This is a true story...
The service drop bare neutral conductor got energized from the service drop hot conductor because the insulation on the hot conductor deteriorated. This caused all the neutral and ground conductors in the home to become energized. We know that the norm for grounding a service at a home is to run a ground wire to a ground rod and then to the water pipe. In the case above, I would assume that all the water pipes in the home would have been energized as well as all the neutrals and ground wires since the service drop neutral is tied to the ground wire in the meter can. Fortunately no one was washing their hands or taking a shower at the time this happened.
My questions are...
Would someone have been electrocuted if they were washing their hands or taking a shower?
Would it be safer to not tie the ground wire from the service to the water pipe and run a separate ground rod just for the water pipe?
The service drop bare neutral conductor got energized from the service drop hot conductor because the insulation on the hot conductor deteriorated. This caused all the neutral and ground conductors in the home to become energized. We know that the norm for grounding a service at a home is to run a ground wire to a ground rod and then to the water pipe. In the case above, I would assume that all the water pipes in the home would have been energized as well as all the neutrals and ground wires since the service drop neutral is tied to the ground wire in the meter can. Fortunately no one was washing their hands or taking a shower at the time this happened.
My questions are...
Would someone have been electrocuted if they were washing their hands or taking a shower?
Would it be safer to not tie the ground wire from the service to the water pipe and run a separate ground rod just for the water pipe?