Any electricians on here?

[dryhumor]

I would suspect the summer camp....

 

[dryhumor]

No underground lines around here at all. Hvac and pump less than 4 years old. Still have the same issues with the hvac off. Now the neighbors before us do have heavy draw as it is a large summer camp for kids . it was once suggested that they are large enough that they should be fed with 3 phase but that doesn't exist in my area. The panel connections have all been checked a few times over the last few years.

I’ve seen brand new equipment with issues. I wouldn’t discount any equipment just because it’s a few years old. Like the saying goes trust but verify.

I’d still suspect the summer camp. There may be unbalanced loads causing a sag in the voltage that is delivered to you.

 

[Deleted outa08]

Hot water tank is about 9 to 10 years old and owned by the power company . The whole well system is about 3 years old including all pressure tanks which is all in the basement and would be noticed immediately if it was leaking.

Been in touch with a local electrician thats been in the business a long time and was the one that installed the panel and entrance . He said get them to change the meter first as he has seen the ones around here go bad. If thats not it they have been known to have problems with their neutral. He said he would come over and check our side of things as well.

We had a problem years ago where our usage went from 1600kw to 2200kw , we complained then and then we seen power trucks up here for a few days and the techs said they were balancing the lines and our usage went back to normal but the power company denied they did anything or even had trucks in the area.

Thanks everyone .

Good morning, I didn`t ask yesterday,but are you on a transformer by yourself? If so, can you see a number on the front near the bottom edge. Should be 5-7.5-10-15 something like that. If you share with a neighbor check to see if they are having a similar problem.Also,estimate the length of service conductor from trans pole to your house. These facts may help to find a solution. These are sometimes hard issues to resolve and even harder a couple thousand miles away. But we can only try. Jeff

 

[TrxR]

Good morning, I didn`t ask yesterday,but are you on a transformer by yourself? If so, can you see a number on the front near the bottom edge. Should be 5-7.5-10-15 something like that. If you share with a neighbor check to see if they are having a similar problem.Also,estimate the length of service conductor from trans pole to your house. These facts may help to find a solution. These are sometimes hard issues to resolve and even harder a couple thousand miles away. But we can only try. Jeff

There is a number on the front that is 25 then below it is 7.2

There is also a long string number of 116 something but I believe that is the identification number

Its about 80 to 100 feet from the transformer to the meter and we are the only one on it.

 

[rwj]

I’ve seen brand new equipment with issues. I wouldn’t discount any equipment just because it’s a few years old. Like the saying goes trust but verify.

I’d still suspect the summer camp. There may be unbalanced loads causing a sag in the voltage that is delivered to you.

The summer camp would potentially be a factor when it’s occupied. Does the problem exist when it’s inactive?

 

[TrxR]

The summer camp would potentially be a factor when it’s occupied. Does the problem exist when it’s inactive?

The problem isnt really noticeable when they arent running , but they are completely inactive the rest of the year as they still have 2 or 3 families that live there all year as well as the barn and livestock and keep heat in the main hotel as we call it and they have weekend church groups and mens retreats scattered over the rest of the year.

 

[Deleted outa08]

There is a number on the front that is 25 then below it is 7.2

There is also a long string number of 116 something but I believe that is the identification number

Its about 80 to 100 feet from the transformer to the meter and we are the only one on it.

Thanks for the info. The trans. is a 25 kva and your primary voltage is 7200. That is more then enough capacity to handle your 200 amp service. Length of service is fine. Right on the ID #, they all have a serial # as a unit of property inventory. So I`m still pondering some things,but in the mean time if you have a drop in voltage today turn the breaker off to your water heater to see if the drop resolves. Just a check to eliminate any potential problems. Also check the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities website to see if that may be a route to get the power co. moving. Have a good weekend,I`m going to the range. Later, Jeff

 

[TrxR]

Thanks everyone. For anyone curiosity here is the summer camp before me and a picture of my Transformer.

 

[spclark]

Should have gotten a new ground rod or three with your service.

Italics mine... one ground rod, on a new 200A service, is asking for problems unless your building is in a swamp. Soil types, ambient and seasonal soil moisture levels, size, material and number of ground rods will all have an effect on how consistently your grounding array performs over time.

You mentioned province once; you're not in the US? Your codes / conventions may be different than what we have to put up with here.

 

[TrxR]

Italics mine... one ground rod, on a new 200A service, is asking for problems unless your building is in a swamp. Soil types, ambient and seasonal soil moisture levels, size, material and number of ground rods will all have an effect on how consistently your grounding array performs over time.

You mentioned province once; you're not in the US? Your codes / conventions may be different than what we have to put up with here.

No im in New Brunswick Canada

 

[TheOtherZilla]

Italics mine... one ground rod, on a new 200A service, is asking for problems unless your building is in a swamp. Soil types, ambient and seasonal soil moisture levels, size, material and number of ground rods will all have an effect on how consistently your grounding array performs over time.

You mentioned province once; you're not in the US? Your codes / conventions may be different than what we have to put up with here.

Ditto. In the US per NEC two 8' ground rods at least 6' apart and on continuous ground wire usually #6. Also attached to copper water pipe at nearest to street connection.

 

[Spotshooter]

If you a reading thier internet site on your usage it’s probably doing estimations vs actually reading your meter.

 

[TrxR]

If you a reading thier internet site on your usage it’s probably doing estimations vs actually reading your meter.

Im reading the actual meter.

 

[abishai]

Short of driving a ground rod through an electrical wire, they will have absolutely zero effect on
your power. You can actually , or used to be able to do 1 ground rod if you could prove less than 25 ohms .
The resistance on your neutral wire should be about .02 ohms. Any one who thinks ground rods carry any load
should
throw their amp meter on their grounding wire (it will read zero). In my apprentice days (do as your told),
I was told to cut 8 foot ground rods in half to save money. Other companies were cutting in thirds.
All those mobile homes are still working fine. I am sure that crap is still going on (not by my company)
Grounding conductors are there for safety. Under normal use they do nothing. The grounded (neutral conductor)
does all the work. If there was a catastrophic failure that was to totally sever the main neutral and
also result in ground fault, then its go time for those rods/ cold water bond/uffer ground to do their thing.
Grounding is important , but the earth is a really lousy conductor.

 

[TheOtherZilla]

And that is why most local authorities require a ufer ground.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Short of driving a ground rod through an electrical wire, they will have absolutely zero effect on
your power. You can actually , or used to be able to do 1 ground rod if you could prove less than 25 ohms .
The resistance on your neutral wire should be about .02 ohms. Any one who thinks ground rods carry any load
should
throw their amp meter on their grounding wire (it will read zero). In my apprentice days (do as your told),
I was told to cut 8 foot ground rods in half to save money. Other companies were cutting in thirds.
All those mobile homes are still working fine. I am sure that crap is still going on (not by my company)
Grounding conductors are there for safety. Under normal use they do nothing. The grounded (neutral conductor)
does all the work. If there was a catastrophic failure that was to totally sever the main neutral and
also result in ground fault, then its go time for those rods/ cold water bond/uffer ground to do their thing.
Grounding is important , but the earth is a really lousy conductor.

Lots of air conditioning guys would disagree- especially the one that tasted his teeth fillings at my dads house when his ground rod rusted to nothing under the ground. He knelt on some wet grass and grabbed the electrical cover. It was almost 180v to the dirt. I called a serviceman friend that works for me and after driving 2 new ground rods there was zero potential there. I see it quite often actually being in the utility industry.

 

[abishai]

That's just an improperly bonded box, nothing to do with ground rods. Nothing in a house will have a 180v to ground
potential without a bad neutral. It sounds like the grounding and grounded conductors were not bonded together.

 

[JohnJ73]

Wow, who knew so many of us shooters were electricians, cool! Post #54 is correct, ground rods are just a secondary (backup) to the water pipe ground and both are there for catastrophes like lightning strikes or loss of a neutral.
I replace panels and service entrances for a living and about 50% of them never had a ground rod and a lot of them had no bonding to the earth at all, they all work great till the squirrels chew through the neutral wire then all hell breaks loose.

The electric hot water tank will run up your bill if the elements are bad, but if it's not constant it may be something weird like the heat (if electric) and the A/C are running at the same time.
Just throwing some darts at the wall here and maybe its worth what you paid for it.

John.

 

[J.d. Popkes]

Your best bet is to contact the power company and ask for an experienced serviceman/person to make a visit to your home and check. Needs to be an experienced person. Any voltage draw upline or downline has nothing whatsoever to do with your bill. You are billed on your usage not someone else's. Lights getting dim can stem from several different issues, but most likely a loose connection on a hot wire "not" a neutral wire. Lights that get very bright and then suddenly dim stem from most likely a loose neutral connection. Contrary to what some people believe the best way to check this is by loading/burdening one hot wire at a time in other words one of the 120 volt legs "not" the 240 combined. You can burden one 120 volt leg at a time by connecting something with a heavy amperage load to one leg at a time and checking the voltage with a good meter. You must check while the leg is under burden. The power company has such equipment that they can use to check on the source side of the meter. The best device for the homeowner is a simple handheld blow dryer such as your wife might use. Look on the side of the blow dryer it will most likely say anything from 1200 to 1800 watts, that is like having eighteen 100 watt bulbs on all at any one time, and that would be on one 120 volt circuit. That will burden the one hot leg so you can take a voltage reading under load. That would need to be checked on both hot legs, which you can not do if you don't know/understand how your house wiring works. Low voltage coming into the home will not cause a high power bill because it has nothing to do with power usage. Too low of source side voltage can cause equipment damage so it is an important factor to consider. Often times low voltage can be noticed when lights dim simultaneously as the heat pump or central ac comes on. It is not uncommon to see some voltage drop but too much can be a problem. Keep in mind that more often than not the average homeowner is using power when they don't realize it. For example your electric hot water heater is continuously working even when your not using hot water. Your freezer, and fridge is also. Take an amp meter and clip it around the different circuit wires in your breaker box and one can easily tell which circuits are using power even when one doesn't realize it. The power company will most likely not check anything on the homeowner's side of the meter due to liability reasons, but at least you can eliminate any problems on the source side by having them come out and check. Also, for a minimal fee they will usually do an independent meter test so any problems with the meter can be checked. Meters can be defective but it is rare and I mean VERY rare. One can have an additional meter installed in the line going to the breaker box but it will require a qualified electrician and a city/county inspection. The meter will belong to you the homeowner not the power company, therefore you can compare the two meters side by side. It's very unusual but it is done in extremely rare instances.
"Best bet" call and ask for an experienced service person. Sorry for such a long post but believe me when trying to explain this, it's actually a short one.

Couldn’t have said it better. It’s all covered here and it’s correct.

 

[J.d. Popkes]

Lots of air conditioning guys would disagree- especially the one that tasted his teeth fillings at my dads house when his ground rod rusted to nothing under the ground. He knelt on some wet grass and grabbed the electrical cover. It was almost 180v to the dirt. I called a serviceman friend that works for me and after driving 2 new ground rods there was zero potential there. I see it quite often actually being in the utility industry.

Grounds and neutrals are not the same. If you use a ground for a neutral you already have a problem. You can make an earth ground work, for awhile, but in time odds are you will have problems. Then people get zapped, appliances burn up, and finger pointing starts. 95% of the time it’s something on the homeowners side. Usually caused by some kinda do it yourself hurry up save money cob job that worked at the time, and eventually festers into a problem. Or sometimes it’s just a case of things don’t last forever. There’s a million neutral connections in a house. Way fewer on the utilities side.