnd.
 
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About a year ago I had voltage dropping on one leg of the power coming into the house. Not all the time, and not weather or daytime related. Usually dropped to 50 volts or so. Called POCO, and they found a bad connection on the pole where the undergrounded wires attached.
 
qcroanoke said:
Is that meter ring lock standard procedure?
Around here you get one of those if they suspect you of or caught you stealing power.
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Used to be standard here in Con Edison territory. That is NYC after all. They gave up on them years ago because the locks on the outside ones would corrode so bad they couldn't get them off. When we did a service change it was up to us to get that thing off. So out came the right angle grinder.

-Hal
 
hbiss said:
Used to be standard here in Con Edison territory. That is NYC after all. They gave up on them years ago because the locks on the outside ones would corrode so bad they couldn't get them off. When we did a service change it was up to us to get that thing off. So out came the right angle grinder.

-Hal
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Copy that!! Lol no offense to anyone else but most don't know the struggle of dealing with NYC especially Coned

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You either have a bad phase or bad neutral from the power company or in the panel. It also could be a back main breaker or fuse that has alot of corrosion. You always need to test the voltage at the service with a good load connected. If the voltage drops then you have an issue. That is where the dimming comes from...
 
Same friend just informed me he tried to use the microwave this morning and same thing happened

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