[Micahhvac]

Older ( 1993) mobile home.


Here is my question:

When I turn on all of the 120V single breakers, the mobile home is missing half of the power to it. For example, The living room, front bedroom/bathroom lights/outlets have power. However, the kitchen, back bedroom/bathroom do not have power- With the exception of the bathroom GFCI outlet( I assume, the orange light was on, didn't test this one) .

In the breaker box, On the left side is all of the single 120V breakers for the lights, wall outlets, etc. with the exception of the water heater ( Never turned it on, water is off). On the right side, would be all of the 220V breakers( Dryer, Range, Furnace, AC).



Here is the really strange part- When I turn on the Oven/range breaker ( which works as normal btw) then the rest of the mobile home gets power. ONLY when I turn on the range breaker( 220V). Turn it off, half the power goes back off.


The 220V furnace/fan would only hum until I turned on the range breaker, which then it proceeded to dim all the lights until I turned it back off. Mind you, I had turned the furnace off ( set to 50 degrees when its like 70 out) and set the fan to " ON".


Am I missing a Leg/ Side of power? I'm just confused why the range breaker would allow the rest of the lights to power up.

 

[Jim Port]

Your description certainly makes it sound like a lost leg of power. Call your power company trouble line ASAP. Leave your single pole breakers off.

 

[Reddog5522]

Turn off main breaker U got a loose wire some where. this is a job for a real electrician

 

[Micahhvac]

So I tested the Power coming in at the power poll breaker ( you know the breaker outside connected to the meter) and one side of that breaker isn't functioning right. I can flip it hard back and forth a couple times, then it will show 124V on each side.

I own this box right? So I would need AEP to come turn off the power so I can replace that main breaker? or would AEP do that?

The other confusing thing is, AEP used Aluminum wiring, As well as the mains going into the trailer. The confusing part is, Neither connection ( aep's or mine) has the corrosion preventative putty stuff, You know, for dissimilar metals. Its a Square D panel outside.

 

[surferdude2]

So PoCo's will allow you to pull the meter and make repairs... give them a call to see if they would rather do it... it's a free service. And yes, anything downstream of the meter is yours.

 

[surferdude2]

In the meantime, Keep all 2-pole breakers off to prevent low voltage backfeed, which could damage something.

 

[Jim Port]

The antioxidant paste is not required. It is a good practice to use .

 

[CMink]

Had a similar problem years ago on a rental property. Leaving tenents had the electric turned off without telling me. After the Utility restored power half circuits were receiving low voltage. House had external bus box with a bus breaker for each 120v leg. One of them was not seated completely. Utility company error when re-connecting power.

 

[seharper]

Contact the power company and report an outage. 98% of the time (well maybe 80% of the time in a trailer park) the problem is in the power company's overhead line service drop to your house.

This is an emergency and they should come right out.

I wouldn't call an electrician yet; this is free.

Here is the really strange part- When I turn on the Oven/range breaker ( which works as normal btw) then the rest of the mobile home gets power. ONLY when I turn on the range breaker( 220V). Turn it off, half the power goes back off.

Am I missing a Leg/ Side of power? I'm just confused why the range breaker would allow the rest of the lights to power up.

Not strange at all, a normal effect of losing a leg. An oven or dryer or water heater is a very high current with low resistance. When you turn the oven on, current now flows from the live leg (L1) *through the oven coil* to the dead leg (L2). This backfeeds L2. Then, current flows through whatever 120V appliances you have plugged into L2. Then through those appliances and back to neutral.

Effectively the oven coil is "in series" with the appliances, and {the oven} and {all the 120V appliances} are sharing 120V.

Voltage drop is caused by current. If you have low-draw appliances on L2 like a TV, laptop, phone chargers etc., the low draw means very little voltage drop in the oven, and the light appliances are getting nearly 120V. That's good enough for them!

If you load it down heavily this trick will stop working, and now the phase loss will become much more apparent.

Before calling the power company, turn off all your 240V breakers. That way you can truthfully answer power company service droids' questions like "Do your lights work?"

 

[Micahhvac]

Contact the power company and report an outage. 98% of the time (well maybe 80% of the time in a trailer park) the problem is in the power company's overhead line service drop to your house.

This is an emergency and they should come right out.

I wouldn't call an electrician yet; this is free.



Not strange at all, a normal effect of losing a leg. An oven or dryer or water heater is a very high current with low resistance. When you turn the oven on, current now flows from the live leg (L1) *through the oven coil* to the dead leg (L2). This backfeeds L2. Then, current flows through whatever 120V appliances you have plugged into L2. Then through those appliances and back to neutral.

Effectively the oven coil is "in series" with the appliances, and {the oven} and {all the 120V appliances} are sharing 120V.

Voltage drop is caused by current. If you have low-draw appliances on L2 like a TV, laptop, phone chargers etc., the low draw means very little voltage drop in the oven, and the light appliances are getting nearly 120V. That's good enough for them!

If you load it down heavily this trick will stop working, and now the phase loss will become much more apparent.

Before calling the power company, turn off all your 240V breakers. That way you can truthfully answer power company service droids' questions like "Do your lights work?"

Thank you for the clear explanation of why that happens with the range.

I'll be ordering a replacement breaker for the outside box, ( Pretty expensive breaker). Once it arrives I'll call the Utilities and see what they want to do. I don't live in the mobile home, So it's not a huge deal to sit with the power off for a bit. I do know the neutral coming to the box from the meter has a good amount of corrosion on it, ( not necessarily the wire itself, but the entire lug) so I'll get some of that paste in there too.

Thanks for the help!

 

[chandler48]

Have you not called the power company, yet??? Priorities. They are required to respond and it is free.