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| Subject - Couple Current and Ground questions | |
| jagerbombme |
hello all, i am new here and just got a house so i got a couple of questions. i am local 176 residential 2nd year trainee out of joliet illinois. 1. when my furnace kicks on the lights in the house flicker. i have repiped and pulled new 14's to the furnace. it still happens. i took current readings while it's running and it draws 10A. at startup however it draws 39A. this seems very high to me. it is only for a split second however. this next question could be related to the last question, however i don't know, so if you guys see a connection between these issues please let me know 2. the panel is 100A fed with #4's. the ground wire for the distribution panel was terminated underneath the neutral lug. which i guess isn't the worse thing i've seen, they grounded it with #6 which is correct by NEC, but i have current at the ground termination at the water main. my question is, shouldn't my neutral have less resistance than this ground, shouldn't the unused current be going out the neutral and not down the ground wire. is this an indication of a loose neutral before the breaker panel. it seems all my unused current is going to ground. i am also assuming it really makes no difference whether this was terminated to the bus bar which is still "electrically connected to the neutral" or under the same lug. it is tightened down effectively. i just don't know. so i guess my questions are should the furnace be drawing that much current on startup should i have current flowing to ground instead of down the neutral and could this possible loose neutral be why the furnace is drawing so much current at startup? since i just got my house i am just trying to learn troubleshooting and see theory in action. i have repiped and pulled over half the circuits in the house already just to make sure everything is good, everything seems good, i have plug tested everything and it's all correct as far as i can tell, but if that #6 is handling all the unused current and relying on the water pipe to disperse it all into the earth constantly, this could make it harder for motors to startup? and might be costing me more? my panel seems balanced now, as balanced as i can get it but there is still unbalanced load when the furnace is running. thanks fellow sparkies |
| JimmyDee | quote:Motor startup current should be in the 4 to 6 times the normal running current, so yes that is normal quote: You should have no current running to ground. I would say you have a problem. That is what the neutral is there for to carry current and the ground is there to carry fault current only. I've seen this when the power company has a problem somewhere but I was told not to worry but it was only an amp or two. quote: Probably not. I would like to welcome you to this site. Jim |
| jagerbombme | thanks jim, appreciate your help and welcome |
| lctrc789 | Jagerbombme, you have a bad or loose connection some where in the neutral line. Either at the panel, the meter base or on the utility side of the pole or transformer. Try to take a reading on each load side of the main and have some one turn on the furnace, or dryer, or anything that has a motor, even the washer. See what voltage you have from line to ground at each leg, if one is 10 or more volts higher then the other chances are you have a nuetral problem. Keep us posted and let us know what you find. |
| jagerbombme | will do for sure. i am neatening up the wiring in the panel and finding other issues right now, such as where i repiped and pulled straight to a j-box without pulling numerous other circuits they had in with the basement lights. i pulled three circuits cause that's what was in the box, a network and a circuit. well i was trying to figure which neutral went with what and it turns out the one neutral when i pulled it didn't turn off anything, and when i pulled the other one it only shut off part of the circuit that shuts off when you shut off the breaker. LMAO. some commercial guy did some of this, im amazed. LOL i figured out what was what by flipping breakers in the first place. they had 6 circuits coming through with the basement lights. some basement lights were on the basement light circuit, some lights were on the laundry circuit, some were on the garage, some outlets down here were on the living room circuit. LOL so i repiped the laundry with it's own home run pipe. 20A circuit w/ a gfi for the dryer and 10ft. over to another outlet i loaded off the gfi. then i repiped the furnace as i said. then i repiped a homerun straight to the j-box with the garage, addition, livingrm/bathroom circuits in it. then i repiped the basement lights and had to pull the range/hood circuit with the basement lights. so i lightened up some heater boxes and simplified mostly everything i could from the basement end of things. inside the j-box had those three circuits, when i shut off those breakers, those were the hots i had in there, plus two neutrals. well like i said, when i pull one neutral off the bbar, nothing dies, and when i pull the other neutral off the bbar, only some things die. LMAO, im gonna have to repull this whole house. thank god it's in pipe. the stuff im finding is scary. crossed neutrals and such, at least that's what im hoping, i have plug tested the outlets and they read correct so im hoping nothing is grounded or getting a false neutral or anything from anywhere. once i get this panel neatened though, without labeling neutrals with they're hots as of yet, i will futher investigate the feeds and incoming neutral voltages with motors on and off and also im going to disconnect that ground wire after turning everything off, and then turn everything back on and see what happens, i am betting that is when i will really see some funky voltage stuff happening. from what i've read and from what i've been taught by my JW's. thanks guys, any more input on what i've added would be gr8 |