Halp. Half of my electrical panel is dead

Is this a power company thing or a my wiring thing?

One of my main legs is not showing any power and all the breakers on that side are on but.. darkness. 

Have you checked the dead leg at the service entrance?

Sounds like the power company has dropped a leg. 

Have not pulled the meter - only the panel cover inside. Just got done reporting to GA Power and you responded faster! Not sure how fast they'll respond or how to diagnose. 

In the meantime is it safe to use the circuits that have power? Supper is half cooked and I have an extension cord. 

In reply to OHSCrifle :

I would think so. 
 

(Your electric range won't work)

Momma finished the dinner with a headlamp and the gas range top.

She's a stud.

In reply to OHSCrifle :

I don't mean to be rude, but that sounds kinda kinky

In reply to SV reX :

LOL 

In reply to OHSCrifle :

Maybe 25 years ago we had a similar problem.  It turned out a branch had rubbed on one of the conductors on our service drop. Just like you’re seeing half our panel was dead.  The power company replaced the drop in from the street to the house. 

Similar thing happened at my wife's parents house, half the panel dead.  The electric company did the repair within a day.  It was something at the street connection (underground power).  Seems to be something they put a bit of a rush on repairing.

Turns out I don't look at the main service meter unless the power is out... I found a cautionary note from Sparky 13 years ago.

I sure hope it's the line "in" and not the base.. but I suspect it's the base.

It's an odd size enclosure 12Wx14H - and buried in brick veneer. That seems bad.


 

Lineman said the underground cable has a bad leg, and my meter socket is broken. And he said the good leg is stretched really tight because the ground settled and it'll have to be extended too. He can fix it but the meter is unlikely to go back into the broken socket. 

Then says "I'm a gambler - want me to try it or wait until you can have an electrician here?". He noted "some power is better than none"... and he said they'd jump me to front of the line once sparky is ready. So I'm well over a barrel and will try to fix this tomorrow. 
 

I think I prefer people not gamble with my electric service...

SV reX said:

I think I prefer people not gamble with my electric service...

Yeah I told him let's keep some power rather than risk having none. Fortunately it's 68 degrees tonight and a high of 76 tomorrow.

Actually spoke with two electricians tonight. The lineman called a guy he said "should be able to fix it by changing parts" which is my best possible scenario. This is gonna suck. But it's why emergency funds are a thing for homeowners. 

edit: sparky said to disconnect dryer, oven, AC so the good leg doesn't back feed the bad leg and cause mayhem / I cut all those breakers. Fortunately we have tankless gas water heater and refrigerators all on "live" circuits tonight. Even have internet and TV so roughing it is quite relative. 
 

Edit 2: paired 220 breakers both seem to be on the same bar so I'm not sure how that would back charge the other leg. Oh well time to sleep.  

OHSCrifle said:

In the meantime is it safe to use the circuits that have power? Supper is half cooked and I have an extension cord. 

Just don't use any 240v appliance.  It will try to draw double the amperage through one leg (depending on the appliance) and best case scenario you just trip the breaker.  Worst case scenario is that you have a malfunctioning (or older design) breaker and things can get yucky.

You could technically use most clothes dryers because, although they are a 240v appliance, they typically use one leg for the heating element and one leg for fan and everything else.  So you could use it as an air-dry if the live leg is the fan, but if the dead leg feeds the fan, you just have a heating element and no fan.  Not good.

Electric water heater should be fine.  It likely uses two legs - each one feeding a separate heating element.  Your BTUs are cut in half, so keep showers short.  Only downside there is if the leg that feeds the control board is dead, then it might not work.

Plan on cooking your meals in a microwave or a hot pot.  Similar thing happened to me in an apartment I rented.  The main bus fusible link at the transformer went kapow and I only had one leg.  I flipped off any of the 240v breakers to prevent forgetting and had to run an extension cord to the fridge.

OHSCrifle said:

SV reX said:

I think I prefer people not gamble with my electric service...

Edit 2: paired 220 breakers both seem to be on the same bar so I'm not sure how that would back charge the other leg. Oh well time to sleep.  

If you have a 240v appliance that turns on, it will start alternating-currenting (that's a verb) the other leg and feed it power.   You'll be trying to feed all the loads on the other (dead) leg with whatever comes through the half of the 240v breaker.

I've disconnected all the 220v stuff. Thanks guys. 

Wish me luck. Got sparky scheduled for tomorrow morning. He works a lot with the power company and will coordinate the dance of..

de-power underground service entrance from street... r/r the meter socket inside the old can... splice or extend incoming cable... hook it all back up. For $750 which might suck but honestly it seems pretty fair to me.

OHSCrifle said:

...Edit 2: paired 220 breakers both seem to be on the same bar so I'm not sure how that would back charge the other leg. Oh well time to sleep.  

 

FYI:  While it may look like each leg goes down one side of the load center they actually alternate so that adjecent breakers are on opposite legs.  It's easier to see this on some load centers like the one below. If both breakers in a 220 pair were on the same leg you'd have zero volts not 220.

In reply to APEowner :

light bulb moment. 

If you have underground service from the transformer (somewhere out near the street) and your house, its always good to first check the connections and wiring near the transformer.  Might require some digging.

I had a neighbor last year pay to replace his whole underground line, only to find out the fault was close to the transformer.  And could have been repaired easily.

Many top shelf electricians have "scanners" that can "see te break" under ground, and just dig up that area and repair.  If the scanner finds the fault under a massive tree that grew up in the last 20 years... oh well.

YMMV

In reply to Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) :

The utility is responsible for everything outside the meter so they will do whatever it takes to get my service entrance cable fixed.  Famous last words. 

This got fixed. Utility killed power, Electrician replaced the broken (top left, the one that is folded over) lug inside the meter base and a different "underground" crew from the utility came out and traced and found a nick in their line (from the new build across the street). All done Friday morning between 8-11am.

They replaced the incoming line to a spot just outside the house with a splice and some shrink wrap. Had everything back up about 36 hours after the initial loss. 

before:

after:

edit: it cost me $725 out of pocket but the ground settlement since 1977 pulled the cable downward and that broke the lug on the utility side of the meter. Not holding my breath...  but I'm going to try and get reimbursed by the utility for the cost of the repair. I also got VERY lucky that this meter base is one of the three (out of seventeen possible types) with replacements parts available. 

In reply to OHSCrifle :

They didn't require that you update to an exposed bonding point for other utilities at the service entrance?

Stampie said:

In reply to OHSCrifle :

They didn't require that you update to an exposed bonding point for other utilities at the service entrance?

They did not.

Not sure it matters but only my water line is within 10' of this meter and it's not on the same wall. It is around the corner.

My gas meter is 30' away and around a corner and my internet enters on the back of the house next to the phone wire. 

I also don't have an exterior power disconnect mechanism, except breaking the seal and pulling the meter.  

As unlucky as this was, I kinda got lucky. If the meter box type didn't have replacement parts available I would have had to get a new meter installed in front of the brick veneer, and lengthen (replace) the 40' long main feeder into my panel. I'm not sure who would have ultimately paid for that but it would be quite a bit more out of pocket.