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Broken PEN

Kelly Marie Angel

I know this subject has been done to death but why are the neutral/PEN conductors more likely to go open circuit than any of the phases? It seems to me there is some basic problem the way they are installed are they not tightened to the same degree as the phases? I know being a black conductor they may seem less important than the red yellow and blue  but can the DNOs have a refresher course or similar to remind them the black wire is just as important as the others. I may be over simplifying this but to me it just seems odd that the one cable is more prone to coming loose than the others. Also I know I used the old proper colors  rather than the new ones but its late so indulge me a bit. I remember years ago the neutral link on a pole near my old house  burnt out when the DNO guy pulled and wiggled it there was a flash and a bang  he dropped the lead which was badly melted maybe this is part of the problem??

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    Yes, it would be interesting to know the rate of PEN or just N failures as opposed to L.

    The figures I've come across for PEN faults were in the region of 1 per day across the country, or once in a thousand years for an individual consumer (as one fault typically affects quite a few consumers). All averaged probabilities of course, nothing actually stopping you getting hit twice in the same week, if you're unlucky.

    Not sure about line faults - when I had problems with my supply and frequented my local DNO's web site to report it, their map of the region was showing dozens of power loss incidents at any point in time. Not all will be due to LV line faults of course - HV faults and LV overloads will also contribute to disconnections (I suspect that shorts caused by damage to buried cables will contribute quite a lot too).

      - Andy.

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  • 0

    Yes, it would be interesting to know the rate of PEN or just N failures as opposed to L.

    The figures I've come across for PEN faults were in the region of 1 per day across the country, or once in a thousand years for an individual consumer (as one fault typically affects quite a few consumers). All averaged probabilities of course, nothing actually stopping you getting hit twice in the same week, if you're unlucky.

    Not sure about line faults - when I had problems with my supply and frequented my local DNO's web site to report it, their map of the region was showing dozens of power loss incidents at any point in time. Not all will be due to LV line faults of course - HV faults and LV overloads will also contribute to disconnections (I suspect that shorts caused by damage to buried cables will contribute quite a lot too).

      - Andy.

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