240V split phase weirdness (low V on one phase)

[shelly_belly]

Darn it. I was hoping I was going to have to come and rescue all of your cheeses!

 

[passedpawn]

Closing the loop...

Power company finally came and remove the large transformer on the side of my house that was giving me split phase off the one remaining good leg coming into my house. They used a neat instrument to find the break in the bad leg. It was right under a sprinkler head. Apparently it had been nicked a long time ago (I've been here since 2001 and I don't think I've worked on that sprinkler). The tech cut out the offending 6" piece and patched. Back in business.

The nick went through the insulator and eventually the internal aluminum wire turned into a massy knuckle of AlO2. I removed the oxide and there's almost a 1" gap between conductors. I'm guessing that the final thin conductor vaporized in an I^2R flash.

 

[GParkins]

The good news is that you have a hard failure to point to.Your story is a good one to tell to people who say that underground utilities fix all problems. It does fix tree limb problems, but opens up a whole 'nother can of worms.

 

[jcav]

Glad it's all taken care of Andrew!


John

 

[BrunDog]

Crazy cool story!

 

[lschiavo]

That was a cool story.

Reminded me of a service call once with similar power issues except it was winter in the UP. The first thing we noticed was a fairly good size patch of ground where the snow had completely melted and the dirt was steaming.

Must have taken a few watts to heat up the ground like that.

 

[processhead]

That was a cool story.

Reminded me of a service call once with similar power issues except it was winter in the UP. The first thing we noticed was a fairly good size patch of ground where the snow had completely melted and the dirt was steaming.

Must have taken a few watts to heat up the ground like that.

Hopefully, the fault was on the utility's side of the meter. That likely would have had the customer's meter spinning pretty good.

 

[itsnotrequired]

That was a cool story.

Reminded me of a service call once with similar power issues except it was winter in the UP. The first thing we noticed was a fairly good size patch of ground where the snow had completely melted and the dirt was steaming.

Must have taken a few watts to heat up the ground like that.

sort of like looking for a leaking underground gas line, look for the big patch of dead grass

 

[processhead]

Several years ago, the plant where I worked decided they had a leak in an underground anhydrous ammonia line where it crossed a large grassy field. The give-away was a large dead spot of grass surrounded by super tall, dark green, lush, healthy grass in a field of otherwise mediocre grass.

 

[lschiavo]

Hopefully, the fault was on the utility's side of the meter. That likely would have had the customer's meter spinning pretty good.

Yes. It was on the utility side. The power company fixed that up right quick. At least they had easy digging in the thawed ground...

 

[lschiavo]

Not sure what happened here. These wires seemed to break in two exactly where the internet guys trenched in their cable...they knew but never told anyone.

Don't get me started on underground electrical pictures. I have a ridiculous collection

 

[BrunDog]

Track the boot prints... that will help you find the little buggers who did it!

 

[lschiavo]

That would have been nice but those are mine. I had to dig it up because the buggers cut em in half with their trencher and just backfilled and left.

 

[Thedutchtouch]

Someone didn't call 811!

 

[passedpawn]

Someone didn't call 811!

A friend and I were building a fence for a neighbor once. I was using a post hole digger and went through a bulk telephone line. I don't know how many pairs of wires are in there, but it was a LOT. They telephone guy was so pissed at me when he pointed at the "call before digging" sign about 20 feet away. Woops.

 

[processhead]

A friend and I were building a fence for a neighbor once. I was using a post hole digger and went through a bulk telephone line. I don't know how many pairs of wires are in there, but it was a LOT. They telephone guy was so pissed at me when he pointed at the "call before digging" sign about 20 feet away. Woops.

Yeah, around here if you dig up underground utilities and have not requested a locate beforehand, you are on the hook for the repairs.