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Your help please:
I need to share this with all of you. Can we please leave this posted for a couple of days. Thanks very much in advance.
POWER SURGE RECAP: NOW HEAR THIS UPDATE
July 28th 4am. Lightning strike within 75 feet of my home with damage. Previously described.
The good news is repairs have been made and I am back in service.
The first electrician arrives on the day of the strike and gets me back up and going. As I shut down the house for bed that night, I start to notice things which aren’t normal, but would seem like ripple effect from the strike. Such as my overhead kitchen ceiling light taking longer to shut off. Meaning in the dark of night, it fades down like movie theater lights which it always did, but now it’s just a few seconds longer to do it. The next morning while having coffee, I sit on my red couch opposite the boiler room where the hot water heater is. And I hear a fairly large “bang” which vibrates the floor a little bit. Now this is very different – definitely never did that before. However, I rule it out because this is Florida, and my neighborhood is like a sardine can. The homes are so close together, that you can hear something from another yard and think’s it’s in your own.
A few days later I’m in my kitchen washing dishes from a meal. I didn’t use the stove and smell something burning. My outside vision makes me look to my right and I notice my Keurig coffee machine which is plugged in but turned off is releasing smoke. Man, if I hadn’t been there washing dishes. I grabbed it and pulled the cord from the outlet, and used the sink sprayer to get water down inside at the source. There were no flames but no doubt it was red hot down inside. I got it outside into the lawn and ran inside and cut all breakers at the main box.
The second electrician diagnosed the problem as “lost neutral.” Which means some of the outlets were getting less than 110 volts – and others such as the coffee machine – were nearly double that. So the coffee maker achieved final percolation.
Upon further diagnosis – and this is where it takes a strange twist – it gets deeper. So to explain, let me describe the history of my home.
Damaged goods include the coffee machine, overhead ceiling light, and a Whirlpool refrigerator. Whirlpool will work with me under warranty to repair or replace.
First electrician replaces the circuit breaker in the outside power meter box. Parts and labor $865.00
Second electrician comes to the house and diagnoses the lost neutral. This first visit is free.
Second electrician schedules and returns to repair the issue. Final cost: $900.00.
The first electrician does NOT enter the house and verify the voltage is correct. Thereby walking away from an uncompleted job. Refuses to return because he is too busy with other accounts that were put on hold due to my emergency status. The words I replied back to him are not printable here.
So there you have it. It’s been a week since the job was done right. I am better now, but this has really gotten to my nerves. I have no legal recourse. The owner of this house who had the fence installed, as is the owner of the fence company are deceased. I own the land, so the community where my home is located cannot be held liable.
I therefore must grin and bear it. Work with the insurance company, and so on. It might appear that while I have lost some of this, my house still stands, and the contents are safe.
Thanks for reading this if you have come this far.
This is the final post concerning the power surge at my house that I will write. Comments are welcome, going forward.
CHIP G
I need to share this with all of you. Can we please leave this posted for a couple of days. Thanks very much in advance.
POWER SURGE RECAP: NOW HEAR THIS UPDATE
July 28th 4am. Lightning strike within 75 feet of my home with damage. Previously described.
The good news is repairs have been made and I am back in service.
The first electrician arrives on the day of the strike and gets me back up and going. As I shut down the house for bed that night, I start to notice things which aren’t normal, but would seem like ripple effect from the strike. Such as my overhead kitchen ceiling light taking longer to shut off. Meaning in the dark of night, it fades down like movie theater lights which it always did, but now it’s just a few seconds longer to do it. The next morning while having coffee, I sit on my red couch opposite the boiler room where the hot water heater is. And I hear a fairly large “bang” which vibrates the floor a little bit. Now this is very different – definitely never did that before. However, I rule it out because this is Florida, and my neighborhood is like a sardine can. The homes are so close together, that you can hear something from another yard and think’s it’s in your own.
A few days later I’m in my kitchen washing dishes from a meal. I didn’t use the stove and smell something burning. My outside vision makes me look to my right and I notice my Keurig coffee machine which is plugged in but turned off is releasing smoke. Man, if I hadn’t been there washing dishes. I grabbed it and pulled the cord from the outlet, and used the sink sprayer to get water down inside at the source. There were no flames but no doubt it was red hot down inside. I got it outside into the lawn and ran inside and cut all breakers at the main box.
The second electrician diagnosed the problem as “lost neutral.” Which means some of the outlets were getting less than 110 volts – and others such as the coffee machine – were nearly double that. So the coffee maker achieved final percolation.
Upon further diagnosis – and this is where it takes a strange twist – it gets deeper. So to explain, let me describe the history of my home.
- The house is built in a factory and arrives the lot on two semi-trailers.
- The electric is installed and the owners soon move in after.
- The owners have two small dogs, so they order a backyard chain link fence.
- The fence company pounds in several vertical posts to hold the walls of the fence.
- The post near the power meter box is just a little too close for comfort.
- This single post 18 inches underground nicks one of the main power lines.
- Over the next 40 years this damaged line detoriates slightly due to moisture in the ground.
- July 28th 2021 the lightning strike hits and finishes the already damaged line.
- The second electrician digs 10 feet out from the power meter box.
- The electrician digs 10 feet out from the end of the house where the line comes out of the ground and enters the home to the interior breaker box.
- The electrician finds the damage line near the power meter box.
- Rather than replace the entire line, a patch is made and the damaged line is removed.
- Power is restored.
- Outlets are all checked and we are good to go.
Damaged goods include the coffee machine, overhead ceiling light, and a Whirlpool refrigerator. Whirlpool will work with me under warranty to repair or replace.
First electrician replaces the circuit breaker in the outside power meter box. Parts and labor $865.00
Second electrician comes to the house and diagnoses the lost neutral. This first visit is free.
Second electrician schedules and returns to repair the issue. Final cost: $900.00.
The first electrician does NOT enter the house and verify the voltage is correct. Thereby walking away from an uncompleted job. Refuses to return because he is too busy with other accounts that were put on hold due to my emergency status. The words I replied back to him are not printable here.
So there you have it. It’s been a week since the job was done right. I am better now, but this has really gotten to my nerves. I have no legal recourse. The owner of this house who had the fence installed, as is the owner of the fence company are deceased. I own the land, so the community where my home is located cannot be held liable.
I therefore must grin and bear it. Work with the insurance company, and so on. It might appear that while I have lost some of this, my house still stands, and the contents are safe.
Thanks for reading this if you have come this far.
This is the final post concerning the power surge at my house that I will write. Comments are welcome, going forward.
CHIP G
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