I'm standing in my yard last night and notice that the neutral line on my service drop is severed. Right about midway between the house and the pole it is broken and about 6 inches of it stick out to the side. I called the power company but they haven't come out to fix it yet. Anyway, my limited knowledge tells me that 1) the neutral is the main support for the service drop (I have a 3 wire service) and 2) the curcuit now is completed through the household ground, which presents a potential danger. Since I am not experiencing any weird electrical problems, I assume I must have a decent household ground. However, I am thinking, what if I were working on the system and for some reason were to unhook the ground while the neutral line is severed. Would I be standing there one hand on the water pipe, ground line in the other, with 110 flowing through my body?

 

If you are talking about the support cable, I wasn't aware that it had any purpose other than support. If you got the bare support cable plus three insulated wires then two of the wires would be hot and the third would be the nuetral.

That's not to say the power company shouldn't get right out there and fix it.

 

I agree with Bubba, it is probably a support cable.

Loosing the neutral will cause bad things, like having 220 at your
110 outlets!!!!

 

Thanks, There are a total of 3 cables. One is bare; the other two are insulated. The bare wire provides support (is attached to the pole that comes out of the meter box, through the roof to receives the incoming wires), but also has a wire attached that goes into the meter along with the two insulated wires. I am getting around 115 to 120 at the wall outlets.

 

Do you have any 220v appliances? If so, the bare wire must be the nuetral and I would get the power company out there pronto.

 

Only 220 appliance is the 50-year-old stove, which served OK for dinner. Now if ever there was a time I might get a jolt off the outdoor water spigot, I suppose it would be with that stove on and the open neutral. Just called the power company again. They said a crew had not yet picked up the order. Getting

I heard a realtor tell a horror story about a house on fire because of an electrical problem and the fire department said they would not enter until the power company cuts the power, but the power company took their sweet time getting out and consequently the house was a loss. Don't know if it's true, but makes ya wonder.

 

Are you sure the bare wire is broken in to and this isn't a splice with the ends sticking out?

If it's broken then call them again. Tell them if you have a fire or anyone gets hurt/burned/killed by the faulty wiring that you are going to sue their butt off.

 

Get that fixed. This is a split phase system. The two insulated wires are the 220. Between each of them to neutral is 110. Under the right conditions your 110 outlets could see 220 with an open neutral.

 

I could see it pretty clearly and there is no splice. Given my voltages are not far off it apparently is not causing a problem--at this time. I will continue to call the power company until they come out and fix it. Search of the web indicates that an open neutral should skew the power giving say 60 volts on outlets on one buss bar and 180 on the other buss bar (see site below, page 2). I will check again, but it seems that this would happen if my house ground was poor--but what do I know? I have read a few books and do basic wiring, but some of this stuff is a bit difficult to understand.

http://www.arnettindustries.com/images/superbeast.pdf

 

Yeah, it could make a mess, make a hell of piece of toast in your kitchen. A short discussion with the fire marshal might stick a prod in their loins. Fire marshals carry a lot of weight, and don't always talk nice to tardy spark manipulators. You are well advised to keep your nasty little paws off it.

 

I just called my city fire department and talked with the battallion chief on duty. He said the power company will get there when they get there and there is nobody that can call and change that. He said the situation would get serious if I were to lose the household ground and it should be fixed ASAP and to keep calling them. ON the other hand, this slothfullness has its positive side. When I had a new meter box installed by an electrician, I called the power company the very same day. They estimated my bills for several months and then finally installed the new meter. Then I got a credit for about 4 months worth of the bills (too bad they were winter bills) because they could not support it without a meter reading. Ha Ha, Maybe I should change my meter box again, but this time in the summer.

 

I think the neutral is grounded at the pole. Your main panel is grounded. So the dirt is your neutral. Is your soil moist?

 

Excellent point! I'll get those sprinklers going. In fact, maybe I should dump saltwater down around the ground rod too. Actually, a 50-year-old house around here only has the water pile for ground-- --; however, when I rewired the garage I did put in a ground rod at the power line entry point in the garage, but need to add dual rods for the main service.

 

If your outside I'd be a little careful about saving a trip to the bathroom, if you know what I mean. LOL.

 

Electrician here.
Get it repaired now!!!!!!!!!!
Very dangerous situation you're in.
The uninsulated cable is support and is the neutral. This cable is connected to the transformer. The insulated cables, carry 120 volts each. Phase to ground. 240 volts phase to phase.
Right now your ground rod is acting as a neutral. Look at the wire attached to your ground rod. It is very small. Not good having that much current flowing through that wire. If you put too much load on that wire, it will melt and get hot.
Some older houses don't have ground rods. They used to use the cold water pipe coming into you house.
If you have a cold water ground. Your whole water pipe system is acting as a conductor. Carefull in the bath or shower. Yes everthing will work in the house. The 220 volt circiuts are only affected that they have no ground. The metal shell of your range or clothes dryer is also a neutral right now. All your 120 volt loads are going to your ground rod or water pipe. Try to keep the load down on your service, that way you don't melt the ground wire going to the ground rod or water pipe.
Tell the power company you have no power on your block, and if you can have your neighbors call and say the same thing. That should get them in gear.
Try not to touch two different metal objects at once in your house. The neutral current doesn't carry as much voltage, but it seems to hurt more.

zanny