Receptacle circuits common neutral

[Open Neutral]

I agree. For decades we used MWBC's without buildings burning down. IMO it was the people who represented the copper industry who pushes this hysteria to sell more wire two decades ago. The handle tie rule did more to make MWBC's obsolete than the potential for neutrals being overloaded.

I've run into several open neutral cases, both remote. One was in a {non-tech} forum where someone in a NYC walkup asked why lights got brighter when the fridge started. I told him to unplug all the electronics and call ConEd ASAP with the words "Open Neutral." Other tenants lost TV's etc.

The other case was a programmer friend in a new low-rise apartment in Denver. I talked him through some measurements. He then bought two inexpensive plug-in DVMs; sure enough we saw some circuits go up while others dropped. He had a hard time getting management to grasp the issue but they finally sent an electrician. He saw the two voltmeters and traced back to the meter bank. There, the PoCo was there within the hour. They opened the meter bank and retorqued everything. Problem solved.

 

[ActionDave]

I've run into several open neutral cases, both remote. One was in a {non-tech} forum where someone in a NYC walkup asked why lights got brighter when the fridge started. I told him to unplug all the electronics and call ConEd ASAP with the words "Open Neutral." Other tenants lost TV's etc.

The other case was a programmer friend in a new low-rise apartment in Denver. I talked him through some measurements. He then bought two inexpensive plug-in DVMs; sure enough we saw some circuits go up while others dropped. He had a hard time getting management to grasp the issue but they finally sent an electrician. He saw the two voltmeters and traced back to the meter bank. There, the PoCo was there within the hour. They opened the meter bank and retorqued everything. Problem solved.

My comments were limited to the topic of this thread which is branch circuits. If you want to make the point that there are gobs more cases of open neutrals on service conductors than on branch circuits then I can agree with that.