What is a Lost Neutral?
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- Опубликовано: 15 май 2024
- A lost neutral can be very dangerous and can damage electronic equipment in your home. This video will show you exactly what a lost neutral is and what the results of a lost neutral are. It uses real-life demonstrations and animations to show exactly how a lost neutral works.
🎥 Disconnected Neutral video: • How to Find a Disconne...
- - - - - - CHAPTERS - - - - - -
00:00:25 - Losing a neutral demo
00:01:08 - What causes a lost neutral
00:01:55 - How a typical electrical system works
00:05:32 - Lost neutral animation
00:07:00 - Lost neutral demonstration with light board
00:10:10 - 212 V on one lightbulb
Absolutely fantastic animation and demonstration.
This happened last night during a wind storm, I was confused as hell, since half the light worked, and the other half were bright as hell. Can't believe we didn't blow any bulbs or anything after 12 hours. Thanks for the explanation!
Wow! So you didn’t lose any electrical equipment in your home? If not, you were very lucky!!😊😊
Great explanation. I think I finally understand how this lost neutral thing works.
I’ve had that happen at my house during a hurricane. A tree fell on the drop to the house separating the neutral. As soon as the lights went bright I knew what happened and ran to secure the breaker. It took out the refrigerator, microwave, oven, dishwasher and clothes dryer. Completely fried three surge protecting power strips and burned out a bunch of light bulbs.
Yes, it can be very destructive to electronic equipment. Good thing you knew enough to recognize what was happening and shut off the power as quickly as possible.
Great animation!!
Thank you. Great video.
Excellent explanation/demonstration. Congrats and thank you.
Thank you
Lost neutral situation can happen also on 240volt circuits or anything sharing the neutral like 12/3 circuits
Nice job Mike!!!
Thank you
great demo. thanks!
You’re welcome
I think I finally understand this. Thank you.
I’m glad it was helpful.
Great video and animation.
Thank you for the feedback
Not only that. As the neutral is bonded to the ground wire the voltage on the neutral gets to any grounded equipment case. This could in worst case kill. Here the instruction is to get out and call the power company and not to return until it is fixed but we have higher voltage.
You are correct. Thank you for clarifying that.
Good information thank you .
You’re welcome
The three (3) bulbs on either leg are wired in parallel.
(Although the two (2) legs are now in series to each other with the lost neutral.)
When one bulb is turned off, the Resistance goes up and the Current
goes down (in that leg) because they are in parallel.
Naturally the leg with the highest resistance (series circuit) has the highest voltage drop.
Worst case scenario from a floating neutral at the service drop could be electrocution from energized water pipes and metal case appliances with 3 prong plugs, because until I believe the 1978 NEC, a cold water pipe could serve as the sole grounding electrode if at least 10 feet was in contact with the earth, and the connection to the grounding electrode conductor is made within 5 feet where it enters the building, and plastic pipe could have been used to replace a section of corroded metal pipe. Because the neutral and ground are bonded at the main service panel, a double loss of ground and neutral could have lethal consequences. To combat this, a water pipe used as a grounding electrode must be supplemented by grounding electrodes in contact with 8 feet of earth with a resistance not to exceed 25 ohms.
Thanks for the info. I really appreciate it.
A few years back went on a service call where the homeowner had smoked up a flat-screen, DVR, and stereo system after a 1500 watt electric fireplace had been running for about an hour. It was a lost neutral on a MWBC feeding the master bed & living room with backstab connected receptacles. A backstab connection upstream burned out on the neutral. Home was built sometime in the 1970s if memory serves me right. This expensive ordeal would have been avoided had the receptacles been installed in accordance with 300.13 (B) which states the neutral of a MWBC cannot be interrupted by removing a wiring device.
Great info/example. Thanks.
An open or high resistance neutral conn in the panel or meter can will also cause this. Not always upstream. I've been on many trouble calls where the nipple between the two was glowing because of a loose neutral in the panel. Some were never actually tightened by the original installing electrician.
Great info. I guess when I said upstream of the panel, I actually intended prior to any of the branch circuits, so yes the neutral lug on the panel would certainly qualify. Thanks for the clarification.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 You are correct though. Probably 90 percent of my trouble calls were due to homeowners allowing trees to grow up into the service wire and either breaking the neutral, or rubbing it in two midspan on the drop. People don't understand that the power company isn't responsible for their negligence.
thank you
You’re welcome
What is that device you have wired to the lights that is showing voltage.
It is a SureTest circuit analyzer. It’s made to plug into a receptacle and measure voltage, voltage drop, and to tell if the circuit is wired properly.
I keep losing neutral on power company side but the lineman wont come out until ive paid an electrician to check its not on my side!! Its always on the utility pole and its costing me a fortune!
That is crazy that you’re having to pay a service call each time. It’s also crazy that it “keeps” happening. It does not make sense that it would happen multiple times.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 They came out to me last week because their equipment made my earth rod live and everything in my house including water pipes! The box on the pole was replaced and the cable down the pole to my boundary. The supervisors came next day only to tell me the lineman had left me with a live neutral! I am quite literally waiting to be electrocuted! They said the neutral is also reading too high.
Sue them. They should be responsible for anything they demand you to do if it is their fault.
How does it work on 120v residential lost neutral?
This demonstration shows exactly how it works on a 120 V residential. Essentially all residentials have two phases of 120V, so what you see in the video is how it works on a typical residential electrical system.
Show us why WE GET A SHOCK at the open neutral (at the side toward the house)
I will make a second video showing that. Thanks for the suggestion.
Did you ever think that using green on your schematic to represent the neutral line wasn't a good idea? Green is standard wiring code for non-current-carrying ground, not neutral!
And white is normally the neutral, but white would not have shown up, so I chose green. Yes, I understand that green wire is the non-current carrying ground. How often have you seen blue current flowing through a wire? It’s just an animation, and I hope it serves its purpose.
Got it! An alternate solution might be to use a different color background so white would stand out, or larger wire size. Good video, though!
A bit !complicated for non electricians
I simplified it as much as I could, and used the simulations to help explain things.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 you did good bud