RockyCJC
join:2006-09-16
Richmond, VA
|  Interesting Comcast Story
So I was having an intermittent connection issue recently. After much calling and complaining, I finally got competent techs on the job and it was apparently fixed for me. Days after two amps were replaced in my neighborhood, my neighbor directly across the street advised me that he was now having problems as well as the remainder of the neighbors around him.
A tech came to his home and did what every tech does when they first arrive, they tested the signal where it enters the home. Little did the tech know what the Comcast line was doing for the house. Upon disconnecting the incoming line, every appliance in my neighbors house instantaneously exploded, a crack opened in the ceiling, and the melted insulation on the cable wire was revealed.
Turns out, my neighbors electrical system had no ground wire. The house was using the coax cable as a conduit into the comcast system at the tap. The current then followed the shortest path into his next door neighbors ground wire.
The theory is, when the tech disconnected the cable wire, the house had no ground for which the current to return. Not sure if this theory holds up but Comcast has decided to pay for all damages in the home. This is something I would not expect since Comcast could not be at fault for the house not having a ground. Though it would be expected that the tech which installed the cable would have advised the owner that there was no house ground cable for which to connect the cable wire.
Anybody ever heard of this or something like it. |
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JTRockville
Data Ho
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join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD
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| said by RockyCJC  :Though it would be expected that the tech which installed the cable would have advised the owner that there was no house ground cable for which to connect the cable wire. Who's expection is it for the tech to violate the law?
The install should have never happened, since it does not adhere to the safety code. |
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sonofjay
Mission Accomplished - Bush May 1, 2003
Premium,MVM
join:2001-05-14
North Attleboro, MA | reply to RockyCJC
can you please post a link to the story? |
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saratoga66
join:2002-08-22
Saratoga, CA
| reply to RockyCJC
Most likely the problem was a bad utility neutral (grounded conductor). This happens frequently especially on overhead services. The most common cause is damage from squirrels who like chewing on the bare aluminum wire. Since all of the utilities are supposed to be connect to a common grounding electrode system the current will flow on the phone, cable and water services and many times the problem will go unnoticed. The cable tech did nothing wrong since he did not cause the initial problem. Comcast is being very nice if the pick up the cost for the damage. The electrical utility should be the one possibly picking up the tab depending what the actual problem was. They are generally not liable for natural casues (squirrels, tree branches, etc.). |
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fonzbear2000
Premium
join:2005-08-09
Saint Paul, MN
1 edit | reply to sonofjay
said by sonofjay :can you please post a link to the story? it's not a news story-it's what actually happened to rockycjc, the poster-the fact he talked in first person should have made this obvious
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BS_Alert
@comcast.net
 from:
dadkins
| reply to RockyCJC
said by rockycjc :
Upon disconnecting the incoming line, every appliance in my neighbors house instantaneously exploded, a crack opened in the ceiling, and the melted insulation on the cable wire was revealed. Instantaneously exploding appliances? Yah, right! |
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jloren
join:2006-02-22
1 edit | reply to saratoga66
said by saratoga66 :Most likely the problem was a bad utility neutral (grounded conductor). This happens frequently especially on overhead services. The most common cause is damage from squirrels who like chewing on the bare aluminum wire. Since all of the utilities are supposed to be connect to a common grounding electrode system the current will flow on the phone, cable and water services and many times the problem will go unnoticed. The cable tech did nothing wrong since he did not cause the initial problem. Comcast is being very nice if the pick up the cost for the damage. The electrical utility should be the one possibly picking up the tab depending what the actual problem was. They are generally not liable for natural casues (squirrels, tree branches, etc.). Yeah definately the grounded conductor, not the electrode. If the loose 'neutral' is on the utility side of the meter, then they are responsible, but if it is on the customer side, its on you. The tech is lucky he didn't get hurt.
Fixed misplaced quote tag. ~sorto' |
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fruhead
join:2002-01-29
Montclair, NJ
| reply to RockyCJC
The obvious question is whether or not the house ground had been damaged AFTER the install had taken place. JT is quick to blame Comcast. No surprise there.
I've seen this several times here in NJ, with old houses and an older electrical infrastructure. When I've found it in the past, I stayed at the house until PSE&G or GPU has arrived to take the handoff. It's an incredibly dangerous situation. We always check for AC on and around the tap, strand, groundblock and any aluminum siding. That way one stays alive.
Saratoga66 is correct. Comcast isn't responsible for the house electrical problems. Either the homeowner or the electricity provider is. The tech was lucky to survive.
-Tim from Jersey |
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RayW
Premium
join:2001-09-01
Layton, UT
clubs: | reply to RockyCJC
And 100+ feet of RG59 (or whatever they are using now) carried that much current?
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JohnnyG101
Mafiaoso
Premium
join:2000-12-25
Charlotte, NC
clubs: | reply to RockyCJC
This thread is worthless without pictures.
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Driving with 2 feet since 1999 |
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jfoj
join:2005-05-06
Mclean, VA
| reply to RockyCJC
IMHO, the disappearing ground clearly happened after the cable install. Otherwise the home owner would have seen big electrical problems before the cable was even connected. Additionally, the cable installer probably would have been in for a shock at time of install.
Sounds like Comcast probably had a ground block with a good ground wire connected to the house common ground. This would provide a good ground path to the coax drop from the street. I would bet the Comcast Tech was really surprised when he disconnect the drop. At least nobody appears to have been hurt in this situation.
Now the real question is how and why did the house neutral ground fail?? Utility crew damage the wiring, corrosion, storm damage, human error, animals??
Comcast should not have to pay, however, they may choose to get the customer back to "normal" then go after the utility company or whom ever may really be to blame.
This is like the house with the gas leak that blows up when someone turns on a light switch. Is the person who turned on the light switch at fault? No.
Fault/Blame is with the appliance, connection or workmanship of either the gas company or someone who worked on or replace a gas appliance.
jfoj |
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juniorx
join:2006-02-05
St John'S, NL | I checked all my sources for Comcast Damage complaints and i dont see any listed there about an issue like this. sounds suspicious to me |
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ninjatutle
Premium
join:2006-01-02
San Ramon, CA | reply to RockyCJC
Re: Fake Comcast Story
Sure |
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spartus4
join:2005-01-04
Fort Lauderdale, FL
| reply to jfoj
Re: Interesting Comcast Story
I have had Comcast in Fort Lauderdale, FL and they never connected up a ground wire even though a grounding rod is only 12 inches away from the box on the outside of the house. Let me tell you that the Comcast Techs that I have experenced are not dealing with a full deck. You tell them what wires are which and it takes them 2 hours to figure out that you where right. Comcast doesn't train their techs very well and most of them are Contractors.
If they come out, hover over them if you know better. You can save yourself a lot of headaches. |
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Steve
Pipe Wrench Fight
Consultant
join:2001-03-10
Yorba Linda, CA
| reply to sonofjay
said by sonofjay :can you please post a link to the story? Sure: link here
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peter_m
Premium
join:2005-07-13
Canada, QC
4 edits | reply to spartus4
My telco's techs are not better. I had problems with my demarcation box and asked to have it replaced. They did just that but didn't connect the house alarm properly. After they finished the work, the alarm no longer had priority over the house extensions. So if the alarm was triggered, it would never be able to dial out in the event I forgot one of the phones off the hook...
Took me 1 1/2 minutes to fix it and these tech actually do this for a living???
I should have staged a false burglary, collected the insurance money and let the insurance's lawyers have fun with the telco! I can be spiteful but I'm way to honest 
Peter
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a wise man said:
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peter_m
Premium
join:2005-07-13
Canada, QC
2 edits | reply to RockyCJC
I think if a large company like Comcast decided to foot the bill, then they must have been advised by their in-house, available 24/7 legal department. If the house had faulty wiring, there is no way Comcast would even think of paying anything.
Something else that doesn't make sense to me... if the ground is somehow missing or defective... who cares! It's only used for safety reasons. It basically just sits there doing nothing and connects to the metal casings of your appliances.
What allot of people call the ground in error is the NEUTRAL wire. If the O.P. meant the NEUTRAL wire was faulty and was somehow connected to the Comcast wire instead of the powers company's neutral, then there is no way that Comcast cable could never carry that much current for more then a fraction of a second, let alone for years...
And when the Tech would disconnect the Super resistant Comcast cable, the circuit would be open. Every appliance in the house would be getting one HOT wire and no NEUTRAL... they would just stop working allot like when you just turn off a switch. No exploding appliance or melting wires would ever happen under this scenario.
Something is missing from this story. I beg the O.P. to give us more details when he finds out. Interesting still!
Peter M
--
a wise man said:
"...the boobs are not growing as you would like them to!!!!"
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tomp0624
join:2001-01-16
Levittown, PA | I call Bravo Sierra! A floating ground will not cause everything to blow up. Usually there is a secondary path to ground through a water pipe somwhere such as a heating system, dishwasher, garbage disposal, etc |
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saratoga66
join:2002-08-22
Saratoga, CA
| reply to RockyCJC
Peter M, do you have any idea how a typical residential electrical service works? You have a single phase 240 volt transformer with a center tap which is your neutral conductor. Ideally the loads connected to line 1 and neutral are about the same as the loads connected to line 2 and neutral. If the loads are not balanced the neutral carries the unbalanced load. If the neutral conductor becomes open your loads are now connected in series to a 240 volt transformer. The voltage on the line with the lesser load will increase and the voltage on the line with the greater load will decrease. You may end up with some loads seeing 60 volts and others seeing 180 volts. This WILL cause damage to most electrical appliances.
As jfoj said this shows that Comcast did have a good connection to the houses grounding electrode system. You would typically see only see a few amps on the hoses neutral so the coax shield could easily carry the current. |
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peter_m
Premium
join:2005-07-13
Canada, QC
| said by saratoga66 :Peter M, do you have any idea how a typical residential electrical service works? Thanx saratog, I really needed that  . I do know how a typical residential electrical service works. Problem is forgot about the 240v supply and center tap... The storry is totaly plausible then.
But why did Comcast foot the bill? That is still weird.
Peter |
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