Curiosity as I’m doing some lighting upgrades and had some issues. Went back to square one and noticed the high voltage readings.
---- I realize you're not an electrician and I don't mean to ridicule, but quite honestly I think my head's going to explode after reading some of this shit
Perhaps this So-Called electrician should have just installed a battery bank to absorb all this "EXCESS POWER" and the poor owner could have recycled it back into his system during periods when his lights were dimming
Once while helping a fishing buddy when he asked I look into a long term problem his parents had been suffering and I encountered a real head scratcher electrical mystery.
I'd been in the business for 40 years at the time and kinda thought I'd seen everything --- nope, not close.
They'd had numerous electricians charge them $$$$, they jerry rigged this and that, came up with fascinating explanations (Complete bullshit) and of course they demanded payment, yet the problem persisted.
SDG&E had been called several times and always claimed it was the customer's side problem. After exhausting efforts on the customer side, I went about writing up a report proving it was on SDG&E's side. Because I spoke from experience, good credentials and had written up a logical report they couldn't refute, they came out, spent the time and discovered it was their problem --- but not really their fault. Seems a neighbor had hired a guy to dig and set a new mailbox, he'd damaged the direct burial underground cable
In truth, electricity is not some magical force, although at times might seem as such. The best service electricians are the ones who are in fact, the best detectives. They are the ones who possess not only the technical knowledge, but the ability to visualize and understand the chain of logic of cause and effect surrounding these various electrical anomalies.
Just as the best mechanics have the ability too follow the logic to correct a mechanical problem, while others are simply parts swappers hoping to get lucky.
Unfortunately there's a vast number of hacks out there masquerading as qualified electricians, it's not what they know that makes them dangerous, it what they think they know and don't. This of course isn't limited to electricians, I'm sure Riverbound could write a book on the shit he and his crews encounter in the HVAC business.
I recently had an "Appliance Repair" specialist over to cover a warranty repair for my combo-oven control panel. We pulled the oven out, he inspected it and immediately proclaimed that the part his company had already pre-shipped to me was wrong and he was leaving. I not only had to prove it was the correct part, but take over the screwdriver and show him how to remove the control panel and replace the board, which fit and worked perfectly.
This was warranty work, but I couldn't help but think about all the poor paying customers this guy fucks out of their hard earned money daily.
I'm so curious about SoCalDave's strange voltages and flickering LEDs I almost find myself wanting to help solve the mystery --- well ALMOST, LOL
I have exactly this happening in my home. When we hit the garbage disposal, the lights in the kitchen get brighter (nothing extreme but its there). I haven't come across any "smoking gun" as to where the neutral issue is in the home, and it is an older home built in the 50's.A neutral somehow compromised, bad connection, corrosion, broken, etc ---- creates some very odd and often hard to diagnose symptoms, depending on where that interruption occurs in the circuit. When it occurs on the incoming utility feed and as the power seeks a return path to its source, your normally parallel wired circuits essentially become series/parallel connected across the two hot phases. Essentially the more devices that get turned on, the resistance in the return decreases and voltage continues to rise. One example, the more incandescent lights you turn on around the house that are connected to both phase A and Phase B, the brighter they all become as the voltage continues to increase. Same thing occurs with your electronics, often frying the equipment.
It's not excess power, it's power seeking a return in order to complete the circuit, traveling any path of conductance available, which as you turn on various devices, means through them.
In theory, the addition of a ground rod, which is grounded to the neutral at the main service, can act as the conductor for this return path. How well it can accomplish this depends on many factors, such as resistance to and through earth back to the source transformer. At best, it might mitigate some damage.
The couple of times I've personally ran into this, I never tested the theory. I knew one couple who lived with this for several years, as if they thought it was normal ???
I think it's great you want to learn --- search google for "Open Neutral" or "Floating Neutral" --- there's a lot of info, but often it's a bit heady. Electricity can get pretty pissy when it's deprived of an adequate way home, some times people die when they get in the middle of that path
OK here's a really crude diagram, an extremely elementary example of what I've described above. You will see, how a broken utility side neutral can place normally parallel circuits in series and the current flow is altered. This can also happen anytime you've got two hot phases sharing the same neutral.
Good luck !!!
OH and for the record, I wasn't in any way slighting you --- any negative in my commentary was directed at electricians who make a living intentionally fucking folks, using fear tactics and selling them things just to increase their profit. Rest assured, they are out there. Some service companies offer bonuses to their electricians to encourage them to "Up Sell", that's not limited to the electrical side either. In this case, perhaps a new ground was warranted, perhaps not, I wasn't there. Certainly not a fix for this particular "Floating Neutral" problem, at best a band-aide.
Here's something to ponder -------- Oh, and what's really fun about Floating Utility Neutrals, depending on where the neutral is compromised, it can not only affect your house, but
your neighbors as well, as it flows through ground and water pipes, current is a tenacious bitch for sure
View attachment 701855
Thanks for the heads up, defiantly going to check this out.
Sounds like an electrician is the way to go! Lol
A neutral somehow compromised, bad connection, corrosion, broken, etc ---- creates some very odd and often hard to diagnose symptoms, depending on where that interruption occurs in the circuit. When it occurs on the incoming utility feed and as the power seeks a return path to its source, your normally parallel wired circuits essentially become series/parallel connected across the two hot phases. Essentially the more devices that get turned on, the resistance in the return decreases and voltage continues to rise. One example, the more incandescent lights you turn on around the house that are connected to both phase A and Phase B, the brighter they all become as the voltage continues to increase. Same thing occurs with your electronics, often frying the equipment.
It's not excess power, it's power seeking a return in order to complete the circuit, traveling any path of conductance available, which as you turn on various devices, means through them.
In theory, the addition of a ground rod, which is grounded to the neutral at the main service, can act as the conductor for this return path. How well it can accomplish this depends on many factors, such as resistance to and through earth back to the source transformer. At best, it might mitigate some damage.
The couple of times I've personally ran into this, I never tested the theory. I knew one couple who lived with this for several years, as if they thought it was normal ???
I think it's great you want to learn --- search google for "Open Neutral" or "Floating Neutral" --- there's a lot of info, but often it's a bit heady. Electricity can get pretty pissy when it's deprived of an adequate way home, some times people die when they get in the middle of that path
OK here's a really crude diagram, an extremely elementary example of what I've described above. You will see, how a broken utility side neutral can place normally parallel circuits in series and the current flow is altered. This can also happen anytime you've got two hot phases sharing the same neutral.
Good luck !!!
OH and for the record, I wasn't in any way slighting you --- any negative in my commentary was directed at electricians who make a living intentionally fucking folks, using fear tactics and selling them things just to increase their profit. Rest assured, they are out there. Some service companies offer bonuses to their electricians to encourage them to "Up Sell", that's not limited to the electrical side either. In this case, perhaps a new ground was warranted, perhaps not, I wasn't there. Certainly not a fix for this particular "Floating Neutral" problem, at best a band-aide.
Here's something to ponder -------- Oh, and what's really fun about Floating Utility Neutrals, depending on where the neutral is compromised, it can not only affect your house, but
your neighbors as well, as it flows through ground and water pipes, current is a tenacious bitch for sure
View attachment 701855
