wrote in message ...
On Monday, November 25, 2013 5:53:24 PM UTC-5, John G wrote:

The typical and very common overhead service coming into a house
is an example of an unisulated neutral, isn't it? All the wire
manufacturers sell service cable with an uninsulated neutral, so
somone must be using it.....

OMG! So many spin-offs from something that has clearly been explained,
time and again. So, instead of trying to answer each in turn, one reply
to all that my frustrated head can remember.

In direct answer to your point, yes. The messenger wire is bare. Only
between transformer and weatherhood. Once it goes into a conduit, it
must be insulated. In fact, all wires in a conduit must be insulated.
Bare wires in a conduit have a tendency to mess up the insulation of
the insulated wires. In panels and J-boxes ground wires are allowed
to be bare, but it is preferential to have them insulated, as well.
Sort of the prevent surprises when jostling things about while performing
a task in live boxes and such. Just for the record, I do not like metal
cut-in boxes or nail-on boxes for switches or receptacles. Especially
when solid wire is used (most romex). I pretty much cannot stand solid
wire for most anything, unless it is in an application where the memory
of said wire is desirable.

Another, quick point: Separate utility wiring from building wiring. The
two are separate entities that follow different rules. Before the meter
falls under the P.U.C. After the meter falls under N.E.C. With some
exceptions for before the meter. Underground services that go to a common
junction box may be considered part of the residence in some areas. I
know this is true in Menlo Park, Ca. The utility considers the junction
box in the sidewalk the end of utility responsibility. For the most part,
all overhead to the weatherhood is utility, after the splice, is part of
the residence. So, the splice point seems to be the utility cut-off.

Now, for the more general and completely fubar'd part.

Repeat after me, "The ground is not, never will be, never has been, nor
ever will be a part of an electrical circuit." Not utility, not residence.
The ground is not a good conductor. In fact, the ground is not homogenous,
and in some locales is exceptionally horrid at conducting electricity at
lengths of only a couple of meters. Most areas have already had a GEO
done on them, and the local powers that be are aware of this fact and
will require a ground resistance check to verify the viability of a ground
electrode to facilitate an Earth bond. This is in no way a circuit connection.
It is a potential energy connection. Part of the reason why multiple
ground rods are required, now. Sometimes a bare cable must be installed,
in a trench, to an engineered distance from the service entrance, or, even,
all the way back to the utility ground location if the soil is that bad.

An individual may remove the ground connections at the meter-main, and at
the transformer and the circuit will operate just fine. The ground wire
does not aid nor hinder the electrical circuits. They are for safety, only.
Well, some shady computer-power-supply manufacturers/mobo developers tried
to go around this at one point in time. They don't do that anymore. :-)
In fact, there was a time when one could not find a ground wire in a
residence. The ground on the transformer was for when the overheads
got knocked down from the weatherhood, for whatever reason, and the ground
allowed a fault path back to the transformer so that the fuse on it would
blow.

Now, some places are still stupid and might do things differently, so do
not play the exception is the norm crap with me, please. Hell, go down
to Australia, or some places in Canada, and scratch your head. Hell, there
are places in the States that are that way, and power distribution in the
States is not universal in all areas. Most areas will follow the rules of
whom controls power transmission. Sometimes they don't get along with the
others and will only agree on how the high tension lines are connected
between different sources. After that, it's a local thing.

For instance. Here in Arkansas, at least in my region, there is one hot
wire, and one neutral wire going to the primary of a residential transformer.
Where I grew up in California, there were two hots and a neutral. Though,
that is not necessarily how the whole state operated. Where I grew up was
a long way to the nearest sub-station, and those familiar with poly-phase
systems know that the current on poly-phase systems is substantially lower
than single phase feeds. Just for those who might question: No, the feed
was not two-phase, just two legs from a three-phase. The main trunk had
four wires, three high, one low, on the pole with cable/phone even lower.


Danny, it is easy for a short or power malfunction to blow up more than one
thing. Part of the reason I was wondering if there was a temperary open
neutral condition. Regardless, I would junk your entire alarm system and
install a new system. Check out Ebay. Screw the middle man. As an extra
protection, buy a small U.P.S. and power the new system with that. Unless
you have a contract with someone, your system doesn't do squat, anyway.
So, why bother? If to only have an audible alarm, a much cheaper system
may be obtained. Once again, check Ebay.

That's it, for now. Other things to do...