After some time away..............came home to:

two TV's
two DVD / VCR combos
wireless router
garage door opener
forced air furnace
GFI in garage tripped & will not reset
some wall repectales & lighting circuits not working
(but no breakers tripped and power ok on both hot legs)

all items were non-functional, non- responsive, no power up

cable company had called & said their cable equipment in the vicinity
of our house was "blown"

I pulled the panel cover & tightened all wire clamps on the breakers
and the screws on the neutral bus....found a couple slightly loose.
All circuits returned to working order.

furnace 24v transformer bad...replaced it and furnace now working
bought new router before I checked to see if old router failure was
just power supply, it was

no lightning storms while away

any ideas as to cause of destruction of all these electronic items?

voltage surge? cause of said surge?

cheers
Bob

On Tue 25 Nov 2008 10:44:19p, BobK207 told us...



After some time away..............came home to:

two TV's
two DVD / VCR combos
wireless router
garage door opener
forced air furnace
GFI in garage tripped & will not reset
some wall repectales & lighting circuits not working
(but no breakers tripped and power ok on both hot legs)

all items were non-functional, non- responsive, no power up

cable company had called & said their cable equipment in the vicinity
of our house was "blown"

I pulled the panel cover & tightened all wire clamps on the breakers
and the screws on the neutral bus....found a couple slightly loose.
All circuits returned to working order.

furnace 24v transformer bad...replaced it and furnace now working
bought new router before I checked to see if old router failure was
just power supply, it was

no lightning storms while away

any ideas as to cause of destruction of all these electronic items?

voltage surge? cause of said surge?

cheers
Bob



Voltage surge. Who knows. Call your power company. They should have some
sort of record of anything unusual. It also wouldn’t hurt to have them
come out and check electrical service, including panel.

--
Wayne Boatwright
(correct the spelling of "geemail" to reply)
************************************************** **********************
Date: Tuesday, 11(XI)/25(XXV)/08(MMVIII)
************************************************** **********************
Countdown till U.S. Thanksgiving Day
1dys 56mins
************************************************** **********************
Catastrophe: An award for the cat with the nicest buns.
************************************************** **********************

Wayne Boatwright wrote:
On Tue 25 Nov 2008 10:44:19p, BobK207 told us...


After some time away..............came home to:

two TV's
two DVD / VCR combos
wireless router
garage door opener
forced air furnace
GFI in garage tripped & will not reset
some wall repectales & lighting circuits not working
(but no breakers tripped and power ok on both hot legs)

all items were non-functional, non- responsive, no power up

cable company had called & said their cable equipment in the vicinity
of our house was "blown"

I pulled the panel cover & tightened all wire clamps on the breakers
and the screws on the neutral bus....found a couple slightly loose.
All circuits returned to working order.

furnace 24v transformer bad...replaced it and furnace now working
bought new router before I checked to see if old router failure was
just power supply, it was

no lightning storms while away

any ideas as to cause of destruction of all these electronic items?

voltage surge? cause of said surge?

cheers
Bob



Voltage surge. Who knows. Call your power company. They should have some
sort of record of anything unusual. It also wouldn’t hurt to have them
come out and check electrical service, including panel.

Hi,
Also check with home insurnace for possible reapir bill reimbursement.

Wayne Boatwright wrote:

On Tue 25 Nov 2008 10:44:19p, BobK207 told us...



After some time away..............came home to:

two TV's
two DVD / VCR combos
wireless router
garage door opener
forced air furnace
GFI in garage tripped & will not reset
some wall repectales & lighting circuits not working
(but no breakers tripped and power ok on both hot legs)

all items were non-functional, non- responsive, no power up

cable company had called & said their cable equipment in the vicinity
of our house was "blown"

I pulled the panel cover & tightened all wire clamps on the breakers
and the screws on the neutral bus....found a couple slightly loose.
All circuits returned to working order.

furnace 24v transformer bad...replaced it and furnace now working
bought new router before I checked to see if old router failure was
just power supply, it was

no lightning storms while away

any ideas as to cause of destruction of all these electronic items?

voltage surge? cause of said surge?

cheers
Bob



Voltage surge. Who knows. Call your power company. They should have some
sort of record of anything unusual. It also wouldn’t hurt to have them
come out and check electrical service, including panel.

The key thing here is that the cable company indicated their gear in the
vicinity was blown. Check with your neighbors as well to see if they had
similar issues.

As has been noted, the loss of a neutral connection can do this type of
damage. If it affected more than just your house i.e. the cable
company's gear and/or neighbors, it is possible that the neutral may
have been lost on the utility transformer that supplies several homes
(varies by area as to how many homes would be served).

Another relatively common possibility would be "man-made lightning"
caused by an event suck as a falling tree branch or an auto accident
that causes the high voltage primary wires at the top of the pole to
contact the lower voltage wires a bit further down that supply the
houses.

On Tue 25 Nov 2008 10:44:19p, BobK207 told us...



After some time away..............came home to:

two TV's
two DVD / VCR combos
wireless router
garage door opener
forced air furnace
GFI in garage tripped & will not reset
some wall repectales & lighting circuits not working
(but no breakers tripped and power ok on both hot legs)

all items were non-functional, non- responsive, no power up

cable company had called & said their cable equipment in the vicinity
of our house was "blown"

I pulled the panel cover & tightened all wire clamps on the breakers
and the screws on the neutral bus....found a couple slightly loose.
All circuits returned to working order.

furnace 24v transformer bad...replaced it and furnace now working
bought new router before I checked to see if old router failure was
just power supply, it was

no lightning storms while away

any ideas as to cause of destruction of all these electronic items?

voltage surge? cause of said surge?

cheers
Bob



Voltage surge. Who knows. Call your power company. They should
have some sort of record of anything unusual. It also wouldn’t hurt
to have them come out and check electrical service, including panel.

You don't need a lightning storm to be hit by lightning. Any neighbors
have same problems?

On Nov 26, 6:56*am, "Twayne" wrote:
On Tue 25 Nov 2008 10:44:19p, BobK207 told us...

After some time away..............came home to:

two TV's
two DVD / VCR combos
wireless router
garage door opener
forced air furnace
GFI in garage tripped & will not reset
some wall repectales & lighting circuits not working
(but no breakers tripped and power ok on both hot legs)

all items were non-functional, non- responsive, no power up

cable company had called & said their cable equipment in the vicinity
of our house was "blown"

I pulled the panel cover & tightened all wire clamps on the breakers
and the screws on the neutral bus....found a couple slightly loose.
All circuits returned to working order.

furnace 24v transformer bad...replaced it and furnace now working
bought new router before I checked to see if old router failure was
just power supply, it was *

no lightning storms while away

any ideas as to cause of destruction of all these electronic items?

voltage surge? *cause of said surge?

cheers
Bob

Voltage surge. *Who knows. *Call your power company. *They should
have some sort of record of anything unusual. *It also wouldn’t hurt
to have them come out and check electrical service, including panel.

You don't need a lightning storm to be hit by lightning. *Any neighbors
have same problems?

Homes mostly sporadically occupied, none on the same transformer are
here...

my closet thing to an "effected neighbor" is the cable company guy &
their blown equipment.

cheers
Bob

On Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:02:43 -0800 (PST), BobK207
wrote:

You don't need a lightning storm to be hit by lightning. *Any neighbors
have same problems?

Homes mostly sporadically occupied, none on the same transformer are
here...

my closet thing to an "effected neighbor" is the cable company guy &
their blown equipment.

cheers
Bob

I don't have an answer as I'm a DIY er.

Did your area experience a "brownout"? A drop in power and a sudden
surge of power.

..."A brownout is a temporary interruption of power service in which
the electric power is reduced, rather than being cut as is the case
with a blackout. Lights may flicker and dim during a brownout, and the
event also often wreaks havoc with electrical appliances such as
computers. One could consider a brownout the opposite of a power
surge, an electrical event in which a sudden burst of power enters the
system."

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-brownout.htm

On Nov 26, 2:33*pm, Oren wrote:
On Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:02:43 -0800 (PST), BobK207
wrote:

You don't need a lightning storm to be hit by lightning. *Any neighbors
have same problems?

Homes mostly sporadically occupied, none on the same transformer are
here...

my closet thing to an "effected neighbor" is the cable company guy &
their blown equipment.

cheers
Bob

I don't have an answer as I'm a DIY er.

Did your area experience a "brownout"? A drop in power and a sudden
surge of power.

.."A brownout is a temporary interruption of power service in which
the electric power is reduced, rather than being cut as is the case
with a blackout. Lights may flicker and dim during a brownout, and the
event also often wreaks havoc with electrical appliances such as
computers. One could consider a brownout the opposite of a power
surge, an electrical event in which a sudden burst of power enters the
system."

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-brownout.htm

Oren-

Actually, my area expericend a complete, fairly longterm power
outage....long enough to mess up digital clocks and partially melt ice
cubes & make ice cream "grainy".

Upon reading more about drops (brownouts) or complete power loss....in
high current surge when power is restored can also damage equipment.

I think your comment .................. One could consider a
brownout the opposite of a power
surge, an electrical event in which a sudden burst of power enters the
system.

makes the most sense

cheers
Bob

Wayne Boatwright wrote:

On Tue 25 Nov 2008 10:44:19p, BobK207 told us...



After some time away..............came home to:

two TV's
two DVD / VCR combos
wireless router
garage door opener
forced air furnace
GFI in garage tripped & will not reset
some wall repectales & lighting circuits not working
(but no breakers tripped and power ok on both hot legs)

all items were non-functional, non- responsive, no power up

cable company had called & said their cable equipment in the vicinity
of our house was "blown"

I pulled the panel cover & tightened all wire clamps on the breakers
and the screws on the neutral bus....found a couple slightly loose.
All circuits returned to working order.

furnace 24v transformer bad...replaced it and furnace now working
bought new router before I checked to see if old router failure was
just power supply, it was

no lightning storms while away

any ideas as to cause of destruction of all these electronic items?

voltage surge? cause of said surge?

cheers
Bob




Voltage surge. Who knows. Call your power company. They should have some
sort of record of anything unusual. It also wouldn’t hurt to have them
come out and check electrical service, including panel.

Not uncommon. If homes in addition to yours were similarly impacted
there was an open neutral, even if only intermittently, outside of your
home. If just devices in your home failed then the open neutral was on
your side of the meter and you are on the hook. Otherwise the power
company should bear the burden of repairing all of it.

Boden

In article , BobK207 wrote:


After some time away..............came home to:

two TV's
two DVD / VCR combos
wireless router
garage door opener
forced air furnace
GFI in garage tripped & will not reset
some wall repectales & lighting circuits not working
(but no breakers tripped and power ok on both hot legs)

all items were non-functional, non- responsive, no power up

cable company had called & said their cable equipment in the vicinity
of our house was "blown"

I pulled the panel cover & tightened all wire clamps on the breakers
and the screws on the neutral bus....found a couple slightly loose.
All circuits returned to working order.

furnace 24v transformer bad...replaced it and furnace now working
bought new router before I checked to see if old router failure was
just power supply, it was

no lightning storms while away

any ideas as to cause of destruction of all these electronic items?

voltage surge? cause of said surge?

Loose neutral will do that -- turns two 120V circuits on opposite legs of the
240V service into a single 240V circuit in series, sending 240V through a
whole bunch of things that were never intended to see more than 120V.

On Nov 25, 10:08*pm, (Doug Miller) wrote:
In article , BobK207 wrote:





After some time away..............came home to:

two TV's
two DVD / VCR combos
wireless router
garage door opener
forced air furnace
GFI in garage tripped & will not reset
some wall repectales & lighting circuits not working
(but no breakers tripped and power ok on both hot legs)

all items were non-functional, non- responsive, no power up

cable company had called & said their cable equipment in the vicinity
of our house was "blown"

I pulled the panel cover & tightened all wire clamps on the breakers
and the screws on the neutral bus....found a couple slightly loose.
All circuits returned to working order.

furnace 24v transformer bad...replaced it and furnace now working
bought new router before I checked to see if old router failure was
just power supply, it was *

no lightning storms while away

any ideas as to cause of destruction of all these electronic items?

voltage surge? *cause of said surge?

Loose neutral will do that -- turns two 120V circuits on opposite legs of the
240V service into a single 240V circuit in series, sending 240V through a
whole bunch of things that were never intended to see more than 120V.

Doug-

I know that across the two hot legs of a residential installation is
240V.

But I'm not understanding how a loose neutral (would that be to the
house neutral or neutral an individual circuit?) would give 240V on a
120V?

A loose "individual circuit neutral" would break the 120V
circuit ....dead no power?

Loose (how loose?) or lost house neutral would still leave all the
individual neutrals connected at the neutral bus.......and the return
path for all the 120V circuits is back through the opposite leg hot?

Is that where the 240v in series across the 120V circuits comes
from????

Would the Edison guys have know enough to check for loose neutral at
the house entrance?
And would throwing a Wiggy across the terminals give them anything
other than voltage?

My service comes in underground & the meter w/ main breaker (mounted
outside on the house).

My "main panel" is in the laundry room (no main breaker there).

Everything seems to be working fine now.


cheers
Bob

In article , BobK207 wrote:
On Nov 25, 10:08=A0pm, (Doug Miller) wrote:
Loose neutral will do that -- turns two 120V circuits on opposite legs of the
240V service into a single 240V circuit in series, sending 240V through a
whole bunch of things that were never intended to see more than 120V.

Doug-

I know that across the two hot legs of a residential installation is
240V.

But I'm not understanding how a loose neutral (would that be to the
house neutral or neutral an individual circuit?) would give 240V on a
120V?

Loose neutral on the incoming supply.

A loose "individual circuit neutral" would break the 120V
circuit ....dead no power?

Loose (how loose?) or lost house neutral would still leave all the
individual neutrals connected at the neutral bus.......and the return
path for all the 120V circuits is back through the opposite leg hot?

Exactly.

Is that where the 240v in series across the 120V circuits comes
from????

Exactly.

Would the Edison guys have know enough to check for loose neutral at
the house entrance?

They'll check up to where they make the connections at the rain head (if it's
an overhead entrance) or at their side of the meter base (underground
entrance). Downstream from there is your responsibility, and they won't check
it. The neutral could be loose on your side of the meter base, or at the lug
in your main panel.

Much more likely, though, that any loose neutral problem that might exist is
on the power company's side of things.

And would throwing a Wiggy across the terminals give them anything
other than voltage?

Don't think so.

My service comes in underground & the meter w/ main breaker (mounted
outside on the house).

My "main panel" is in the laundry room (no main breaker there).

Everything seems to be working fine now.

Let's hope it stays that way.

On Sat, 29 Nov 2008 15:32:59 GMT, (Doug Miller)
wrote:

In article , BobK207 wrote:
On Nov 25, 10:08=A0pm, (Doug Miller) wrote:
Loose neutral will do that -- turns two 120V circuits on opposite legs of the
240V service into a single 240V circuit in series, sending 240V through a
whole bunch of things that were never intended to see more than 120V.

Doug-

I know that across the two hot legs of a residential installation is
240V.

But I'm not understanding how a loose neutral (would that be to the
house neutral or neutral an individual circuit?) would give 240V on a
120V?

Loose neutral on the incoming supply.

A loose "individual circuit neutral" would break the 120V
circuit ....dead no power?

Loose (how loose?) or lost house neutral would still leave all the
individual neutrals connected at the neutral bus.......and the return
path for all the 120V circuits is back through the opposite leg hot?

Exactly.

Is that where the 240v in series across the 120V circuits comes
from????

Exactly.

Would the Edison guys have know enough to check for loose neutral at
the house entrance?

They'll check up to where they make the connections at the rain head (if it's
an overhead entrance) or at their side of the meter base (underground
entrance). Downstream from there is your responsibility, and they won't check
it. The neutral could be loose on your side of the meter base, or at the lug
in your main panel.

Much more likely, though, that any loose neutral problem that might exist is
on the power company's side of things.

And would throwing a Wiggy across the terminals give them anything
other than voltage?

Don't think so.

My service comes in underground & the meter w/ main breaker (mounted
outside on the house).

My "main panel" is in the laundry room (no main breaker there).

Everything seems to be working fine now.

Let's hope it stays that way.


My dad lost most of his electronics and every light-bulb that was
turned on when someone slid their car into the transformer vault about
2 houses down the street. The hydro company figured he gor a couple
thousand volts for up ro a second before the fuse on the downline
transformer let go.

The problem is when there is a BIG item like a toaster, on one leg. And a
small item like a VCR on the other leg. Then, most of the voltage goes to
the low wattage item.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...


Loose neutral will do that -- turns two 120V circuits on opposite legs of
the
240V service into a single 240V circuit in series, sending 240V through a
whole bunch of things that were never intended to see more than 120V.

BobK207 wrote:

After some time away..............came home to:

two TV's
two DVD / VCR combos
wireless router
garage door opener
forced air furnace
GFI in garage tripped & will not reset
some wall repectales & lighting circuits not working
(but no breakers tripped and power ok on both hot legs)

all items were non-functional, non- responsive, no power up

cable company had called & said their cable equipment in the vicinity
of our house was "blown"

I pulled the panel cover & tightened all wire clamps on the breakers
and the screws on the neutral bus....found a couple slightly loose.
All circuits returned to working order.

furnace 24v transformer bad...replaced it and furnace now working
bought new router before I checked to see if old router failure was
just power supply, it was

no lightning storms while away

any ideas as to cause of destruction of all these electronic items?

voltage surge? cause of said surge?

cheers
Bob


Electrical/electronic equipment is blown by queer electrons.

TDD

"BobK207" wrote in message
...


After some time away..............came home to:

two TV's
two DVD / VCR combos
wireless router
garage door opener
forced air furnace
GFI in garage tripped & will not reset
some wall repectales & lighting circuits not working
(but no breakers tripped and power ok on both hot legs)

all items were non-functional, non- responsive, no power up

cable company had called & said their cable equipment in the vicinity
of our house was "blown"

I pulled the panel cover & tightened all wire clamps on the breakers
and the screws on the neutral bus....found a couple slightly loose.
All circuits returned to working order.

furnace 24v transformer bad...replaced it and furnace now working
bought new router before I checked to see if old router failure was
just power supply, it was

no lightning storms while away

any ideas as to cause of destruction of all these electronic items?

voltage surge? cause of said surge?



My first thought would be lightning which didn't necessarily have to hit
your house directly to do damage. It could have hit a pole down the street.
You could also have a neutral conductor problem. The neutral connection
should be checked at the main panel, the meter, the service head and at the
pole and transformer. You should also make sure that your water pipe ground
connection is clean and tight. Also check to make sure that the wire to
your ground rod is not broken. If you don't have a ground rod, then have two
installed.

I had a customer call me a few years ago about a recurring problem with
lightning. TV's, VCR's, and the garage door openers had all been hit at one
time or another. I went and had a look. The house was only about two years
old. It had a well with a plastic water line into the basement and the
original installer had put in a grounding conductor and clamp right where it
changed over to copper. I looked outside and there was one ground rod with
a loose clamp and the wire was not installed correctly. In essence they had
no effective ground path to earth. I installed two new ground rods and they
never had any more problems with lightning.

BobK207 wrote:
After some time away..............came home to:

two TV's
two DVD / VCR combos
wireless router
garage door opener
forced air furnace
GFI in garage tripped & will not reset
some wall repectales & lighting circuits not working
(but no breakers tripped and power ok on both hot legs)

all items were non-functional, non- responsive, no power up

cable company had called & said their cable equipment in the vicinity
of our house was "blown"

I pulled the panel cover & tightened all wire clamps on the breakers
and the screws on the neutral bus....found a couple slightly loose.
All circuits returned to working order.

furnace 24v transformer bad...replaced it and furnace now working
bought new router before I checked to see if old router failure was
just power supply, it was

no lightning storms while away

any ideas as to cause of destruction of all these electronic items?

voltage surge? cause of said surge?

You may never find the actual culprit. Rare symptoms like yours can have
many fathers.

After performing all the steps suggested by other posters (guaranteeing a
suitable ground, tight connections, etc.), it would be prudent to install a
whole-house surge suppressor (about $40).

Good luck.

On Nov 25, 11:44*pm, BobK207 wrote:
After some time away..............came home to:

two TV's
two DVD / VCR combos
wireless router
garage door opener
forced air furnace
GFI in garage tripped & will not reset
some wall repectales & lighting circuits not working
(but no breakers tripped and power ok on both hot legs)

all items were non-functional, non- responsive, no power up

cable company had called & said their cable equipment in the vicinity
of our house was "blown"

I pulled the panel cover & tightened all wire clamps on the breakers
and the screws on the neutral bus....found a couple slightly loose.
All circuits returned to working order.

furnace 24v transformer bad...replaced it and furnace now working
bought new router before I checked to see if old router failure was
just power supply, it was *

no lightning storms while away

any ideas as to cause of destruction of all these electronic items?

voltage surge? *cause of said surge?

cheers
Bob

It could be alot of things as all have said and maybe the power co is
responsible since even the cable co had issues, talk to neighbors but
get your home checked out, add a whole house lightning and surge unit,
indivdual surge protectors. But turning off everything when not used
even overnight can save you alot every month in electric bills, if you
are away why keep things on.

On Nov 26, 8:28�am, ransley wrote:
On Nov 25, 11:44�pm, BobK207 wrote:





After some time away..............came home to:

two TV's
two DVD / VCR combos
wireless router
garage door opener
forced air furnace
GFI in garage tripped & will not reset
some wall repectales & lighting circuits not working
(but no breakers tripped and power ok on both hot legs)

all items were non-functional, non- responsive, no power up

cable company had called & said their cable equipment in the vicinity
of our house was "blown"

I pulled the panel cover & tightened all wire clamps on the breakers
and the screws on the neutral bus....found a couple slightly loose.
All circuits returned to working order.

furnace 24v transformer bad...replaced it and furnace now working
bought new router before I checked to see if old router failure was
just power supply, it was �

no lightning storms while away

any ideas as to cause of destruction of all these electronic items?

voltage surge? �cause of said surge?

cheers
Bob

It could be alot of things as all have said and maybe the power co is
responsible since even the cable co had issues, talk to neighbors but
get your home checked out, add a whole house lightning and surge unit,
indivdual surge protectors. But turning off everything when not used
even overnight can save you alot every month in electric bills, if you
are away why keep things on.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

might be covered by homeowners insurance, cant hurt to ask

BobK207 posted for all of us...



After some time away..............came home to:

two TV's
two DVD / VCR combos
wireless router
garage door opener
forced air furnace
GFI in garage tripped & will not reset
some wall repectales & lighting circuits not working
(but no breakers tripped and power ok on both hot legs)

all items were non-functional, non- responsive, no power up

cable company had called & said their cable equipment in the vicinity
of our house was "blown"

I pulled the panel cover & tightened all wire clamps on the breakers
and the screws on the neutral bus....found a couple slightly loose.
All circuits returned to working order.

furnace 24v transformer bad...replaced it and furnace now working
bought new router before I checked to see if old router failure was
just power supply, it was

no lightning storms while away

any ideas as to cause of destruction of all these electronic items?

voltage surge? cause of said surge?

cheers
Bob


Check your grounding system.
--
Tekkie Don't bother to thank me, I do this as a public service.