Another Head Scratcher.......for SwampRat

[Trbl639]

Had a trouble call one night, way out in the boonies, a little old lady, 80 something years old.........said everytime she flushed her 'pot' the lights went out!!!!!

Only customer on the transformer, 10KVA, 4/3 AL cable secondary (120/240V) to a lift pole, nightwatcher (175 MV) on it, then 6/2 AL service (120V) 2 wire to the house, 60Amp meter loop, with #8 Cu in the loop...........All the connections from the pot pole to the loop and inside the loop and into her panel......2-30 amp fused disconnects were Good......Voltage was good..124/246V at the pot and lift pole.......124V at the meter........

What was the Problem??

[topgroove]

did she have a well pump?

[Special ED]

You beat me to it top groove..

[wtdoor67]

I thought it was when she turned on the light switch the commode flushed. Something like that.

I got! I got it! Shorted out vibrator. Could happen.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to be vulgar in front of the girls. Swampis will eat on my ass for my lack of decorum.

[Special ED]

Danny it could have been a vibrator.. After all the first ones were steam powered... Aint seen none that require 3 phase yet but I bet some pervert is out there tryin to come up for one.. lol

[rcdallas]

I remember several years ago when you posted that trouble call on another forum... I forget what it was.

[Trbl639]

Dam, you guys ain't right!!!!!:D:D

But ya are right too!!! Well pump was going bad...when she flushed, it pulled the voltage down real low........got a new well pump and all was cool!!!!!

[Edge]

now thats funny SHIT!!!

[Pootnaigle]

Ummmmm reckon she dint shower reglar???? or did she jus do it inna daytime wiffa lites off. Inquirin minds needa know.

["little beaver"]

Had a trouble call one night, way out in the boonies, a little old lady, 80 something years old.........said everytime she flushed her 'pot' the lights went out!!!!!

Only customer on the transformer, 10KVA, 4/3 AL cable secondary (120/240V) to a lift pole, nightwatcher (175 MV) on it, then 6/2 AL service (120V) 2 wire to the house, 60Amp meter loop, with #8 Cu in the loop...........All the connections from the pot pole to the loop and inside the loop and into her panel......2-30 amp fused disconnects were Good......Voltage was good..124/246V at the pot and lift pole.......124V at the meter........

What was the Problem??

Check all your connections up to the meter. Pull the Meter and check the voltage. If the voltage is good tell the customer to call an electrician. The utility company is not responsible for problems downstream of the meter. Don't bother yourself wasting time and money on such nonsense It's that simple!!

[wtdoor67]

I would wager you never worked service/trouble a very long time. If you did and that was your attitude I bet the locals hated your guts.

Now what I did was what Trbl did. If it was some old widow or old timer or poor person I did as much as I knew to help them. Screw the pwr. co. If it was some golf course ass hole lawyer or banker, yeah, I checked the voltage and said. Call an electrician.

I know where Trbl is from and it ain't too far from where I was raised. The locals where I was raised would have put you in a bind with behavior like that.

[Pootnaigle]

Ummmmmm I always trieda put myself in the udder guys shoes........ If he wuz a poor ole werkin guy like me n I cud help him I dun jus that.......n like door sed if he wuz a filthy rich lawyer er doctor ummm or sumpin like that I told em to get a lectrician. Ummm I mitea dun that wif a couple know it all wemmens that refused to bleve we wernt responsible fer eny thin past the mtr. Lottsa calls came in as a " helpless lil ole lady" but when ya got there she cud prolly outrun me inna hunnerd yard dash n had 4 bucks drinkin 40's n playin dominos on the frunt porch........ I kinda shied away frum mosta them too. I do member one that wuz straight up wif me n sed these guys are stoopid n I woudnt be able to sleep if they werked on my lectric ........ I fixed her stuff jus fer bein honest.

[wtdoor67]

In wide and wonderful Wy. it was the pwr. co's responsibility to maintain the interegrity of the secondary to the meter loop. It didn't matter if it was overhead or underground. We went in people's yards regularily and trimmed whatever was necessary to keep clearance. An open neutral was treated as the co's responsibility.

On standby once I went to a residence. It was winter and the lady had a floor furnace. Now on this one was a little transformer that ran on 120 volts. The heater didn't work and she called the gas co. The gas man came, replaced the little transformer and soon it was toasted. She called the gas man back. He knew a little about it and went in the yard and scoped out the triplex. Yep, neutral hanging in the tree. When I got there I trimmed the tree and spliced out the triplex neutral.

The lady was constrained but she asked if there was anything the pwr. co. could do on this as she'd just laid out 150 dollars, as the little transformers were 50 bucks per whack. I said. Sure, just go to the office on Monday and file a claim and they'll pay for it. On Monday afternoon the manager encountered me and began to bitch at me for instructing the lady. I said. Look, it's our fault and we have to pay for it. Also probably told him tough shit. If however, it had been one of his friends or someone he thought had a little stroke or money he would have jumped thru his ass.

After that I always told them to file a claim but don't mention my name. I can remember several instances similar to this.

[Trbl639]

When you get on a trouble truck, and you live in a small town...you do all you can to help people when they need help............the difference was customer attitude and money...........if they were snobs and acted like aholes, they got the ahole treatment from me....call your electrician!!!!

An old couple or person who was struggling, or just common working folks, if you could help em, you did....someday you might be needing something and they might be the ones to help you.........

Little beaver..with that attitude, you wouldn't last long as a T-man in my neck of the woods.............just saying.......

[lewy]

Up here we own the secondary to the stack on the overhead & to the top of the meter base for residential customers. We will check things out, but we do not like to work on customer stuff because of liability reasons. On commercial customers on U.G. they own the secondary.

[electriklady]

I agree guys............and not just troublemen........I will go out of my way to help a customer any way I can if they are elderly, or just a nice person struggling, even if they are not struggling, if I can make their experience dealing with the company any better or easier I certainly do. It is called true "customer service", something many people today seem to have forgotten the meaning of. I dont do it to make the company look good, or myself look good, I do it cause it is part of my job........a part I am proud to say I am very good at it, and it just plain feels good to help out.:)


sorry for buttin in!