Excessive Neutral Current

The basic aspects of our electrical system have been around for more than 100 years. During this time we have developed a pretty good idea of how to generate, transmit, distribute and maintain electric power.

Within most businesses is the most typical type of building distribution wiring - a three-phase wye system. Nearly all small commercial or industrial facilities that have three-phase power will have a wye system.

With a wye system comes the expectation that if the three-phases have about the same amount of current in them, then the neutral will have very little current. Or, to put it another way, the more the system is balanced, the less current is in the neutral. If high currents are measured in the neutral, or at least higher than we expect, problems may result. This segment focuses on this concern.

Current in a facility or business is dependent on the loads inside. Therefore, there are no significant influencing factors from neighbors or the utility that affect how much current winds up in a panel or a neutral.