Electrical issue
Just want to make sure this isn't anything super simple before paying for an electrician. I have a 4 unit house and the electric company took the meter off for one of the apartments. We eventually had to pay for an electrical inspection before they would put it back on. Now the meters back on and the electric company is saying we should be all set and we have the breakers turned back on but we are not getting any power to the apartment. Any electricians or people with some knowledge on the subject know what could be wrong? It seems to me there were no issues before so now that the meter is back on there shouldn't be issues so I feel it's probably something simple I'm missing.
Thanks,
Jake
Is there a disconnect next to the meter outside?
Your apartment should have a electrical breaker panel. Make sure all breakers are turned on. The main break is probably off. If all breakers are on go to Home Depot buy a 30 dollar ac meter that will read up to 240 volts. Take of breaker panel cover. Be care not to touch insides with anything but meter lead tips. Use probes on meter to check the input to main breaker. If there is no voltage the power company installed a bad meter or installed it incorrectly. If there is voltage on input check the out put of breaker. If there is no power breaker is tripped and needs to be reset or is bad and needs to be replaced. Will try to post pics of my breaker panel so. Hope this helps
Bill
try to reset main breaker also. Sometimes it is hard to tell in it is tripped. To reset turn breaker off than back on. Try this before getting a meter
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There's no old style lever/arm on the side of a box, near the meter......."on" at the top, "off" at the bottom?
I checked and there was no disconnect. Bill and Wayne I will try your tips tomorrow I appreciate the responses!
so I got lazy or smart and downed image of a breaker panel with cover off. The 2 silver Allen screws on top of pic right above the 150 amp breaker is the input to your breaker panel. This should have 240 volts on it. So be careful.
you can call me tomorrow if you need help. I was electrician helper going through college and have a bseet degree so I know something's about electrical issues.
Is the meter readout one of the older styles with wheels that turn, or is it a newer LCD readout (digital)? If newer style, does the LCD actually display some numbers, or is it blank? If it's blank then there is no electricity flowing past the meter; those newer meters can sometimes be remotely enabled / disabled by the power company.
there are several type of meters. The digital will read 0000 if no voltage or what ever number of volts there is 120 or 240. There will also be a small letters on the display of MV this stands for milli volts. If milli volts is showing you really have no voltage.
Yes the electric company can turn the power on and off remotely in some areas.
You can call the company and ask if the meter is turned on. They may have forgot to turn the meter on I guess.
the pencil style is one where you turn on and put it next to wire and should indicate if there is power. It does not tell you how much electrical voltage is there.
update?
@Bill Turner - In my previous post, I was referring to the electric company's meter, not a voltmeter that the OP might use to troubleshoot. Sorry for not making that more clear at first.
After all these post I had same problem. Electric company said it was a breaker issue if I had numbers on my smart meter. I had to get the volt meter out and check the voltage at the incoming line of the electric breaker panel. No voltage. Eletric company smart meter was bad. They replaced meter and I have power again
As a licensed Master Electrician, stop directing people to open up breaker boxes with potential live wires. Obviously, non licensed electricians do not know the potential of an arc flash. Ultimately, the inexperienced layman does not need to be exposed to something that has the potential to take their life. Turning a breaker off to replace a plug, switch, light, or appliance is okay. If you do not know what you are doing with electricity, then DO NOT open the breaker/fuse box.
I had a similar problem. Partial voltage. Turned out to be a screw was completely out behind the meter. Required a electrician.