I needed to ask a question of a *GROUP* who I trust and with which I have some credibility. I have a utility problem of some sort. I vainly attempted to have my "verbatim" problem description passed on to competent technical personnel. I've 3 years towards a BSEE and ~20 yrs as engineering tech &/or Jr Eng. What I observed was significant short term reduction of illumination provided by LED lights with no visual "strangeness" of TV programming. I.E. regulators internal to TV were more than adequate to to handle supplied voltage fluctuation. I forced the issue by reporting on the "POWER OUTAGE" hotline. The bureaucracy was competent enough to distinguish between "power out" AND "power flickers". What questions should I hint to the responding electrician that he should ask ;/ ~30 years ago I worked for Rochester Instrument Systems.
[ FAR off topic ;] Competent reporting of electric utility problem
Started by ●March 30, 2015
Reply by ●March 30, 20152015-03-30
To put it gently "I had a screw loose ;/" Specifically I had a bad connection of neutral at the power pole. The utility's electrician arrived moments after I hit send. Thanks. Richard Owlett wrote:> I needed to ask a question of a *GROUP* who I trust and with > which I have some credibility. > > I have a utility problem of some sort. > I vainly attempted to have my "verbatim" problem description > passed on to competent technical personnel. > > I've 3 years towards a BSEE and ~20 yrs as engineering tech &/or > Jr Eng. > > What I observed was significant short term reduction of > illumination provided by LED lights with no visual "strangeness" > of TV programming. I.E. regulators internal to TV were more than > adequate to to handle supplied voltage fluctuation. > > I forced the issue by reporting on the "POWER OUTAGE" hotline. > The bureaucracy was competent enough to distinguish between > "power out" AND "power flickers". > > What questions should I hint to the responding electrician that > he should ask ;/ > > ~30 years ago I worked for Rochester Instrument Systems. >
Reply by ●March 31, 20152015-03-31
On 3/30/2015 8:12 PM, Richard Owlett wrote:> To put it gently "I had a screw loose ;/" > Specifically I had a bad connection of neutral at the power pole. > The utility's electrician arrived moments after I hit send. > Thanks.That's actually a potentially serious problem. I had a heat pump motor destroyed by a similar problem in my circuit panel. -- Rick
Reply by ●March 31, 20152015-03-31
On Mon, 30 Mar 2015 19:12:19 -0500, Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> wrote:>To put it gently "I had a screw loose ;/" >Specifically I had a bad connection of neutral at the power pole. >The utility's electrician arrived moments after I hit send. >Thanks. > >Oooops ! Hope all of your appliances are OK... A high resistance neutral connection can sometimes hurt 120 VAC only things. boB K7IQ> >Richard Owlett wrote: >> I needed to ask a question of a *GROUP* who I trust and with >> which I have some credibility. >> >> I have a utility problem of some sort. >> I vainly attempted to have my "verbatim" problem description >> passed on to competent technical personnel. >> >> I've 3 years towards a BSEE and ~20 yrs as engineering tech &/or >> Jr Eng. >> >> What I observed was significant short term reduction of >> illumination provided by LED lights with no visual "strangeness" >> of TV programming. I.E. regulators internal to TV were more than >> adequate to to handle supplied voltage fluctuation. >> >> I forced the issue by reporting on the "POWER OUTAGE" hotline. >> The bureaucracy was competent enough to distinguish between >> "power out" AND "power flickers". >> >> What questions should I hint to the responding electrician that >> he should ask ;/ >> >> ~30 years ago I worked for Rochester Instrument Systems. >>
Reply by ●March 31, 20152015-03-31
On Mon, 30 Mar 2015 19:12:19 -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:> To put it gently "I had a screw loose ;/" > Specifically I had a bad connection of neutral at the power pole. > The utility's electrician arrived moments after I hit send. Thanks.Richard, we've known for years that you've got a screw loose. :) Have a nice day! -- Tim Wescott Wescott Design Services http://www.wescottdesign.com
Reply by ●March 31, 20152015-03-31
In article <v9adnXQPI4P6e4TInZ2dnUU7-fWdnZ2d@supernews.com>, Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> wrote:>To put it gently "I had a screw loose ;/" >Specifically I had a bad connection of neutral at the power pole. >The utility's electrician arrived moments after I hit send. >Thanks.Funny how that works. After a remodel at our home I ran into the same issue. I had a pretty good idea what the problem was. I played the 'dumb' strategy with PGE. "My lights keep dimming on windy days." Tech comes out (I was at work). Finds nothing of course. Played smart - "I Think there's a loose neutral." Second tech comes out. Decides the transformer on the pole is too old and needs replacement. "Uhh...", I'm thinking. "Nope that things needs to be replaced." So they actually replace the whole darned transformer. Neighbors a little miffed cause they're without power too for 8 hours or so. (Another clue - they had no 'dimming lights' problems...) Still have problems. Finally get another tech out when I'm home. He quickly figures the problem out (the neutral actually fell apart in his hand as he was checking it on the roof.) Don't know how much it cost them with truck rolls and that new transformer install. All for probably a $2 part. Sometime you just gotta let the bureaucracy run its course. Cost me a couple of driveway sensor lights (those didn't like the loose neutral at all), and bucket loads of patience. Regards, Mark
