Darxus

Turned master breaker off

darxus

11/28/09 02:46 pm

Somebody said it sounds like I have an "open neutral" and told me a brief story involving a fire department.

I left a voicemail on the emergency line of the electrician recommended by my house inspector.

I guess now I look for other recommended electricians near Pelham, NH.

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• mangosteen

  11/28/09 08:05 pm (UTC)

  I recommend taking a look through http://www.angieslist.com/
  (note: it's a paid service)
  
  The ratings are comprehensive, and we've found a bunch of useful local house-craft-people (in Boston, but it's a national service) through the site.

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• starphire

  11/28/09 09:11 pm (UTC)

  

  Oh crap, yeah, that makes all kinds of sense.
  So I can think of two possibilities there - since it's been that way for a while.
  Either the neutral feed from the power line has been broken or damaged, which is likely due to environmental exposure to wind and trees and such, or you've got a corroded neutral connection where it connects to your panel, or to the circuits that are affected. If it's outside, the utility might have to deal with it rather than your local electrician.
  
  If you measure the voltage between the hot and the neutral bar and the ground bar in your main breaker panel, instead of just between hot and neutral, you'll likely get some interesting readings as well if this is the case.

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• perspicuity

  11/28/09 09:18 pm (UTC)

  

  gah, that's pretty scary.
  
  could be too if you have rodents, they've chewed enough wires now to cause an issue - possibly even fried themselves.
  
  a friend of mine had the prior owner of the house be "handy"; and this meant all kinds of dangerous hacks to all manner of house systems, including unterminated and shorted out with sheet rock screws 240 lines to baseboard heaters... they never used them, and if they did, the house probably would've burned.
  
  definitely have the electric company do their thing, and even raise concerns about potential issues inside, they SHOULD at least do a quick look for you, esp if as a result of external forces, it's not your fault.
  
  #
  

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  • sensesurfer

    11/29/09 01:09 am (UTC)

    

    Measure if it is happening inside or outside. Unless you have aluminum wiring in your house it is more likely to be up on the pole where copper hits aluminum...... If that is the case then call the utility company and they will fix it.

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  • laserhen

    11/30/09 01:24 am (UTC)

    

    ...it's not your fault.
    
    Heh, I'm amused, perhaps inappropriately :D

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    • perspicuity

      11/30/09 02:27 am (UTC)

      

      well, if you drop a tree whilst chopping it on the power line, that's "your fault"
      
      if a public tree falls, well, not so much... a private tree, maybe... hard to say, unless you know, mother nature.
      
      if a public tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound?
      
      #
      

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