Power Line to my house was broken

[MossRoad]

That's when I get on the phoen and say, listen guys, forget all about it. I HAVE AN ALLUMINUM LADDER, I'll just go fix it myself. Amazing how quick someone get's there. Done it. It works. Forget about press this or press that, or use this AP!

BZZZT!

 

[fruitcakesa]

I take it you are talking TRIPLEX, overhead service.

Loosing just the Neutral is often the worst possible thing that can happen. It's why neutrals must never be switched. To better ensure they don't fail, because you can get nasty voltages on one leg.

Loosing a neutral feed and it's implications would then depend on soil resistance and what loads you have connected.

If that ever happened here, I would disconnect from the Utility IMMEDIATELY!

It's also a SERIOUS mistake to think a Neutral like this, can't harm you. (Stupid misinformed FD!) The potential between this (broken) conductor and ground could be substantial!

The uninsulated steel cable, I am guessing it was the ground, from the pole to my folks meter was pulled out by a falling limb and I unknowingly switched on a light when I entered the house and immediately the light bulb popped and sparks shot from the fixture.
I went into the basement and disconnected the mains and called the power company, who ultimately got it fixed.
Thankfully there was no other damage from it.

 

[coobie]

After looking at your photo Eddie you have 2 wires down both different size.One looks like #4 wire the other #1 wire.STAY CLEAR of both until your power company arrives.One could be a guy wire the other Primary overhead wire..

 

[EddieWalker]

Did my explanation about why you still have power make sense? It's sometimes hard to put it in writing VS voice conversation.

Also, where's your transformer?

Yes, and thank you to everyone who has explained this to me. There was a lot that I didn't know.

My transformer and meter is about a thousand feet into my land. The line is broken between two poles out along the road. One of them is where the line turns into my land, and the other is down the highway, on the other side of the area where they are working.

My soil is red clay and in the summer, it doesn't work very well for grounding. I had to put in 3 ground rods, ten to 12 feet apart, to get my electric fence to work. But we've had decent rain here all winter, with an inch to half an inch every week, so I think that I have an extremely good ground in the soil right now. Maybe that's helping?

I took this picture a few minutes ago. They are there right now, unloading another trailer with the excavator. I think this gives a good indication of what happened. They are denying it, but that's just being stupid in my opinion. Nothing else could have broken that cable right where their gate is.



I just got off the phone with Oncor. I had a horrible time getting through yesterday, which is why I called 911. The Chief of the Fire Department said he called it in to be fixed. I heard him on his radio doing this, but I don't know if the person on the other end of the radio did anything. When I talked to the lady at Oncor today, she said that they didn't have any record of them calling it in.

She asked for pictures, and all sorts of information about the location of the cable, and how they could get to it. She told me several times not to get close to it, that it could still be very dangerous.

So now I'm still waiting for it to be fixed and hoping for the best.

 

[Industrial Toys]

So that picture does show TRIPLEX going to the house service.

 

[coobie]

So that picture does show TRIPLEX going to the house service.

What pic are you seeing Triplex service wire?

 

[coobie]

Eddie does your state have a public power service commission ? If so tell the power company that is who you are going to call.That will light a fire under there A$$.

 

[Diggin It]

Maybe this will help some.

 

[EddieWalker]

The power company guy showed up around 4:30 and looked at the broken cable. He agreed that it looked like they broke it with the excavator, but since nobody is admitting to it, it really doesn't matter how it broke.

He said that since it's the neutral line, and all the poles are grounded, that it wasn't a big deal. He also said that they have a lot of lines without a neutral line on them right now. "Just being honest" was his next comment. When I asked about houses burning down and electronic devises dying, he said that wasn't a concern because all of the poles where grounded. There are four poles after the break in the cable.

His plan is to talk to his boss and let him decide what to do. He doesn't know when they will be back, or when they will fix it. It's noted that there is an issue, and I guess they will get to it when they get to it.

 

[Industrial Toys]

The pic I was referring to was from Moss.

I still don't understand "this" exact situation. What broke where? Doesn't matter. At least everything is under control.

So this guy is saying that customers don't have a neutral connection into the PRIMARY of their transformer and it's just using the ground (real ground/ground or wired ground) as a return path? I can't even pretend to understand what's going on. My God, these TBN "Electrical Threads" take years off a mans life. lol