Tiny voltage on power off at the pole--Why?

ericsarratt

ericsarratt

Senior Member
Location
Lawndale, Cullowhee & Blounts Creek NC
Occupation
Utility Contractor, HVAC Service Tech, Septic Installer & Subsurface Operator, Plumber
I had the power cut off at the pole and the meter pulled by the POCO so I could safely work in the meter box.

Before digging in I connected my meter to make sure things were off.

The left leg to neutral gave me a little voltage, 1 volt. The right leg to neutral gave me about .5 volt. Why?

In looking up at the electric pole I can see that the two hots are physically disconnected from the wires which go to the transformer. The lineman left the neutral in place from the pole to the house.

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LarryFine

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
Probably just typical induced "phantom" voltage. Add a small load and see whether the voltage collapses.
 
tom baker

tom baker

First Chief Moderator
Staff member
Location
Bremerton, Washington
Your electronic meter has a high input impedance and does not load the circuit. What you are showing is an induced voltage with no current. A wiggy is low impedance and will show no voltage
 
junkhound

junkhound

Senior Member
Location
Renton, WA
Occupation
EE, power electronics specialty
Have worked on a house back in 1967 with the meter pulled that had K&T wiring, was replacing all the K&T for hacking away cutting wires in the attic and one gave me a big arc when cut.
Touching the cut ends together gave a nice sparrk.
45 Volts or so on old 20,ooo ohm per vott d'arsonval meter. About 2 amps short circuit current.

Turns out there were 6 houses fed from the xfmr on the pole in back, house I was working on had the best ground of them all, getting a lot of ground loop current, likely one or more of the other 5 huses also had return current thru the ground also.
 
Joethemechanic

Joethemechanic

Senior Member
Location
Hazleton Pa
Occupation
Electro-Mechanical Technician. Industrial machinery
The top white wire looks like it's in with the neutral conductor. What is the other end connected to? I can't see, the meter is in the way
 
ericsarratt

ericsarratt

Senior Member
Location
Lawndale, Cullowhee & Blounts Creek NC
Occupation
Utility Contractor, HVAC Service Tech, Septic Installer & Subsurface Operator, Plumber
mtnelect said:
What are those other taps doing in the meter socket enclosure ?
Click to expand...
I figured someone would say something. The white wire with the blue wire nut was connected to the grounding rod's ground wire. That other white wire was just loose in the meter box. I have removed both of those. The person who wired the meter box wasn't so skilled.
 
mtnelect

mtnelect

HVAC & Electrical Contractor
Location
Southern California
Occupation
Contractor, C10 & C20 - Semi Retired
That reminds me of an incident after I started my business.
Got a service call from a new customer.
The customer had lost power to his pool house panel.
The customer had bypassed the meter to feed his pool house panel.
I called the utility, and they came right out.
They took pictures of the main panel and called their police department.
The police took a report that same day and left.
Then I found out from the city that they back charge the customer for stolen electricity totaling over $3,000.
Then I stared getting threating phone calls (I know where you live) from unknown people, and flower delivery from unknown people.
Next time this happens, I will tell the customer what I found and just leave.
 
ericsarratt

ericsarratt

Senior Member
Location
Lawndale, Cullowhee & Blounts Creek NC
Occupation
Utility Contractor, HVAC Service Tech, Septic Installer & Subsurface Operator, Plumber
mtnelect said:
That reminds me of an incident after I started my business.
Got a service call from a new customer.
The customer had lost power to his pool house panel.
The customer had bypassed the meter to feed his pool house panel.
I called the utility, and they came right out.
They took pictures of the main panel and called their police department.
The police took a report that same day and left.
Then I found out from the city that they back charge the customer for stolen electricity totaling over $3,000.
Then I stared getting threating phone calls (I know where you live) from unknown people, and flower delivery from unknown people.
Next time this happens, I will tell the customer what I found and just leave.
Click to expand...
Lordy. Lordy. Good advice.

I run into situations like this with septic work. People call and want me to do illegal work (without a permit).

At this point I start answering questions very carefully and tell them I can't help them because I have to many licenses to lose. That usually solves the problem and they go to someone else.
 
kwired

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
mtnelect said:
What are those other taps doing in the meter socket enclosure ?
Click to expand...
There is no additional conductors tapped to any the grounded conductors. Only conductors that are questionable are tied to the grounded conductor - and likely are GEC's or other bonding conductors.

Some POCO's may have rules on landing those in a meter socket, NEC is silent about this. That said the one doubled up in the line side grounded lug is an issue with how it is done but not necessarily a problem just because it is in the meter socket.
 
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