How dangerous is low voltage?

[Wade Lippman]

Its not me! 300 of my closest neighbors are down also. I presume they have 41v also, but I don't know that.
Maybe the two problems are related, though I doubt it.

Capture.JPG
I checked and both legs are 41.5v.

Got power back and it is still 106v. I was kinda hoping that fixing what ever caused the outage would also fix the low voltage; but guess not.
I will call them next week and they will tell me there is nothing they can do about it.

[Wade Lippman]

Lost power over night. And again now. Who knows... maybe they will actually fix it this time.

Got power back at 1am. 109v argh
Lost power at 1:30; got it back 30 seconds later. 106v. double argh
Lost power at 2; got it back 30 seconds later. 118v. Huh!!

It is 122v now.
Maybe they fixed it, or maybe everyone is still asleep and it is only 68 out, so no A/C.

[Mike Cutler]

Wade

That timeline is hopefully indicative of line maintenance going on.
Good luck, that's a tough spot you're in.

[John C Cox]

I was thinking about you and this post on the night of the 2nd.....
i was out in the shop and all of a sudden - the dehumidifier starts blinking and the lights start flickering ... Then bonk - dark....

So I checked the breakers - nothing there... Got out the meter and started poking around.....

1 entire leg of the 120 service was down.. House and shop both...

11:35pm to 12:05 AM.... At the main power coming in... I had the volt meter in the outlet when it camr back on... Very nice orderly ramp up over about 2 minutes from 0 to 115v.. Groan..

Called them up the next day - Oh... No problems on our end.. Nobody else reported it (of course not - it was midnight...).

Yeah... So thanks for single phasing my AC and shutting down half of everything in the house and shop....

I really need to figure out some sort of power monitor for the incoming power - to log how often they are single phasing my AC....

[Wade Lippman]

It hasn't been below 117.9v since the last outage. Hopefully that means it is fixed. We will see on Sunday when all my neighbors are here and it is 90.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

The Power companies are stuck between consumer watchdogs that pitch a fit over everything that might make rates go up and those who need fewer brown outs and outages. Ten years ago, we were suffering an average of 10 days per year without electricity due to outages. Not just due to high winds and ice storms. Idiots who plant trees under or so close to the power lines that in 20 years the trees are in the wires. And there is no remedy for such stupidity under current law. I think all residential and commercial property owners should have to reimburse the power company for trimming their trees away from the lines, instead of passing the cost on to all consumers under the current practice.

[Bill Dufour]

I believe the NEC code does not apply below 50 volts. So doorbells and phones are exempt.
BILL D.

[Mike Henderson]

I was thinking about you and this post on the night of the 2nd.....
i was out in the shop and all of a sudden - the dehumidifier starts blinking and the lights start flickering ... Then bonk - dark....

So I checked the breakers - nothing there... Got out the meter and started poking around.....

1 entire leg of the 120 service was down.. House and shop both...

11:35pm to 12:05 AM.... At the main power coming in... I had the volt meter in the outlet when it camr back on... Very nice orderly ramp up over about 2 minutes from 0 to 115v.. Groan..

Called them up the next day - Oh... No problems on our end.. Nobody else reported it (of course not - it was midnight...).

Yeah... So thanks for single phasing my AC and shutting down half of everything in the house and shop....

I really need to figure out some sort of power monitor for the incoming power - to log how often they are single phasing my AC....

The way 120 and 240 volts is provided to you is from a center tapped transformer. The voltage across the outside lines of the transformer is 240 volts and the voltage between either outside and the center tap is 120 volts. The primary of that transformer is connected to a single phase (two wire) high voltage circuit.

If you lost one of your 120 volt legs, the problem is almost certainly in the connection between the transformer and your service panel. It's possible that the transformer failed but, if it did, the power company would have to replace it and you'd see them doing it. I doubt if the transformer is failing on one leg intermittently.

If the high voltage to the primary of the transformer was lost, you'd lose all of your power, not one leg. There's nothing the power company can do on the high side of the transformer to cause you to lose one 120V leg.

I'd check every connection you can get to in that link. If you're sure the problem is not on your side of the meter, if you lose one leg again, get the power company out there as soon as possible so they can check their wiring from the transformer to your meter.

Mike