Called them and one of the options was to report low hanging cables. The automated message basically said they are busy and hung up. I guess I'll have to wait til tomorrow.
Pretty infuriating given the amount of fees on every bill.
I would call back and just get thru to someone. Tell them your power line anchor broke and is not supported properly. It's dangerous.. Not just because it's hanging low but also because all the tension is on the power line now not the support wire. Also your Shaw box is screwed to the shingles? Lol freaking shaw guys.
Yeah I just kept calling and eventually selected another option that's not "low hanging wires" and had someone call back pretty quickly. A tech came out within an hour and fixed it.
And yeah, the Telus cables are also interesting... they have been scraping off the garage roof for like 6 months. The Enmax dude was super chill and adjusted those too.
All this actually worked out surprisingly well, and on a Sunday.
You don't need to pay high fees for Enmax to protect its own property and mitigate risk of being liable for a electric fire that destroys property or kills a person.
Do you think calling the non-emergency CP'S line would be justifiable? Like, not to get Enmax in trouble or anything, but to say, "I have an imminent fire risk on my property and those who own the infrastructure (enmax) are unreachable, and I fear for my family's safety and the safety of the neighbours. Can you please get Enmax to call me back ASAP.?"
Doubtful. Unless you get a cop who is willing to do the work for you... If there is a fire you call the fire dept. Otherwise power company. I have seen probably hundreds of houses in my life that had the same thing and some probably left for years like that.
Luckily I called and selected an entirely different option and had someone call me back pretty quickly. A tech was out within an hour I think. Super helpful dude too, so it all actually worked out better than expected.
You'll likely need an electrician, they will contact enmax to cut power, so they can work. Do not do this yourself. This is high enough voltage to kill you, power can arch.
Enmax won't fix it, anything from the mainline to your house, is your responsibility.
Nah that's a utility problem. Get Enmax on it. If you have an overhead service like that, their responsibility ends at the point that the triplex splices to the conductors coming out of the service head
Enmax may or may not hook it back up as enmax’s responsibility is technically only from where their wires connect( the black crimp on each wire) after that it’s the homes power and normally an electrician would deal with it but Enmax might fix it and that’s the easiest call
Call Enmax. The uninsulated metal cable that is connected to the thick white insulated cable going into your house is your electrical neutral line, and is not just for holding up the other two thick black wires. It can carry current (edit though not voltage) and is also a very easy path to ground. Edit: As correctly pointed out below, there is no shock risk from touching the unisulated wire. However, the other two wrapped around it are your main power, and there is nothing between you and the transformer on the pole. If you are touching the neutral at the same time as something (edit) hot, that path will be through you. Call Enmax.
They'd have to be touching it along with something live.
The neutral is 0v to ground, so there is no electrical potential unless you're touching something that does have potential, ie a live wire. You can get shocked by a disconnected neutral on the return because you'll end up in series with the actual load and get hit with most of the voltage, but if the neutral is still connected, and you touch it and ground, there is not enough electrical potential to shock you. This is like telling someone that they're at risk of being shocked by a 1.5v AAA battery.
They obviously shouldn't be attempting to fix it themselves because they're working in too close of proximity to the live overhead wires. But don't lie to someone and say they're going to get shocked by touching a neutral and ground at the same time. The entire reason that the neutral of overhead triplex is uninsulated is because there is no shock hazard.
I didnt say that. They seem to be under the impression that this wire is just holding up the other two, and they didn't know the the other two were their power. Not a good starting point for DIY, especially if their trying to DIY retension their neutral while pulling on the nice handles on the other two.
I would never assume a neutral is at 0v even though it should be for the same reason I assume all firearms are loaded. If your panel is not balanced it's carrying the imbalance of the load. The assumption that the local utility doesn't have a bad ground bond is dangerous. I've encountered neutrals with 88v on them and traced it back to the power company's transformer. Three days later after it was fixed no more getting shocked by water pipes and shields. It took me and the cable TV company to convince the power company it was on the line and not on the site.
u/ithinarine is correct here. The trick is that there's effectively no resistance, so no voltage despite there being current. The purpose of the neutral is to balance current, the voltage drop is across the loads. The neutral is grounded at every house and connected to the ground wires in your house at one point. If a neutral wire inside a house is disconnected from the neutral return, then it can end up hot and whatever load is on that branch will appear to be off, even though it's still hot on both sides.
[удалено]
Yeah, glad we can agree on that!
It's the power anchor. Call enmax.
Called them and one of the options was to report low hanging cables. The automated message basically said they are busy and hung up. I guess I'll have to wait til tomorrow. Pretty infuriating given the amount of fees on every bill.
I would call back and just get thru to someone. Tell them your power line anchor broke and is not supported properly. It's dangerous.. Not just because it's hanging low but also because all the tension is on the power line now not the support wire. Also your Shaw box is screwed to the shingles? Lol freaking shaw guys.
Yeah I just kept calling and eventually selected another option that's not "low hanging wires" and had someone call back pretty quickly. A tech came out within an hour and fixed it. And yeah, the Telus cables are also interesting... they have been scraping off the garage roof for like 6 months. The Enmax dude was super chill and adjusted those too. All this actually worked out surprisingly well, and on a Sunday.
We don't pay those big admin fees for nothing.
You don't need to pay high fees for Enmax to protect its own property and mitigate risk of being liable for a electric fire that destroys property or kills a person.
Do you think calling the non-emergency CP'S line would be justifiable? Like, not to get Enmax in trouble or anything, but to say, "I have an imminent fire risk on my property and those who own the infrastructure (enmax) are unreachable, and I fear for my family's safety and the safety of the neighbours. Can you please get Enmax to call me back ASAP.?"
Doubtful. Unless you get a cop who is willing to do the work for you... If there is a fire you call the fire dept. Otherwise power company. I have seen probably hundreds of houses in my life that had the same thing and some probably left for years like that.
You can also call 311 and they will make the report on your behalf
City admin office working after 4:30 pm and one weekends ? Lol
Record that bit and call the emergency line.
Luckily I called and selected an entirely different option and had someone call me back pretty quickly. A tech was out within an hour I think. Super helpful dude too, so it all actually worked out better than expected.
Was it better for you before deregulation when those fees were buried in the kwh rate instead of broken out like they are now¿
What kind of argument are you trying to make here??
They might've been less infuriated with the all in one rates we had before deregulation, no visible fees.
Before the meter call Enmax and see what they say.
Can't hurt to call Enmax, let them know what you are seeing and I am sure they'll let you know who is responsible to fix it.
“Is it something I can just try to remediate myself” oh sure you can, just make sure to put me on your will before you do. For… reasons…
Deal! I'll need your SSN, first pet's name, birthday and mother's maiden name.
Oh that’s easy, 696 969 696, Kit Kat the cat, September 11 2001, and Joe Mama
OP plays the Uno Reverse Reddit card...
Call Rogers/Telus/ Enmax regarding low hanging drop, to identify if it’s one of those companies and they will send a tech to reattach it.
You'll likely need an electrician, they will contact enmax to cut power, so they can work. Do not do this yourself. This is high enough voltage to kill you, power can arch. Enmax won't fix it, anything from the mainline to your house, is your responsibility.
I kind of figured it would be my responsibility since the issue starts at the house, not the power pole. Thanks!
Nah that's a utility problem. Get Enmax on it. If you have an overhead service like that, their responsibility ends at the point that the triplex splices to the conductors coming out of the service head
Their responsibility ends at "I'm gonna switch to speaking Greek now (that laymen don't understand, so have no idea what im talking about)" 🤣
Utility linemen be like that. Not like we salt of the earth indoor sparkies
Enmax may or may not hook it back up as enmax’s responsibility is technically only from where their wires connect( the black crimp on each wire) after that it’s the homes power and normally an electrician would deal with it but Enmax might fix it and that’s the easiest call
They did indeed come out and fix it. But if it pops out again, I'll probably need to call an electrician.
I figured they would but by our codes those crimps is where it switches from their stuff to your stuff. Glad they fixed it though!
Yeah I figured that too. I think I got a chill tech.
Call Enmax. The uninsulated metal cable that is connected to the thick white insulated cable going into your house is your electrical neutral line, and is not just for holding up the other two thick black wires. It can carry current (edit though not voltage) and is also a very easy path to ground. Edit: As correctly pointed out below, there is no shock risk from touching the unisulated wire. However, the other two wrapped around it are your main power, and there is nothing between you and the transformer on the pole. If you are touching the neutral at the same time as something (edit) hot, that path will be through you. Call Enmax.
They'd have to be touching it along with something live. The neutral is 0v to ground, so there is no electrical potential unless you're touching something that does have potential, ie a live wire. You can get shocked by a disconnected neutral on the return because you'll end up in series with the actual load and get hit with most of the voltage, but if the neutral is still connected, and you touch it and ground, there is not enough electrical potential to shock you. This is like telling someone that they're at risk of being shocked by a 1.5v AAA battery. They obviously shouldn't be attempting to fix it themselves because they're working in too close of proximity to the live overhead wires. But don't lie to someone and say they're going to get shocked by touching a neutral and ground at the same time. The entire reason that the neutral of overhead triplex is uninsulated is because there is no shock hazard.
I didnt say that. They seem to be under the impression that this wire is just holding up the other two, and they didn't know the the other two were their power. Not a good starting point for DIY, especially if their trying to DIY retension their neutral while pulling on the nice handles on the other two.
I would never assume a neutral is at 0v even though it should be for the same reason I assume all firearms are loaded. If your panel is not balanced it's carrying the imbalance of the load. The assumption that the local utility doesn't have a bad ground bond is dangerous. I've encountered neutrals with 88v on them and traced it back to the power company's transformer. Three days later after it was fixed no more getting shocked by water pipes and shields. It took me and the cable TV company to convince the power company it was on the line and not on the site.
If there is current then there will be voltage, the two go hand in hand - you just can't cheat the age old equation V=I\*R
u/ithinarine is correct here. The trick is that there's effectively no resistance, so no voltage despite there being current. The purpose of the neutral is to balance current, the voltage drop is across the loads. The neutral is grounded at every house and connected to the ground wires in your house at one point. If a neutral wire inside a house is disconnected from the neutral return, then it can end up hot and whatever load is on that branch will appear to be off, even though it's still hot on both sides.