very wieird surge/brownout problem

[mmorris]

We live in the country and are on Rural Electric. We've been having the following electrical occurances inside the house:
Lights dimming, fans barely running, microwave running very slowly, etc. I tested outlets yesterday and some were testing 140 volts and some 100. Same weird voltages inside breaker box on each phase coming into house. The REC came out last night and tested at the meter and got 120 on each incoming phase to the meter, but 120 on one wire comining into house and 0 on other. They changed out one side of the receptacle box on the pole (that the meter plugs into) and the voltage was then fine everywhere, including both phases coming into the house breaker box. Today same thing is occuring except the voltages are now 134 and 112 on each wire coming into breaker box. These voltages are also throughout the receptacles in house. I tested voltages on each breaker; this seems weird also; On the right side of the breaker box the 134 and 112 voltages were present in every other breaker (vertically) and ditto on the left side of the box. Any electricians out there have any explanation?
Other info: buried line from road to transformer and from meter to house. Was having the same problem last summer and they changed out the meter and it seem to be fine then. Now it's reoccuring.

[HayZee518]

problem is not yours but the power company's. the line feeds a pole top transformer. this is a can filled with windings and oil - this steps down the high side voltage to 120/240. its midpoint is called X2. if there is an open ground from X2 to a driven ground rod, all kinds of things can happen which you encountered. call them out and have them check the ground conductivity

[mmorris]

Thanks, HayZee. I'll have them check this out tomorrow. Last summer we had a microwave start sparking inside (ruined it) when this same thing happened. I'm worried about my appliances with the voltage spikes and lulls.
About the weird voltages on the breakers; if you had say 140 volts on the feeder wire in the right side of the box, shouldn't all breakers on that side of the box test 140 volts also and not just every other one? I was under the impression that that was what they called a "Phase" and all breakers on that side were fed off that phase.

[HayZee518]

single phase power to a dwelling unit [like 240 single phase] is two - 120 volt legs, 180 degrees out of phase with the other. One complete electrical cycle goes from zero degrees to 180 degrees to 360 degrees - same number of degrees in a circle. The bus in a single phase panel alternates each phase in the way its constructed. for instance all the breakers on the right side are 2-4-6-8-10. 2 is on one phase, 4 is on the other phase. 6 is the same as 2 and 10 is the same as 8. All these voltages are measured to the neutral or ground which is supposed to be zero volts at any given time. so, 2 to ground is 120 vbolts. 4 to ground 120 volts etc. IF that ground wire is broken the readings from X1 to X2 could be all over the place, same as X3 to X2. X2 is the midpoint between the X1 & X3 windings of the transformer. The line side of a pole top can be the designation(s) of H1, H2, H3, H4, with taps called H5, H6, H7, H8 for the different voltages transmitted.

[mmorris]

REC was just out and checked the voltage on both sides of the meter and it reads 120. In the house it's 134 and 107. They said evidently I have a break in the wire between the house and the meter.
I asked about digging up the wire, and they said some electricians have a device that can tell where the break is so you don't have to dig up the whole line. Alternatively while the ground is frozen, they suggested just running a new line on the ground until spring. Here in MO, the ground is probably only frozen a little over a foot deep, so probably having an electrician detect where the short is and do the fix would be the cheaper route. Your thoughts?
Thanks, Monte

[HayZee518]

If it would help your cause then yes run a temp line over the ground to the meter. that device they mentioned is a cable locator that impresses a tone on one wire at a time. it is received by a matching receiver that'll tell you where the wire is and at what depth. if you know someone from the phone company they have a similar device in their trucks.