Electrical Q - Lights Flickering.

[os1kne]

Another thing that I didn't see mentioned - check your buss bars in the breaker box. After I moved into my home 4 yrs ago, I noticed that the lights would flicker periodically and didn't think much of it. After a year or so, it started happening more regularly. I looked in the breaker box and the neutral buss bar had a crack in it. About a $10 item to replace. It takes a bit of time and you'll want to have a good battery powered light that will allow you to work with both hands.

[docrowan]

I had a problem with flickering lights in my shop. Turned out to be an insufficient ground. The clamp that held the ground wire to the ground rod outside wasn't tightened down sufficiently and was arcing. I melted the guts of the subpanel in my shop before I found what was causing it. I had to buy a complete new subpanel just to scavenge the guts to replace mine. I just hope I didn't damage my table saw motor.

I'm not an electrician, but in my mind flickering lights (plural) is the sign of a problem that needs to be resolved quickly. Something is arcing, which causes heat, which could lead to a fire. I was fortunate in being able to kill power to my shop until I had time to deal with it and could take my time in troubleshooting. If it had been in my house, on a circuit that we used daily, I would have called in an electrician.

[master53yoda]

you have not mentioned if you have been blowing out light bulbs in the house or if anything else besides flickering lights are noticed.

If the problem is the neutral at the service, you will have higher then 110 on part of the circuits and less then 110 on other circuits causing early bulb failure. I have also seen microwaves fail and refrigerators and freezers fail due to bad neutral connections at the transformers.

Also if you live in a housing development with close neighbors you could have other houses on the same transformer your are on. You would also see flickers caused from loads in other houses if the connections are faulty on the transformer.


As commented earlier a bad breaker connection at the bus could cause these problems.. This was a common with Zinsco panels.

Final trouble shooting requires understanding power connections and the meter readings that would result. In my experience the problem is service or transformer related about 40% of the time, especially if you are having early bulb failures..

[chopnhack]

Also if you live in a housing development with close neighbors you could have other houses on the same transformer your are on. You would also see flickers caused from loads in other houses if the connections are faulty on the transformer.

I think that this is often overlooked as the po.co. is loathe to upgrade transformers. Just remember that when the house was built or even when more homes were built in the 70-80's, those homes didnt use as much electricity as we do today. Therefore the existing transformer hanging up on the power pole can be quite outdated and under sized for todays draw.

[430752]

you have not mentioned if you have been blowing out light bulbs in the house or if anything else besides flickering lights are noticed.

Yeah, actually I am. But, I add only in a few areas, not in all the areas I've notice flickering. And I'm not sure the two are related.

Here's why: One area is my kitchen ceiling fan. Bulbs definately burn out quickly there, and once when I flipped the swtich 2 bulbs killed that instant. Thus I assume the switch is part of problem. Also, with the kitchen fixture, there are 4 bulbs, and one has never ever burnt out. The other three (different brands, wattages, etc.) go every two months or so.

The other area is my dining room chandelier. I've had to replace 4 or 5 of those little candelabra fake flame bulbs (maybe 15 of buls total?) Some twice. But again, other bulbs look like they've been there since the Kennedy admnistration. So, hard to tell.

[RAFlorida]

Sounds like a

bad connection on the neutral somewhere.