Why does nobody warn you about the phone line voltage shift after a rain storm

I went back to a customer's house last week after a heavy downpour and my meter showed 12 volts less on the same pair than I measured dry. Has anyone else noticed the copper getting weird after a soak like that, or am I chasing ghosts?

2 comments

2 Comments

margaret2343d ago

I read somewhere that wet ground can mess with the line resistance, making the voltage drop.

rosep872d ago

and that's probably the key with what margaret234 was getting at. wet ground changes the whole game for resistance, which means the voltage divider on that pair shifts. i've seen it a few times where a buried splice gets damp and it acts like a resistor in parallel, dragging the voltage down.