Flickering Lights

[Peter Meacham]

My house lights flicker whenever a motor (fridge, disposal, compactor, washer, dryer, etc) turns on.

Any electricians here that can advise things to check. I was thinking there could be an load balance issue between the two 110V legs coming into the house where one leg has much more of a load than the other - any validty in that or any other suggestions please.

Thanks. Pete

[David G Baker]

I had a similar problem. I am not an electrician but I do a lot of my own electrical work. I checked every thing in my house that I thought could be causing the problem. I wouldn't have been overly concerned if the problem had been occurring since the time I purchased my home but the problem started long afterward.
I couldn't find the source of the problem so I called my utility company and they sent out a tech. He did all of the things that I had done but couldn't locate the problem either and was ready to give up. As a last resort he killed power at the pole and pulled my meter to check the tightness of the wire lugs. The two hot lugs were as tight as the should be but the neutral lug was very loose. He tightened the screw and solved the problem.
The flashing lights would only happen when a heavy electric load, like my washing machine, would start up.
Another possible cause is too many appliances on one circuit. When my washing machine starts some lignites on that circuit dim, that is caused by not having a dedicated circuit. I am in the process of re-wiring my whole house to correct the overloaded circuits.

[Mike Williams]

Peter - the electrician wiring my 200 amp shop during the last month said the heavy power user circuits (all the 240 volt circuits) had to be installed at the top of the load panel - closer to the power infeed cable. The 120 volt circuits for lighting, general use, etc., would all come below the 240 volt circuits. He said that if it was done with the 120 volt circuits on top, the lights would dim / flicker when the 240 volt motors turned on.

Mike

[Stephen Beckham]

Well - I'll be...

That guy that installed my Hot Tub and my RV Circuits on the bottom asked if I wanted it to code or right?!?!? :eek:

Since there was about a $200 difference - I went with code. Now occasionally - I'll get the flicker - not enough to worry about, but it's there. I knew it had something to do with the hot tub since it started after installation, but figured it was just 'this ole house.'

Guess you get what you pay for!

[Bryan Berguson]

Pete,

If this is a new problem, call your electric company and let them know what is happening. It could be an imbalance on the 2 legs or a bad neutral. Could also be low voltage which could be corrected by your power company. Or it could be a bad connection somewhere between your panel and the distribution line. They can check all that out.

If this has been happening since you've lived there, it could be too small of a wire coming from the transformer to your panel, too small of a transformer or too many feeds from the transformer (unless you're the only one of course). Again, your electric company could help you out here too.

If you're on an electric cooperative lines, you're in luck. They will usually go out their way to help you. Ask me how I know! ;) Investor owned will too but the co-ops are like family.:)

Bryan

[Randy Denby]

I had this happening awhile back. Turned out to be a squirrel had gnawed the neutral in two... between the house and pole. Voltage was all over the place...from 90-170volts due to this. Not good . I would suggest making sure all connections are tight, from inside the meter thru the breaker box and finally to each circuit.

[Peter Meacham]

Thanks everyone for your inputs. I had the Electric Company come out and check things about a year ago - they reterminated the cable connections in the street and put a Dranetz meter (voltage monitor) on the lines at the house over a weekend and did not find any problems. So, I think the problem must be beyond the electric company's meter connection in to the house somewhere. I don't know if they checked the neutral connection at their meter, but presume so. The problem has developed over the years so I suspect a bad connection somewhere in the circuit panel box and will check all those. Also, I am going to evaluate my load on each leg today. Thanks, Pete

[David G Baker]

Pete,
Kill the power to your panel and snug down all of the screws on all of the breakers, neutral bar and ground bar.
The tech that checked out my power problem was getting ready to leave my place when a light bulb turned in his head and he checked the wires under the meter. If a tech comes out, have him do that.
Another point to check is if there is any aluminum wire in your panel box (probably the service entrance cable) does it have the anti-oxide paste on the wire under the screw lugs.
I have not heard about putting the heavy current loads higher in the panel, closer to the SEC cable. It sorta makes sense, I will have to research that.