bad neutral on new house

[goontron]

the house i just moved into ( and signed a 2 year lease on) has a bad neutral connection.
i can tell by how things act, like when the furnace starts the lights in the living room dim and the lights in the kitchen brighten,when the microwave starts the lights in the kitchen dim and the lights in the living room brighten. and when the cloths washer runs it looks like a rave in my house. the panel is an FPE fire hazard so its not long till the neutral drops.

how do i convince my landlord to get an electrician in here?

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: bad neutral on new house

the house i just moved into ( and signed a 2 year lease on) has a bad neutral connection.
i can tell by how things act, like when the furnace starts the lights in the living room dim and the lights in the kitchen brighten,when the microwave starts the lights in the kitchen dim and the lights in the living room brighten. and when the cloths washer runs it looks like a rave in my house. the panel is an FPE fire hazard so its not long till the neutral drops.

how do i convince my landlord to get an electrician in here?

Wow! You just can't get a break!

[mockingbird]

Re: bad neutral on new house

I'm not even close to what you'd call a professional, but what if there's old knob and tube spliced onto modern wire? Doubt the landlord is going to tear down his bandaid reno to fix that. Live with it, and move out in two years. Harsh, but that's life.

[rccrasher65]

Re: bad neutral on new house

Call your local electrical inspector, and report you situation. Your problem is serious. A FIRE waiting to happen, not a matter of if, but when. Call you just might save your life.

[redwire]

Re: bad neutral on new house

Are you seeing weirdness in your house from your neighbors switching loads? Or just your stuff?
Your load center doesn't have much other than a neutral bus bar and wire to your ground rod/plate, to go wrong.

An open neutral is usually at the house lead-in or at the pole pig. Your utility provider deals with the pole pig and lead-in wiring. I'd call them first.
Twice I've caught it using binoculars and spotting the busted wire, assuming your distribution wiring is not buried...

[ben7]

Re: bad neutral on new house

Call your local electrical inspector, and report you situation. Your problem is serious. A FIRE waiting to happen, not a matter of if, but when. Call you just might save your life.

I second this.

This is a serious situation!

Call an inspector, electrician, or the power company to come out and have a look.

[goontron]

Re: bad neutral on new house

I second this.

This is a serious situation!

Call an inspector, electrician, or the power company to come out and have a look.

will do that!
thanks

[desert-rat]

Re: bad neutral on new house

Most power co.s will do a check for free if asked . They can check to see if is in there eq. or in the house. If the problem is in there eq. the fix should be free , but you should ask them . You could use a volt meter at your breaker panel , check the voltage from both sides of the 240 line to the neutral .
p.s. only remove your breaker panel cover if you know how to use a volt meter and know how to not get shocked .

[budm]

Re: bad neutral on new house

If you have batteries operated AM radio, just tune it to blank reception far from the breaker panel, then move the radio close to the panel, if you have loose/arcing connections, you will hear loud static on the radio.

[desert-rat]

Re: bad neutral on new house

The open neutral could be at any point in the system . Around hear they use coper wire at the service entrance , but alum. wire over head or under ground . I have scene over head services ( al-co but splice ) where you could pick up a car with the wire , but no electric would go through the splice . That is a power
co. problem . Its a simple mater to redo the splice .

[kaboom]

Re: bad neutral on new house

Are you seeing weirdness in your house from your neighbors switching loads? Or just your stuff?
Your load center doesn't have much other than a neutral bus bar and wire to your ground rod/plate, to go wrong.

That's only for lightning and (accidental?) contact w/ primary voltage. It is not, and will not do anything in the case of an open secondary neutral, as its impedance is far too high at ~120V.

Goon, I'll bet the lights "pulse" as the washer agitates- maddening! Although I'd think "pulse" would be an understatement!

If you have batteries operated AM radio, just tune it to blank reception far from the breaker panel, then move the radio close to the panel, if you have loose/arcing connections, you will hear loud static on the radio.

Not with an open neutral. No connection, no arcing. The CATV drop, if present and bonded to the service neutral, will attempt to carry the unbalance current back the transformer. The CATV will be bonded at the pole and other houses, so the coax shield is a return path back to the transformer. Lousy ampacity, but a parallel path nonetheless.

Most power co.s will do a check for free if asked . They can check to see if is in there eq. or in the house. If the problem is in there eq. the fix should be free , but you should ask them . You could use a volt meter at your breaker panel , check the voltage from both sides of the 240 line to the neutral .
p.s. only remove your breaker panel cover if you know how to use a volt meter and know how to not get shocked .

No! Some of those FPEs used the cover to hold the breakers into their 'holes. If the bus insulator is deteriorated, the busses can make contact if internal parts are disturbed, such as removing the cover. Those weren't anything like "normal" panels, SqD, Siemens/Murray, even Bulldog.

The cover holds the breakers in! How insane.

[budm]

Re: bad neutral on new house

I say the OP has nothing to lose by trying my test.

[goontron]

Re: bad neutral on new house

That's only for lightning and (accidental?) contact w/ primary voltage. It is not, and will not do anything in the case of an open secondary neutral, as its impedance is far too high at ~120V.

Goon, I'll bet the lights "pulse" as the washer agitates- maddening! Although I'd think "pulse" would be an understatement!





Not with an open neutral. No connection, no arcing. The CATV drop, if present and bonded to the service neutral, will attempt to carry the unbalance current back the transformer. The CATV will be bonded at the pole and other houses, so the coax shield is a return path back to the transformer. Lousy ampacity, but a parallel path nonetheless.



No! Some of those FPEs used the cover to hold the breakers into their 'holes. If the bus insulator is deteriorated, the busses can make contact if internal parts are disturbed, such as removing the cover. Those weren't anything like "normal" panels, SqD, Siemens/Murray, even Bulldog.

The cover holds the breakers in! How insane.

pulse? PULSE!?! PULSE!?!?!!!!!!! in one room its bright dark bright dark and in the other its dark bright dark bright! its beyond maddening! and the "click bzzzzzzz beep beep beep bzzzzzzz click" of the UPS's are enough to keep you up at night! /rant

[kc8adu]

Re: bad neutral on new house

fpe panel is a replace on sight.
a fire waiting for the worst time to happen.
but you have a loose neutral.and again most likely a catv drop or plumbing ground is all thats standing between a total loss of electronics and possibly the building.
i have seen this many times.

[budm]

Re: bad neutral on new house

Should no longer wait, tell the landlord to come to the house so the person can see it in person and you have the proof that the problem is real in case you need to make the claim in court for damaged equipment in your house.

[kaboom]

Re: bad neutral on new house

pulse? PULSE!?! PULSE!?!?!!!!!!! in one room its bright dark bright dark and in the other its dark bright dark bright! its beyond maddening! and the "click bzzzzzzz beep beep beep bzzzzzzz click" of the UPS's are enough to keep you up at night! /rant

You're lucky that it's 'bright-dark." Soon, it'll be "bang-dark."

Forget the UPSes- the EGC is also bouncing around (tied to neutral bar), so any externally-grounded devices connected to the computer/UPS, like cable/DSL modems, are going to have their smoke let out.


PDF- See Fig.2 on page 2 for "cover holds breakers in." As bad as Zinscos were, even they didn't do this- they made up for it with their "fall-apart main breakers."

[Mad_Professor]

Re: bad neutral on new house

fpe panel is a replace on sight.
a fire waiting for the worst time to happen.
but you have a loose neutral.and again most likely a catv drop or plumbing ground is all thats standing between a total loss of electronics and possibly the building.
i have seen this many times.

So if the problem is between sub and main or main and pole and the neutral drops and there's no alternative path, all the 120 circuits become 240?

Or would it short at the neutral bus bar?

I always wonder what would happen.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: bad neutral on new house

Goon, I'll bet the lights "pulse" as the washer agitates- maddening!

That happens at my place! I see that the most with incandescent lights. And a tiny bit with my 48" T8 fluorescent plant light.....

[goontron]

Re: bad neutral on new house

update: just got zapped by the con-box in the garden. Now I'm sure its the POCO's problem.

[joshnz]

Re: bad neutral on new house

Not good.