[RFI] Dangerous Situation
Adrian Flynn
adrianjamesflynn at gmail.com
Mon Jan 25 21:32:20 EST 2016
In 1973 I had a Gopher eat through the neutral feeding my mobile home from
the power meter.
I had 75 Volts on some outlets and 180 to 190 on others.
Took the Mobile Home court about 3 days to get an electrician in to check
it and in the mean time I pulled the breaker at the pole and used 8 Gage
extensions to power needed items inside the mobile.
I know it was a gopher as they found the fried remains when they were
digging to replace the old line.
What a week that was in Chandler, Arizona 115 degree days.
Adrian KF7DYU
On Mon, Jan 25, 2016 at 9:03 PM, KD7JYK DM09 <kd7jyk at earthlink.net> wrote:
> : If the neutral is open at the service drop, other services, like cable
> tv,
> : could be carrying the neutral currrent on it's shield, creating a hazard
> : for workers and users downstream.
>
> My place was built in '81 by a mixture of stoners and people that didn't
> care. I have an electrical code book from about 2005, each and every
> example with a circle and line through it with "NO" under it is in my
> place.
> I've straightened most of it out over the years.
>
> There was a ground wire for the service, 220VAC, 200A, it wasn't connected.
> There was a neutral issue I never precisely figured out, but straightening
> other things resolved it. The irrigation system neutral was through the
> well casing. I'd sit on the wellhead while programming the timers and
> notice the lights flickering. I got zapped in the butt and found the
> issue.
>
> There was no neutral to the house. Two 120 VAC circuits, a disconnected
> ground and a neutral that wasn't connected right. How could this place
> even
> function?
>
> Turns out the return was through 110' of 1.5" PVC water pipe. Not the
> pipe,
> but the water itself! The place ran some 25 years like that. What a
> freakin' mess.
>
> Kurt
>
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