gflat (and all others interested):
All of todays homes run on 220V dual phase power. 3 wires enter the weather head (on the outside wall of your house) going into your electric panel. 2 wires carry 110V power (each) thus 220 V, the third line is common (or the return/ground) line.
One of my wires carrying 110V power, lost it's connection at the transformer (on the telephone pole), so my electric panel only had power on one side.
All the breakers (and circuits) on the left side of my panel worked fine, all on the right side (the broken wire side) were dead. Like I said luckily; my HID's were on the right side along with the rest of the tank, everything was down so tank only got as hot as the house (and O2 levels of 200 gallons stayed high enough). Had the HID's been on the left side of the panel and the rest of the tank on the right....DISASTER!
I knew it was something funky when some of the lights in my house worked, and others didn't. Off came the panel cover, and out came the electric meter, and wala...NES was called (several times).
I should also mention that I helped put myself through college, upgrading old electric panels from 60 amp to 100 amp (does this indicate how old I am, to those of you who understand what I'm talking about?) during the summer months (changing the wire size from the weather head to the panel and upgrading the panels), so I do have background knowledge of how these things work. PLEASE........DON'T TRY THIS YOURSELF IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!!!!
Electricity 101 is now over, though there will be a test the next time I see all of you....SO STUDY UP!
Readers Digest answer to your question is...yes MURPHY lives in my wires, and my plumbing, and walls and roof and sewer!
Rick