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Posted by Nate Nagel on February 11, 2007, 9:20 am
Gerry Atrick wrote:
> On 10 Feb 2007 21:09:49 -0800, cdw904@gmail.com wrote:
>
>
>>How does the electric comany deal with this situation?
>>
>>My parents just lost a neutral wire from the pole to the breaker box
>>in the house. Everyone had left the house by 7:00 AM that morning. My
>>brother stopped by at about 5 PM to find the house filled with smoke
>>and smelling like an electrical fire. He immediately turned off the
>>main breaker and waited for my father to get home. My father turned
>>off every individual breaker them turned the main back on. Then he
>>started turning on one at a time. The water pump (110VAC) would just
>>sit there and hum. However, the air compressor in the garage (220VAC)
>>worked just fine. At this point it made sense that we lost the neutral
>>connection to the pole.
>>
>>EVERYTHING in the house was fried... Phones, the stove, all TV's, the
>>dishwasher, the computer, fish tank pump, DVD player, surroud sound,
>>flouresent light fixtures, cell chargers, routers, alarm clocks,
>>digital camera, etc....
>>
>>The dead of winter in PA brought the house to 47 degrees F since the
>>furnace quit. Dad kept everything turned off and called the electric
>>company right away. They were there within an hour (not bad for RURAL
>>PA.) They confirmed that the neutral was bad and ran a line above
>>ground from the pole to the house.
>>
>>We are just thankfull that the house didn't burn to the ground.
>>
>>Now is going to be the fun part... Getting the Electric company to
>>reimburse for the damage. Any advice on how to deal with this? Does
>>the electric comany prorate how much items are worth based on the age?
>>Or should we expect them to settle with us?
>
>
> I had this exact same thing happen in my garage. Fortunately this was
> ONLY the garage (on a separate overhead cable). I found the problem
> when I flipped on the lights and noticed some of them were real dim
> and other real bright. I plugged in an electric drill and it just
> hummed. Then my 120v air compressor kicked in, and it too only
> hummed, but that same moment several of the CF lightbulbs got real
> bright and fried. In the end, I lost 6 CF lightbulbs, two regular
> bulbs, the garage radio (which I have set ro come on when I turn on
> the lights), and the charger for my cordless drill which was plugged
> in at the time. Luckily the drill and air compressor were fine after
> the neutral was fixed.
>
> I cant tell you about the legal matters, and think that it might be an
> insurance issue. However, I do question how all those things could be
> burned out. They couldn't have had all those tv's radios, computer,
> and everything turned on, unless they really waste a lof ot power.
>
> I can see the alarm clocks, fish tank pump, furnace, water pump (if it
> tried to kick in), and possible some large appliances such as
> refrigerators, microwave, etc. But dont just assume that all tv sets
> computers, etc are bad. If they were turned off, they should be fine.
> You also mentioned a digital camera. That makes no sense, they run on
> batteries. It is likely some if not most of the large appliances
> survived as they are more forgiving. Like the air compressor in my
> garage. What happens is the load is extremely unbalanced when the
> neutral is removed. So, some things get up to 240V while others get
> as little as 10V or so, (like my electric drill which only hummed).
> Your well pump most likely hummed because it got too little voltage,
> and likely will work fine once the neutral is fixed.
>
> Once the power is normal, you or they will have to check each
> electrical device. Those that were not turned on should be fine.
> Some others may have survived too. I bet that pump will work. If it
> hummed, it got too little voltage. Too much would have fried the
> motor and there would be no hum at all.
>
> Of course, there is some device that really took the brunt of the load
> and that is what caused the smoke. Which is it? Possibly a furnace
> motor? Lots of smoke usually means a large motor. Small electronics
> normally just burn out and die instantly.
>
> As for the computer, a new power supply may be all you need.
>
I'd suspect that the TV's just *might* be fried, unless they are very
old. There's no real "off" setting on a TV with a remote control, only
a "standby." Anything inside the case that's energized with the power
off may be toasty.
nate
--
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