Floating neutral

stan 41943

After waiting 3 weeks for my appliance "service technician" to get my new oven to work (european with 3 wires -red black & yellow connected to red black & white for a 240 v service), He checks it with tester & says there is 120 to the red, 120 to the black but not 240 between them. "This is a problem in the electrical panel - there is a floating neutral - I only work on the appliance. Get an electrician." And he leaves. The breaker is new, the neutral appears properly attached - advice ?

BigJimmy

Did he say there's zero volts between them? It sounds like both hots are from the same leg of the panel. Who installed the breaker? Is it a two-pole, common trip (not a tandem)?

I think he also works at my local HD.

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HouseHelper

If you have 120V between the red and white and black and white, but do not have 240V between the red and black, then you have both hots on the same panel bus. You may have used a tandem breaker instead of a double pole breaker. A 240V double pole breaker should use two spaces in your panel. What type of panel do you have?

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stan 41943

Oh,Oh. It's a 2 pole breaker but it's on only one leg of the panel. All other spaces on the panel are full. What now?

BigJimmy

Stan-

Please verify that this is a tandem breaker. It is basically two breakers in a single-space breaker body.

If this is the case, find two adjacent circuits in the panel (i.e. same side, either left or right, immediately above/below one another) that are fed by normal, full-size 1-pole breakers. Relocate these two circuits to the 2 breakers in the tandem. Remove the now-vacant single pole breakers and install a double, common trip breaker with the proper amperage rating.

Make sure that the rating of the tandem is equivalent to that of the two 1-pole breakers.

Jim

__________________
The very existence of flamethrowers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves,"You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done." - George Carlin

stan 41943

Thanks Big Jimmy! Worked like a charm-got my 240v & a working oven. Mucho appreciation this Cinco de Mayo!

BigJimmy

Glad it worked. Whydontcha email me a plate of nacho's?!

__________________
The very existence of flamethrowers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves,"You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done." - George Carlin

HandyPete

Now that was a nice happy ending!

But can you imagine the "service technician" not knowing that? Not willing to give the panel a glance?....pretty lame to me...

- pete

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---pete