Any electrician out there that can answer this?

[plutosmoke]

I have a problem. I've been pulling about 40-45 amps. I'm using 8 1k setup for 240. And a two ton ac set up for 240v and other misc fans ect for 120v. My service line reads 40 on one pole and the other 45 amp on the other pole. Is the 5 amp difference enough to knock out one of my service line? Now one of my poles is out of service but the other is still reading 120v

 

[plutosmoke]

When I shut off the main breaker the pole that is off is reading 100v. And when I turn on the breaker to have some 120v running it reads 50v. Do I have a blown transformer. And how do I fix this and keep this from happening?

 

[DoomsDay]

If you can pull the breaker from your panel and CAREFULLY test the pins behind it for voltage, that can lessen the guess work. If you are getting 120 on both pins (on each seperate phase coming into the panel) Than it isn't anything more than a shorted breaker. The likely hood you tripped a transformer before a breaker is almost none. Breakers can exceed their marked rating by about 10% before they will pop, and even then the breaker is designed to destroy itself before the input lines coming into the box.

 

[Swollencalyx]

I have a problem. I've been pulling about 40-45 amps. I'm using 8 1k setup for 240. And a two ton ac set up for 240v and other misc fans ect for 120v. My service line reads 40 on one pole and the other 45 amp on the other pole. Is the 5 amp difference enough to knock out one of my service line? Now one of my poles is out of service but the other is still reading 120v

Sounds like the breaker went tits up. A balanced load is nice but doesn't always happen. And the odds of you killing the transformer is nill. That breaker would destroy itself before anything. Worst case senerio would be the actual buss on the panel arcs out and burns up where it makes contact with the breaker. Change that breaker out "safely" and carry on.

SC

 

[Lazyman]

Agreed, probably a bad breaker, if you trip a breaker, its a good idea to replace it soon because the springs soften up and trip easier next time.

 

[Dropped Cat]

Just experienced the nasty effects of my neutral line breaking due to
squirrels gnawing through the line between the weather-head and pole.

220v going thru entire electrical system. Destroyed every transformer
not surge protected. Lost many hundreds of dollars worth of equipment.

Sigh, shit happens, right? At least the fire department wasn't involved.

Not one breaker popped.

 

[SnowCreature]

Those lil fuckers ate my cable. Took 2 days for the fools to get us connected.
They say they can't stop them from doing it again

 

[Bud Green]

Just experienced the nasty effects of my neutral line breaking due to
squirrels gnawing through the line between the weather-head and pole.

220v going thru entire electrical system. Destroyed every transformer
not surge protected. Lost many hundreds of dollars worth of equipment.

Sigh, shit happens, right? At least the fire department wasn't involved.

Not one breaker popped.

Are you saying ALL your neutral was being handled by the little 8 gauge wire to your grounding rod??! You're damn lucky things weren't worse than they were...

I hope Rives will chime in soon about this and the OP's question..
He seems to be the most knowledgeable electrician here...

Sorry OP, I don't know the answer for ya...

 

[DoomsDay]

An entire system tied into a single neutral... Imma agree with the gentleman above and say you're lucky it didn't happen sooner and didn't burn your place down. Neutral lines are shitty when they become disconnected as you've discussed... really good way to blow a refrigerator system to shit. Very odd that squirrels can get to them at that. Any way to contain your panel in some forms of sealed metal box to keep critters out?

 

[Dropped Cat]

An entire system tied into a single neutral... Imma agree with the gentleman above and say you're lucky it didn't happen sooner and didn't burn your place down. Neutral lines are shitty when they become disconnected as you've discussed... really good way to blow a refrigerator system to shit. Very odd that squirrels can get to them at that. Any way to contain your panel in some forms of sealed metal box to keep critters out?

The panel is inside the building.

The failure occurred outside about halfway from the weather head and the pole. If you stood in the middle of the road outside the building and looked up, there was a splay type fail of the twisted neutral 16' above you.

No injuries, but fried all unprotected equipment. There was someone in the building at the time, and I was able to advise
to kill the main and sub circuits before anything worse happened.

An inconvenience to say the least.

 

[DoomsDay]

Wow! That's a new one to add to the list Ltd of crazy shit I've seen happen to electrical wires due to animals. Good to hear no one got hurt! I remember doing some 3 phase electrical work on a machine shop and the neutral line when dead kn the circuit we were working on. Somehow one of the hot legs ended up resting on the top rung of the aluminum ladder we had leading all the way up to the roof... hell of a pop right as one of the guys was grabbing for the first rung to head up...