Balancing phases & checking for saftey at the breaker panel in USA

[johnnyfalcon]

bare with me i want to use least amount of technical terms as possible that way we dont have differing opinions on what a term means

im not even totally sure what phase means but as i watch this youtube video
the man has a red, black and white neutral wire connected

NOT SURE IF IM CORRECT ITS HARD TO SEE but he starts out with having a red and black wire connected to a circuit breaker switch , this circuit breaker switch has I THINK two switches on it, and it DOESNOT have a bar across to trip them at the same time. So i guess you call this a 2 pole switch WITHOUT A BAR

so when he does the test he notices the neutral wire carries an excess of 22 amps wich is bad for the wire , since each wire in the sleeve of jacket can only hold 20 amps maximum per wire he then decides to split the two loads (the hair dryer and vacuum) into two seperate phases, wich he calls phase A and phase b or TWO single switch one pole circuit breaker switches???

this seems to resolve the issue

the 2 parts in bold are what i think i am seeing in the video please let me know if i am correct

Im guessing everyone should do this test for electrical saftey in every home just to be sure. i like to know 100 percent everything is good. Would you say after doing this test that this is a sufficient checking for residential phase balancing

if not what other steps can i take to further check phase balancing in simple non technical terms. like i said i barely understand what phase means, but by the video i think each circuit breaker is a phase

thanks electrical champions [VIDEO]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgzlT1b4-P4[/VIDEO]

[johnnyfalcon]

this video seems good , would this vid get the nod from the electrical champions here or no, is it missing something or not throrough enough?
[VIDEO]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jGbse7wa30[/VIDEO]

[citfta]

Hi Johnny,

I am afraid to give you any more advice because you might take that advice and do something wrong and burn your house down. You really need to ask your friends and neighbors or relatives or someone you trust to recommend a good electrician.

I am not at your home and so can't be sure of what is going on, but from what you have said and shown you MAY have a floating neutral which is very dangerous if that is what you have.

The two videos you posted have nothing to do with a floating neutral. Those videos are about balancing the current load between phases. A floating or disconnected neutral can cause a severe voltage imbalance between phases and can also let the neutral wire as well as the hot wires all rise to several hundred volts above ground. I have seen this with my own eyes. The effect is real and dangerous. The fact that you confuse load balancing with a floating neutral is clear evidence you should get a qualified electrician to check out your wiring. I am not trying to put you down at all but something like this is not like working with some 12 volt batteries. I worked in industry as an industrial maintenance electrician and had to go back to school regularly to keep up with code changes and new safety rules.

Please, Please get some professional help with this problem.

Respectfully,
Carroll

[johnnyfalcon]

Hi Johnny,

I am afraid to give you any more advice because you might take that advice and do something wrong and burn your house down. You really need to ask your friends and neighbors or relatives or someone you trust to recommend a good electrician.

I am not at your home and so can't be sure of what is going on, but from what you have said and shown you MAY have a floating neutral which is very dangerous if that is what you have.

The two videos you posted have nothing to do with a floating neutral. Those videos are about balancing the current load between phases. A floating or disconnected neutral can cause a severe voltage imbalance between phases and can also let the neutral wire as well as the hot wires all rise to several hundred volts above ground. I have seen this with my own eyes. The effect is real and dangerous. The fact that you confuse load balancing with a floating neutral is clear evidence you should get a qualified electrician to check out your wiring. I am not trying to put you down at all but something like this is not like working with some 12 volt batteries. I worked in industry as an industrial maintenance electrician and had to go back to school regularly to keep up with code changes and new safety rules.

Please, Please get some professional help with this problem.

Respectfully,
Carroll

no i was not talking about a floating neutral in this post. im inquiring about balancing phases
dont always assume i wont lecture u if u dont lecture me

i seek truth and want to check all my wiring for phase balance this way i can help teach others if u help teach me. i would like to bother friends family and neighbors and check their wiring too. i like knowing more than i like money. money doesnt buy me happyness what so ever . what makes the world good is knowing things
i certainly dont do something unless im absofreakingloootly know what im doing
thanks

[spacecase0]

if you need more current than just one circuit offers (assuming where you live has 120V power that enters your house at 240V 2 phase), you can use 2 circuits to get higher current 120V,
but you have to make sure they are the same phase, if you connect 2 together that are out of phase it will do bad things.
to test this measure the voltage between your 2 circuits before connecting them together, it should be zero volts between the 2 hot lines you test, and 120V from each hot line to neutral or ground.
you want to make sure that the wires on the 2 circuits are the same size and somewhat close on length so that they share the current well.
(if your power comes from 208V 3 phase, each line will be 120V, but between any 2 you will get 208V (if my memory is correct), but you can likely still find 2 circuits that are the same phase)

now if you are looking to get 240V at the same current, you want to find 2 circuits that are out of phase, you will take the 2 hot wires and use them, neutral is not used at all. to test to see if you got it correct, you test the voltage from one hot to another and should get 240V, and each hot to ground should be 120V

the way you tell with most breaker boxes what phase a wire is,
many of them have 2 rows, the ones on the left side are one phase and the ones on the right side are the other phase, but this does not always apply, sometimes they are every other breaker and not split right to left, so be careful

[Why-me]

Hello, as before, please take photos of your situation and post them.

A video of the different situations would also help.

Start with the area where the A/C goes into your home.

Next, the breaker box. Turn off the breaker switches and use only one to find out where it goes and what it runs.
Turn it off and proceed to the next one.
When you have done every service breaker by itself and where the power goes, then you have a map.
Of course you must draw this on paper to make a completed assessment.

With each step, take pictures and/or a video.

When you finish, you will help us see with you exactly what you have and the different problems you experience.

Do this and learn from each step, or call the electrician and learn nothing about your house wiring and what your hazards might be.

BUT WHATEVER YOU DO, MAKE IT THE SAFE CHOICE!!!

[thx1138]

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