Power Consuption - Somthing is out of wack

[Delphinus]

Good Lord! Was that a short between the two wires??? Wouldn't that actually be smoking or sparking?? This just manifested itself as a high power bill?

[wickedfrags]

They melted together...my house was built in 1974. And I run alot of juice!
Find out about this mysterious surge...generally speaking with everything on in your entire house you should not be able to exceed 50amps.

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Good Lord! Was that a short between the two wires??? Wouldn't that actually be smoking or sparking?? This just manifested itself as a high power bill?

[midgetwaiter]

If you do the math on it 80A is equivalent to 10,000W of draw. I can't believe they saw that and still said "everything is okay".

[b_james]

I think my panel is protected by a 100 Amp breaker. When Epcor was doing their test, there were no signes of shorting at the panel and meter, however the neutral connection at the pedestal located at the property line was a few turns too loose. Also they identified that there was a differencial power draw reading between the two 120V legs that go into the panel. One half was reading 121v the other side was 118V. Also they said the neutral wire running into the house could be a bit larger gauge to match the wire size Epcor provided. Also when they had the analyzer connected, they noticed a lot of distortion in my power - they couldnt figure that one out.

The simptoms that I experience would be described as a brown out (lights flickering) for up to 8 hours. Now heres the interesting thing, As the brownout was occuring, Those outlets were measuing 100Volts while other outlets on different circuits were measuring up to 154Volts. I ended up cooking my laptop as a result of that circuits' over voltage.

I think I an going to buy one of those devices to meter each peice of equp.

[mark]

Forget asking for a new meter, get a new transformer on the pole.

I'm hoping EPCOR is continuing to follow up on this as can't believe they would say there's a problem, we're not sure so we're walking.

[b_james]

I have noticed that they have been doing quite a bit of work at the transformers in the area. I am willing to bet that even if there were problems with epcors infrustructure that they probably would'nt tell me in order to avoid the potention of any legal action.

[wickedfrags]

Voltages between the two lines is expected to be +/- 5 volts, no exceptions unless there is a problem (at least in Ontario). So it seems you are ok there. Sounds like the the problem is likely at the transformer, you better get them out there...soon as you detect more than a 5 volt diferential on the lines coming in there is a problem, and as they check the outdoor meter base outside your house, it's the transformer. Better get them out there!!!!!!

Originally Posted by b_james

I think my panel is protected by a 100 Amp breaker. When Epcor was doing their test, there were no signes of shorting at the panel and meter, however the neutral connection at the pedestal located at the property line was a few turns too loose. Also they identified that there was a differencial power draw reading between the two 120V legs that go into the panel. One half was reading 121v the other side was 118V. Also they said the neutral wire running into the house could be a bit larger gauge to match the wire size Epcor provided. Also when they had the analyzer connected, they noticed a lot of distortion in my power - they couldnt figure that one out.

The simptoms that I experience would be described as a brown out (lights flickering) for up to 8 hours. Now heres the interesting thing, As the brownout was occuring, Those outlets were measuing 100Volts while other outlets on different circuits were measuring up to 154Volts. I ended up cooking my laptop as a result of that circuits' over voltage.

I think I an going to buy one of those devices to meter each peice of equp.