On Jan 14, 12:10*am, wrote:
On Sun, 13 Jan 2013 16:20:29 -0800 (PST), "

wrote:

He just clarified that 4th unconnected wire is
one of the insulated conductors. *So, like he says,
if that is what;s there, then it's apparently a 240V
service that might have been 3 phase before.

I would still like to see a picture. If that messenger is truly "not
connected to anything" (not bonded) it is a NESC violation and a
safety hazard, no lineman would allow to happen.since they are the
ones who are in danger,


In his second post he said that the bare was both the support
and the neutral, just as you thought from the beginning.
What is not connected is apparently one of the insulated conductors,
though even in the new post he doesn't directly say that. But
since he said the "4th wire" isn't connected, that's the only
possibility left. So it sounds like it could have been a 3 phase that
was later converted to 240.



I bet *that when we actually look at it we find it is crimped onto the
strand between poles where everything else is bonded. There won't
usually be a direct connection to the transformer and maybe that was
the confusion.