Post by StanPost by ArtPost by StanI know this is crazy, but I live in a duplex, that at one point was
combined to be a big house, and now it's a duplex again. So the
electricity at one point had 2 meters, then it had one meter, now it
has 2 meters again.
The electrical works perfect, but now I am trying to add another
electrical outlet. However, I found out that my neighbor, who is on a
different electrical meter, is feeding off my neutral wire. He is not
feeding off my hot wire, just the neutral. This has been going on for
over 15 years. I can move the neutral over to his meter, but it will
take me a few hours. As long as he is not feeding off my electricty,
I don't care, What do you think I should do?
Call an electrician. You and your neighbor obviously need one.
Seriously, if you don't understand hot and neutral and they work you
need to get someone who does.
--
Art
I understand hot and neutral. I even changed a whole circuit breaker
from fuse to breakers. Let me tell you what I did so far.....
First, my meter and my neighbors meter are right next to each other. I
opened up my meter
You cannot open a meter in any location I know of, without violating
both the agreement between you and the supplier, and usually
local/state laws. Tampering with the meter (opening it constitutes
tampering) is a criminal offense. Not the best move.
Post by Stanand noticed that I have 6 neutral wires running
out. (I should only have 3.)
Why three? Two hot, one neutral.
Post by StanThen I opened my neighbors meter
See the above on tampering with power meters...
Post by Stanand he
had zero neutral wires running out. (He should have 3.)
See the above on why three.
Post by StanI followed 3
of the neutral wires and it went to his unit. However, to make sure, i
disconnected all six of my neutral wires.
OK, clearly you jumped off the deep end. And, into water the depth of
which was unknown to you. Disconnecting neutrals can easily damage the
applicances on the power system as there is nothing to ensure that
they receive the proper loads.
Post by StanI then went to his unit and
found out that 1/4 of his circuit was dead.
How did you find 25% of his circuits were dead? Like breaking into the
meters, did you break into his house?
Post by StanHowever, the other 3/4 are
still getting the neutral from somewhere.
There is nothing to indicate that. What you did was possibly damage
his appliances due to unbalanced voltages resulting from an open
neutral.
Post by StanI don't know where. It's
strange because although 3/4 of his circuits are still working, all
the neutrals from both units are disconnected.
The only thing clear here is that you have no clue how power supplied
to residential circuits works. You are dangerous, I do hope you don't
kill someone, or burn down someone's house.
Post by StanI then checked my house
and all the electricity was dead. After this I hooked up his 3 neutral
wires all his electricity is back to normal. Then I hooked up my 3
neutral and my electricity is back to normal also.
Well, 'normal' is relative. You don't say what, where or how you
reconnected the neutrals.
You are a lucky man, you survived (I think) this little adventure.
Lifting the neutrals on a live circuit can be fatal, I hope you
realized that. They are only neutrals as long as they are connected
(properly) and once you lift them, they become hot conductors, and can
have line voltages on them.
Post by Stan__________________________________________
__________________________________________
Entirely different universe than mine. In the universe I live, the
resident, servicing electrician or whoever, cannot open a meter that
measures the electrical use of a residence or business. The electricity
provider owns that equipment. Its all AC, there is no grounding or neutral
at the meter itself.
The universe I live in, the grounding and neutral are provided after the
meter.
What you're saying is all alien to me.
Alien? Hell, the OP is one lucky bastard-I'm amazed he lived to tell
the story, and as soon as the meter reader sees the damaged meter
seals he'll regret opening the boxes. At a minimum they will send a
line truck to open, inspect for tampering, reseal, and recalibrate and
that will be a charge for item!
(Grasshopper: your newsreader needs to be properly configured to
handle quotes in replies... It is virtually impossible to see where
the OP posted, and you replied. There are standards for posting, sadly
it appears that MSFT hs violated these rules. I'd recommend you get a
copy of either Agent, or Thunderbird, and scrap OE...)