ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Service Drop with broken ground

I always look around my neighborhood at some of the electrical work that beens done over the years, but today took the cake. Today on my block I noticed a house that had its ground wire broken up by the where the feeders are tied in. I told the homeowner what I saw, and what it meant, and to call the POCO immediately to have them come fix it. Its an older lady who owns the house and I'm not sure if she's going to even bother calling them up. If its not fixed by tomorrow afternoon, should I assume she did not call and call the POCO myself to have them fix the problem? What would you do?

She may think that it will cost money to have the POCO fix it, and if she doesn't see anything strange about her lights, she won't call them. She probably has a good ground.

Report it to the Building Department, Utility Company, and the Fire Department.

Please send a picture of it before and after, close up.

Very likely there is a pretty solid neutral connection via metallic water piping. Not good when the plumber needs to fix something...

-Jon

I've come across similar things and just call the Poco myself (broken lines or crossarms, glowing splices, etc)... The poco appreciates it since it saves them getting a claim for things getting roasted (sometimes) from the unbalanced voltage that usually coincides. Not to mention the shock hazards involved.

-Randy

Hey thanks for all of the replies. I got a home a little after sundown tonight and didnt have a chance to see if the POCO came out to make repairs or not. If they didn't, I'l be making the call myself tomorrow.

Joe, I don't have a digital camera capable of taking a close-up. Sorry. If I did I'd have mailed you a ton of stuff by now. I really appreciate the photo forums you have here on the site. Keep up the great work!

--Ron

Proud to report that PSE&G came out yesterday and made the necessary repairs. The lady is also pleased that her lighting is working "right" again. I have a ceiling fan to install there tomorrow so I am glad they took care of this problem before I started working there so I wouldn't be blamed for anything.

I've found the local PoCo here in England pretty good on things like this.

A couple of times recently I've reported a bad neutral and the response has been "We'll get somebody out today." And they did!