Re: living room lights don't work!!

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: Yurtle Turtle <yurtle_t-at-yahoo-dot-com> 

In my last house, the aluminum lugs inside the meter
base became so loose that everything on that leg would
intermittantly dim. While the loose connection was
inside the meter base, and inaccessible to me, the
power company's position is that it is the owner's
responsibility to maintain those connections. I had to
get a new meter base (free from the power company) and
had the power company disconnect the house, while I
replaced the guts to the meter base. In talking to the
power guy, this isn't all that uncommon. I guess the
combination of aluminum wire, aluminum lug, and the
possibility of the connection not being adequately
tightened to begin with, caused a very unsafe
condition. The aluminum lug was severely damaged, due
to arcing, before I identified the source of the
problem.

Maybe worth checking the connections inside your load
center as well as your meter base.

Adam
--- Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com> wrote:
 > Original poster: "Jim Mitchell"
 > <Electrontube-at-sbcglobal-dot-net>
 >
 > Hi Terry,
 >
 > I'd doubt that running the coil would cause a short
 > in the line,   I've had
 > this problem before when I was running my SSTC in
 > the house,   it caused the
 > GFIs to trip, and I went INSANE trying to find the
 > problem,  when I finnally
 > ruled it out when I saw the little yellow light on
 > the GFI,  indicating it
 > was tripped.
 >
 > I would suggest that you look around the sinks and
 > bathrooms for the GFIs in
 > the house, and make sure they're not tripped.  Most
 > likely this is the
 > problem, as I'd assume that your NST was rated below
 > your house wiring's
 > rating, as well as the breaker's rating.
 >
 > Regards - Jim Mitchell
 > ----- Original Message -----
 > From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
 > To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
 > Sent: Monday, June 07, 2004 10:04 PM
 > Subject: Re: living room lights don't work!!
 >
 >
 >  > Original poster: Terry Fritz
 > <teslalist-at-twfpowerelectronics-dot-com>
 >  >
 >  > Hi John,
 >  >
 >  > The breakers trip when the current gets too high.
 >  Once in a great while,
 > a
 >  > connection along the wiring can blow open too due
 > to high current.  It is
 >  > possible something shorted and instead of blowing
 > the breaker, a
 > connection
 >  > somewhere failed instead.
 >  >
 >  > Tonight, I would flip the breaker "off" to be
 > sure a bad connection does
 >  > not have power which might possibly start a fire.
 >  Tomorrow, maybe an
 >  > electrical tester from the hardware store could
 > find the blown
 >  > connection.  You start at the breaker and work
 > forward.
 >  >
 >  > If not, maybe just call an electrician to come
 > find it.  Better to blow a
 >  > hundred bucks on a pro there than burn the house
 > down.  In a way, it is a
 >  > good thing since a bad connection is far better
 > "found out" before
 >  > something bad happens.
 >  >
 >  > Cheers,
 >  >
 >  >          Terry
 >  >
 >  >
 >  > At 07:48 PM 6/7/2004, you wrote:
 >  >
 >  > >Hello all,
 >  > >
 >  > >Tonight I was running my coil in the basement
 > and to my surpise the
 > living
 >  > >room lights and outlets no longer work. The
 > breaker was not poped. My dad
 >  > >and I both fliped the breaker to no prevail. Any
 > Idea what caused this
 > and
 >  > >how to correct it?
 >  > >
 >  > >Please help,
 >  > >
 >  > >John
 >  > >
 >  >
 >