Bright, glowing lights, hissing lights, light bulbs bursting, small and large electrical appliance
failures, fried plugs, outlets, smoke coming from electrical outlets and fixtures and that certain
and unmistakable 'burning electrical wire smell".

These occurances may not happen all at the same time. You may have several occurances
where one or more of these things occur or they may all happen at once. These are all signs
of a very dangerous occurance. A transformer over voltage caused most likely by an open
neutral, also called a floating neutral on a utility transformer.

The term is unfamiliar to many and in general, a fire department responding to such a situation
will believe that a short in the building or home is the cause. This can be a fatal error.

An electrician can come in and repair damage done by an overvoltage but never realize that an
overvoltage was at fault and the overvoltage can happen again and intermittently (until the
transformer is repaired) creating further damage to wiring, outlets, and electronics, even
surge protectors (which have been known to explode) and cause a fire to ignite from the heat generated by the line with the overvoltage or when all of the plastic burns off of the wire, it will
short and cause a fire. Over time, overvoltages carbonize wood (from the heat coming from the
wiring) and make it extremely suseptible to combustion. (pyroforic-carbonization).

Good or new wiring in a home will show little effects of a transformer overvoltage. Electricity
seeks the conducive path of least resistance. In a home with good or new wiring, it will be
electrical outlets, switches and electronics that are damaged and present the greatest danger of combustion- up to the point that the wood is dry and carbonized to the point that it ignites,
pyroforic-carbonization.

Most transformer over voltages are caused by something called an open neutral. Your house
or building CANNOT CAUSE a transformer to malfunction.

In many cases a fire caused by an overvoltage will be ruled as an electrical fire caused by a
short because the investigator will see evidence of beading on the copper wiring. Beading is
evidence that electricity was flowing through the wiring when the short occurred, NOT evidence
that a short started a fire. In the case of a transformer malfunction, there is a huge amount of current flowing through one leg of the wiring and it can cause a short to occur.

During most over voltages, there 'is' current flowing through the wire and if it happens long
enough to burn all of the insulating plastic off of the wire at the weakest point (the conductive
path of least resistance), it 'will' create a short.

If anything like this happens to you- Ask your electricity company to check out their
transformer to determine if there is an open neutral!

This could save your home AND your life!

*Note-
A Harmonic Distortion problem could be suspected if there were numerous electric related
fires or incidents in a specific geograhic area.

Note from Mike Holt, Master Electrician and Electrical Inspector:
If the grounded (neutral) service conductor is open, neutral current will flow onto the metal
parts of the electrical system. When this occurs in a wood frame construction building,
neutral current seeking a return path to the power supply will travel into the moist wood
members. After many years of this current flow, the wood will be converted into charcoal
(wood with no moisture) and ultimately it can result in a fire. This condition is called pyroforic-carbonization.

Fire Photos

The Litigation Process of an Open Neutral or Floating Neutral