4 ms·
It's more that the cable line was connected to the home's ground plate which the neutral was also tied to (neutral is tied to ground so it can discharge excess
by Longlius 6y ago
It's more that the cable line was connected to the home's ground plate which the neutral was also tied to (neutral is tied to ground so it can discharge excess current in the home's electrical system during thunderstorms or power surges).
When the neutral was cut on the service line, the return path for the mains current became residential ground->cable line->neutral in cable trunk. Since coax drops aren't designed to handle residential mains current, the cable began to heat up and melted its insulation.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- toomuchtodo 6y agoI’m honestly surprised the low voltage cable lasted as long as it did.
- Cerium 6y agoI'm surprised too, but depending on what equipment is in the house the neutral can see much less current than the hot. US residential is usually split phase power, so 240 is provided by two out of phase 120 wires. Since most large loads (air conditioner, stove, oven, etc) use 240v they don't put a load on the neutral. The 120v devices put a load on the neutral but if the house is well wired they cancel each other out since half are on one leg of the 120 and half on the other. From the power service view they act like one large 240v device.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- saalweachter 6y agoI'm going to be honest: until my neutral line was severed by a tree falling on the line -- while not fully severing my power -- I thought the bare metal wire was just there to support the power lines physically.