Generally, neutral wire problems are evidenced by some
incandescent lamps glowing dimmer and other glowing brighter;
when an appliance power cycles. Also brighter bulbs tend to
burn out significantly quicker. Neither fuse nor protector
(plug-in or 'whole house') will protect from this type of
electrical problem.

However, one homeowner discovered why that earthing ground
is so important. A neutral wire in a utility transformer
failed. The house then used the gas line to carry neutral
current because an earth ground had been compromised
(disconnected). Fortunately no one was home when a gas line
gasket failed and the building exploded.

Rudy wrote:
My neighbor advised (too late) that he was having strange electrical
things happening in his kitchen last week:

Turned on O/H light and the control panel on his stove went dim and
similar.

After a couple of days of ignoring it, the BIG one finally hit. All the LCD
indicators/controls on his 1. NEW stove 2. microwave 3. New $ 200 coffee
maker 4. Digital phone & answering machine went out.

He called in the local electric utility who said it was probably a neutral
failure in THEIR line (up to the meter) and if so, they'd go good for new
appliances.

Well it turned out the Elec Co line was OK. What they did find though was
that the original electrician has double wired some of the neutral circuits
in his panel to the neutral bar by putting two neutrals in one hole. It
appears that a couple weren't tightened down properly and although it was CU
wire and has lasted OK for 17 yrs, a couple of these neutrals lost their
connection somehow, burnt and arced and caused a 220V spike thru one side of
the panel.

The fridge and stove ARE working, but the digital/LCD controls/boards are
burned out as are the brains of the other two items. Looks like about $2K
to replace the burnt items.He s lucky his $ 3000 TV, surround sound ,
computer and so on, that are on the other side of the panel were OK.

The fix was to strip back the burnt neutrals to new clean wire and reattach.
Strangely, his house and mine are about the same size but my panel is
probably 30% larger. Looks like the electrician 'skimped' on his install

Rudy.