"Terry" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 13 Apr 2007 20:02:46 -0400, "John Grabowski"
wrote:


"Terry" wrote in message
roups.com...
On Apr 13, 5:39 pm, "John Grabowski" wrote:
"Terry" wrote in message

...

On Fri, 13 Apr 2007 16:45:45 -0400, "John Grabowski"
wrote:

Shutting off power to the entire house is not a guarantee that the
neutral
won't be hot. Under rare circumstances if your neighbor lost his
neutral
connection it is possible that his return current would travel
through
the
earth to your neutral connection and then back to the transformer.

Could you explain this a little more, really slow.

Coming off of the power company's transformer to a single family
residence
are two hot conductors and a neutral conductor.

The neutral conductor is the return path for the current to go back
to
the
transformer from the two hot conductors.

The neutral conductor is bonded to earth via the water pipe and
ground
rods.

If you were to disconnect the neutral conductor the current will need
to
find another path back to the transformer.

It can go through the earth via the ground rods and water pipe
directly
to
the transformer ground rod and grounding conductor.

However, depending on the location of the transformer and the
neighbor's
house (Or the quality of the transformer ground) the current might
find
a
better path back to the transformer by going through the neighbor's
water
pipe and ground rods into the neighbor's electrical panel and then
continuing through the neighbor's neutral conductor back to the
transformer.

I would think it would take the path back to the other winding in the
transformer.


The primary? I thought that it is only the secondary that is grounded..

I should have said other leg of the transformer. I am only talking
about the secondary side.

Loosing the neutral on the secondary side will cause 240V across any
connected loads.


The only circuits that will be affected by that are the ones that share a
neutral. Loads are not always perfectly balanced so the neutral will most
likely always have current going to it.


I can't see taking a neutral path to your neighbor's house.


I figured. End of discussion.