Hi everyone - I recently had major voltage fluctuations in our house and an electrician detected the problem to be a loose neutral from the main transformer to the house. Moreover, it seems that one end of that line is copper while the other end is aluminium - so his recommendation is that I get the entire wire replaced. I am planning to do that.
Can anyone please help me understand what to expect in this process? I am told that the process can take several weeks to line up all the stakeholders in the project (the electric service provider, the excavator and the electrician) and during that time I will have no power to the house so I need to find alternate living arrangements. Also, I would love to understand what this may cost us - even if it is a ballpark.
Many thanks in advance for your replies.

 

Find where the wires are spliced from copper to aluminum and fix the connection. More than likely the original set had to be extended due to a either a service box update or relocation one end so someone added the mismatched line from that point forward.

Otherwise the plan would be to replace all three feeder lines with new ones.

As for temporary power the new line set could more than likely be used as a above ground feeder until it gets buried.

 

Find where the wires are spliced from copper to aluminum and fix the connection. More than likely the original set had to be extended due to a either a service box update or relocation one end so someone added the mismatched line from that point forward.

Otherwise the plan would be to replace all three feeder lines with new ones.

As for temporary power the new line set could more than likely be used as a above ground feeder until it gets buried.

Thank you so much tcmtech for your reply. My electrician tells me that the transformer feeding power to our house is on the other side of the road in front of our house. Given that situation, is drawing a temporary above ground feeder still an option?

 

As an aside, had the power feed to the house go up in smoke one night. A crew from the power company came over and ran one of my extension cords from the meter (which is on the pole), across the driveway and lawn and plugged it into an outdoor electrical outlet. We had lights and air condition until they came by the next day and replaced the drop. It can be done but don't know whether going across the road is a good idea and whether it is legal.

It would probably cost thousands.

In my opinion it would be best to follow tcmtech's advice in post #2. It is likely to solve the problem, be relatively cheap, and not inconvenience you as having that grand scenario that includes you relocating for days or weeks. In other words there is a good chance it will save you a lot of money and hassle. You might have to find a different electrician to do it because the one you are currently working with is looking forward to a huge sale and would be disappointed.

 

Thank you so much tcmtech for your reply. My electrician tells me that the transformer feeding power to our house is on the other side of the road in front of our house. Given that situation, is drawing a temporary above ground feeder still an option?

Lack of adequate information on your part doesn't equate to improper advice on my part.

If a primary feeder line was spliced they most often have above ground junction box where it is done. Either under your meter box or some place where it enters the house and if not it would most often been near one end that has had dirt work done in the past where some dug into the line and did not do a proper repair job by replacing the damaged line with a like line.

As with Dick I also suggest doing a bit of reasearch on your end to see where the two different line sets tie together plus shop around for a smaller well rated private electrician to help you out. Too often electrical contractors just see dollar signs when there is a potential to make a huge amount of money off of an otherwise common and simple fix by going way overboard on the repair work. I've seen to doe too many times to deny its a common and rather crooked practice.

In the past work was done on one end to extend/repair a line and that splice point is where your problem lays.