# Here's a weird one.



## mickeyco (May 13, 2006)

No real questions here but a funny story (subjective), just happened to me today, a few months ago I put in some outdoor flood lights (big yard and we got a black puppy that would disappear once she left the deck). I may or may not have used prohibited PVC (not really material), anyhow last evening about 11 p.m. I was taking her for the last walk of the evening (she still won't go out alone yet) and I went to turn on the flood lights and nothing, I went ahead and turned the switch on and off several times, as if this would work, and still nothing. So I go check the breaker panel and nothing appears to be tripped but I turn off, and then back on the breaker for the floods, go outside and they're working fine, problem "fixed". A little while later I hear the beeping of the battery back-up in the office, I go to check it out and the lights don't work either and the house alarm is flashing no AC. I go to grab one of my Flukes, no batteries in either one, I was bitching a while back because the old lady took one battery for something and most recently I took the other for an alarm clock, I should really keep a wiggy at home. Anyhow I get a battery from the alarm clock, pull the panel cover and one leg coming in from the meter is dead but it came back while I was putting the cover back on. I figure maybe it has something to do with some ongoing construction in the area, but at 11 p.m.? I wrote it off to some type of maintenance work or temporary problem. Today at about 2 in the afternoon, same problem again, the back-up starts beeping, the same leg is dead again, I go out pull the meter cover and make sure it was not on our side, it wasn't, so I call the POCO and get a message that "all our representatives are in a meeting till 3 p.m. please leave a message or call back after 3", this is the emergency number for outages. So I call after 3, tell them the problem and what I found and they say they'll send someone out at about 5 p.m. The guy gets here just after 5, I tell him what I found, no power at the meter on one of the legs coming in, he tells me I can't pull the meter cover and check, I tell him how can that be I already did it and there was no seal, he puts his wiggy on the dead leg agrees that there's no power grabs an adapter from his truck that jumps the two house legs into one good leg from the POCO. The concern about having full power is that we have sumps in the basement that pump up to the sewer, nothing 220 but the AC. The service is underground to the pole out front, the POCO guy seems to think that it's the buried part between the house and pole which I think is in conduit (I had the box open but didn't look), I think it's something else, we recently had an outage (month or two ago) with some big sparks flying right out front and I found a dead squirrel right below the transformer a few days later. I tell him he might want to check the neighbors houses at the meter because the neighbor on one sides AC condenser unit hasn't been running (Yes the one neighbor has had the AC running all winter and the window wide open in one of the bedrooms?), and the house service all come off the same transformer, and none of them were home to ask if there was a problem. He gives me an odd look and asks me why my neighbor runs his AC in the winter and says it's a common for a problem (water or a break in the wire?) like this in newer houses (it's 5 years old), I tell him I have no idea why the neighbor uses the AC in the winter but recommend checking the neighboring homes. He tells me someone will be out to locate it soon and takes off. No real problem except some of the circuits use a shared neutral and now that they're all together there's a possibility of overloading a neutral. I'll let you know what they find.


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## Teetorbilt (Feb 12, 2004)

Ever hear of punctuation? That paragraph turned ME off. I also read a lot.


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## Sparky Joe (Apr 29, 2006)

So what's the deal Mic? That was a lot of reading for no questions.....?

Why does your neighbor have their AC on in winter? what could be going on over there?


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## AustinDB (Sep 11, 2006)

are you sure its not their heat pump on?


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## osborn (Dec 6, 2006)

I think its his heat pump. I just put a heat pump on my furnace. When I come home at night and come in the back door I hear it running. I always wonder if my neighbors think Im running A/C. I think Im the only one around here that has a heat pump.


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## MO-AMPS (Jan 16, 2007)

sounds like a heat pump to me, also a/c will do no good in real cold condition


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## Sparky Joe (Apr 29, 2006)

So what's a heat pump?


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## acrwc10 (Dec 10, 2006)

Question? What does the dog, The flood light , the pvc pipe , the batterys missing in the meter have to do with anything? The only thing you left out was the sound the "ac unit" used to make while it was running. Oh you also left out your wifes name and the dogs name. If you want to get the dog to go outside by itself you could try telling him this story. He will bolt out the door,or fall asleep.


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## dkillianjr (Aug 28, 2006)

I'm curious to see what the porblem was. I was working in a house last year that the same thing happened to, then after about a half hour it was fine and never happened again while I was there.

Dave


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## CE1 (Dec 30, 2005)

OL#1 does this at least once a week, It is called a "Brain Dump". 

Brain Dump n. [common] The act of telling someone everything one knows about a particular topic or project.
or
Montezuma's Revenge of the mouth.
or
"diarrhoia"

:no: :no: :no:


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## mickeyco (May 13, 2006)

Sparky Joe said:


> So what's the deal Mic? That was a lot of reading for no questions.....?
> 
> Why does your neighbor have their AC on in winter? what could be going on over there?





72chevy4x4 said:


> are you sure its not their heat pump on?


No it's not a heat pump, the house is now a rental and the owner has had one idiot after another, I have no idea why they have the AC on and the windows open in the winter. The previous tenants destroyed the place skipped out without paying the rent and left a cat to starve to death in 90 degree weather with the windows closed. The idiots in there now like to leave their trash all over the place and park in other peoples driveway because there's is full with a camper (previously a semi trailer for months) and a pile of cars which they like to block the sidewalk with (see pic below). 

The point about the guys AC running all the time was that it was not the day we lost a leg. I thought it might be worth checking the neighbors power at the meter by the POCO guy while he was out since it seemed to be an intermittent problem but he didn't want to bother.


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## mickeyco (May 13, 2006)

acrwc10 said:


> Question? What does the dog, The flood light , the pvc pipe , the batterys missing in the meter have to do with anything? The only thing you left out was the sound the "ac unit" used to make while it was running. Oh you also left out your wifes name and the dogs name. If you want to get the dog to go outside by itself you could try telling him this story. He will bolt out the door,or fall asleep.


The dog (her name is Daisy) is the reason I put in the flood lamps, PVC is not allowed in the Chicagoland area (I have no idea why). The floodlights are one of the few changes I've made to the electric in this house (haven't been here long and hope to be leaving real soon) and it was odd that it wasn't working (maybe something I did wrong). At this point I had no idea that we lost a leg, the only thing I knew that was affected were the flood lights I installed. I found it funny that after previously complaining about my girlfriend (not married) taking the battery out of a meter that it came back to bite me in the a$$. After a real crappy day at work involving the installation of a condenser unit (another post), it seemed to be one thing after another. I tried telling the dog the story and she just keeps looking at me and tilting her head, not sure if she enjoyed it.


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## mickeyco (May 13, 2006)

CE1 said:


> OL#1 does this at least once a week, It is called a "Brain Dump".
> 
> Brain Dump n. [common] The act of telling someone everything one knows about a particular topic or project.
> or
> ...


Actually I wasn't trying to tell "someone everything one knows about a particular topic or project". It was the ramblings of a frustrated and angry guy (had a bad week) who felt like punching something or someone, so I just started writing it down and posted it, I know it's poorly written but the anger seemed to fade after writing it.


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## CE1 (Dec 30, 2005)

mickeyco said:


> Actually I wasn't trying to tell "someone everything one knows about a particular topic or project". It was the ramblings of a frustrated and angry guy (had a bad week) who felt like punching something or someone, so I just started writing it down and posted it, I know it's poorly written but the anger seemed to fade after writing it.


I get all the time. Carry On! :laughing:


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## acrwc10 (Dec 10, 2006)

mickeyco said:


> I tried telling the dog the story and she just keeps looking at me and tilting her head, not sure she enjoyed it.


It unanimous !!!!


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## mickeyco (May 13, 2006)

dkillianjr said:


> I'm curious to see what the porblem was. I was working in a house last year that the same thing happened to, then after about a half hour it was fine and never happened again while I was there.
> 
> Dave


No idea yet, it appears that it is cable buried without conduit (against local code), but appears to have been done by the POCO (code doesn't apply to them). A locator came out yesterday and marked the lines and it appears to be a separate line to each house (6 wires) that meet at the utility pole. They go up the side of the utility pole in wire mold and come out the top as 3 wires. I am guessing there's a splice on the pole or right below and that's where the problem is (no one else seems to be out). I know the guys working on the sewers out front were resting the construction sign on the wire mold.


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## fridaymean (Feb 17, 2006)

mickeyco said:


> No idea yet, it appears that it is cable buried without conduit (against local code), but appears to have been done by the POCO (code doesn't apply to them). A locator came out yesterday and marked the lines and it appears to be a separate line to each house (6 wires) that meet at the utility pole. They go up the side of the utility pole in wire mold and come out the top as 3 wires. I am guessing there's a splice on the pole or right below and that's where the problem is (no one else seems to be out). I know the guys working on the sewers out front were resting the construction sign on the wire mold.
> []


Actually, since the poco usualy does the hook-ups, the only time electricians or builders have been required to install Underground PVC is when the service needs to run under a drive way. Then they want 3" PVC I think 4' down or so. Not sure as to the exact depth, I have never had to dig the trench.

Pocos are under a different set of rules. That is why they can use aluminum (Around here we cannot). That is also why they don't have to size thier wire the same way we do.


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## fridaymean (Feb 17, 2006)

I do love those pictures with arrows and stuff. That is pretty nifty.


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## Sparky Joe (Apr 29, 2006)

fridaymean said:


> I do love those pictures with arrows and stuff. That is pretty nifty.


I agree :thumbup: 

Oh and power company guys don't even know what NEC means, not that they'd have to. Imagine if you had the money to cover every possible problem you caused by doing things "the way you see fit".

Oh and how come "your electric" is shown going around back of the pole?


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## DAVIS081404 (Oct 20, 2006)

Sparky Joe said:


> I agree :thumbup:
> 
> Oh and power company guys don't even know what NEC means, not that they'd have to. Imagine if you had the money to cover every possible problem you caused by doing things "the way you see fit".
> 
> Oh and how come "your electric" is shown going around back of the pole?


 
Your absolutley right. I worked for the POCO here and never once heard of the NEC. It has been difficult to adapt to the ways of the outside world. I can say however, they do have very strict practices that meet or exceed the NEC in many areas (maybe not all pocos) and there policies for auditing there own work is much more strenous than city inspectors.


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## Sparky Joe (Apr 29, 2006)

DAVIS081404 said:


> Your absolutley right. I worked for the POCO here and never once heard of the NEC. It has been difficult to adapt to the ways of the outside world. I can say however, they do have very strict practices that meet or exceed the NEC in many areas (maybe not all pocos) and there policies for auditing there own work is much more strenous than city inspectors.


It seems SAFETY is the key ingredient for how they get things done, never once have I seen them go against that rule, i.e. working/getting near things live when not necessary, it seems they'd shut down a whole block before risking their lives.
I look up to those guys doing the crazy stuff they do, and wouldn't ever question their practices.


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## mickeyco (May 13, 2006)

Turns out it was a fence post in the backyard, when the fence was put in (5 years ago) they damaged a cable and it didn't go out until recently. It's gotten a lot colder out here so maybe the ground freezing was the final straw. Turns out the locator was wrong, he had the service from both homes running to the utility pole up front. I assumed a splice since there were only 3 wires coming out of the wire mold (and they were small, the houses only have a 100 amp service). There's a splice pedestal in the back of the yard. The electric runs from the utility pole in front down the wire mold and 200 feet to the rear of the yard then spliced to four homes (was originally one house) and run back up the yards, 100 + feet to the closest meter (that's a hell of a lot of wire). I ran into the guys as they were digging a hole near the meter (they figured the problem was there with their equipment). I told them about only 3 wires coming out at the top of the pole (I'm not completely useless), that's when we figured the locator was wrong. They went and checked and found it in the yard, two holes for the price of one, and it's hard digging soil, I recently dug a footing and it was tough.


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