Lost Electricity

[danny burstein]

That's a possibility. I'll ask the REC about this.

The most common arrangement in the US (with puuuhlenty of exceptions)
is three wires coming into the house from the transformer.

Two of them are "hot" and they're 180 degrees
apart in phase. The third is a neutral.

So it's possible you're only seeing the two hot
ones and the neutral is blending in the background.

(There's also a safety ground, which is usually terminated
in the, well, ground... near the house).

This lets you get both 120V and 240V service. The lower
voltage, which is standard in US outlets, uses one hot leg
and the neutral (and the safety ground). To get 240V, you
run both hot legs to the outlet or appliance (such as
an electric oven).

I've seen situations where one of the hot legs is _temporarily_
bypassed [a] and both parts of the house circuit are fed
by a single leg. The technician doing this _must_ make sure
there are no 240V appliances in the home and this is most assuredly
a very short term setup.

[a] a neighbor of my mother's in NYC , fed by underground cables
that zigged and zagged down the street. Half his home
was dark when he called her, and she called me... I checked
and saw that only half his panel was energized.

The utility came out and jumped things until they could
run a new cable a bit later.

While Manhattan is apartment buildings/coops/other
large stuff, other areas of the city have private homes.

Think back to the "All in the Family", or nowadays, "Ugly Betty".

I have _NO_ idea what this would do to a meter that's
designed to read based on two hot legs. My gut feeling is
it should be a-ok, since the house wouldn't be guaranteed
to have the two legs be anywhere near an equal load...


,

 

[Don Klipstein]

What you said is mostly just that there is always a little liquid
going to get between any plug that is not covered or sealed. I swear
that cords tend to separate themselves too. I make them tight, but
there seems to always be a 1/32 inch gap later on. I tend to think
condensation expands them apart.

I would blame unequal thermal expansion (or contraction by cold) of
different materials when temperature changes. Plastics and rubbers tend
to change size more than metals or ground does when temperature changes.
Freezing and thawing of ground will also cause some little movement. Snow
shifts and sinks, and that will cause movement.
I see cords unplugging themselves partially (small fraction of an inch)
even when they stay dry indoors and nobody touches or moves them.

- Don Klipstein ([email protected])

 

[[email protected]]

Heating at plugs is usually from partial breakage of the conductors due
to metal fatigue. One common cause is pulling on the cable rather than
the plug to unplug them. Also, pulling on cords to move them while they
are plugged to others, to the extent as to move the connected cords, may
cause this.

Plugs warming up can be a fire hazard. See if they warm up
significantly, or there is only negligible heating that may be a normal
amount from contact resistance. If plugs/sockets or wire within a couple
inches of the them gets noticeably warm, or warmer than the cable more
than a few inches from the ends, then it is good to cut off the ends (and
a few inches of cable) and replace the plugs/sockets. (Or replace the
whole cord.)

A few milliamps leakage from hot to ground and several milliamps more
from hot to neutral (which is closer than ground) can ammount to a good
watt - and I see that sometimes melting snow in a localized area over a
day. However, I think warm plugs/sockets are more likely to warm up from
extra resistance from contact resistance, cheap connection of wires to
plugs/sockets, or wires with some strands broken at the plugs/sockets due
to metal fatigue.

- Don Klipstein ([email protected])

Thanks

There is likely a bit of heating on these plugs no matter what,
because these tank heaters are 1000W. (or 500W on the smaller tanks).
I am running 12 of them right now. I know my electric bill will panic
me this month, but the animals got to drink. I tend to use the
smaller 500W tanks as much as I can, but in the severe cold we are
having I use anything that wont freeze.

I'm not too worried about a fire starting in the middle of an icy
lawn in January.

 

[Elmo]

Tony Wesley said (on or about) 01/20/2008 15:07:

Ah, Clem.

Fudd's Law of Opposition.

 

[bud--]

Windsun said that coiled cord gets hot from resistance, not
electromagnetic effects. You don't understand what was said.