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| Thread ID: 123358 | 2012-02-20 08:41:00 | Flickering house lights and power supply | Jen (38) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 1260198 | 2012-02-20 08:41:00 | Hi all, My house power supply appears to be on the blink (literally). For the last month the ceiling lights have started to flicker for 1 to 10 minutes. I have also noticed household devices such as the oven, microwave or even vacuum cleaner also vary in power. The lights are on different circuits. This flickering has become a daily occurrence. I emailed Meridian who said I needed to get an electrician in first before calling them. I would have thought it was a mains supply problem seeing as lights and household appliances are affected, and not just one circuit. What do you think? Cheers. :) |
Jen (38) | ||
| 1260199 | 2012-02-20 08:59:00 | If not the supply itself, then it's probably a loose wire in the entry point to the house or in the house (before it gets distributed between circuits). This sounds very dangerous as there may be significant currents involved (the load of the entire house) and the arcing could easily start a fire if you have things like the oven switched on. If it were my house, I would not leave the house or go to sleep with the power switched on until I'd had it looked at. On the other hand it could well be a fault outside the house, and I reckon that's MORE likely, especially as you didn't mention hearing any arcing noises. Note that I'm not in any way qualified to advise on this topic. |
george12 (7) | ||
| 1260200 | 2012-02-20 09:11:00 | If it were my house, I would not leave the house or go to sleep with the power switched on until I'd had it looked at.:eek: well that is comforting. I certainly haven't heard any arcing noises. I will see if I can track an electrician down sooner than later. |
Jen (38) | ||
| 1260201 | 2012-02-20 09:35:00 | If your supply is not particularly robust (eg, far from the transformer, lots of houses added since last reticulation upgrade etc.) then a corroded contact in a switch can cause a fair bit of "flickering" as heavy loads come on and off. If the dodgy switch is part of the thermostat in your hot water cylinder or one of the stove controls, the timing of the event can seem pretty random. If the stove is on at the time the flickering occurs, try turning it off at the wall. Likewise, if the hot water heater is switched off at fuse panel it can assist with narrowing the search for the culprit. If it's a fridge or deep freeze thermostat playing up, it is likely to kill the chiller unit (expensive) if it doesn't fry the motor overheat cutout first. As George mentioned, arcing makes a fair bit of buzz, but if it is hidden behind the fridge or in the hot water cupboard it could be well muffled. |
R2x1 (4628) | ||
| 1260202 | 2012-02-20 10:26:00 | Sounds a bit like an arcing pole fuse to me (if you have an overhead line from the street). When it is happening at night, pop out and listen at the base of the pole, if it is that bad you will hear it for sure. If you have underground power there should be a terminal box on your boundary. Same thing, go listen for arcing noise there. The only other common point is the incoming to your meter and main switch and you will hear that arcing too if the fault is there. Cheers Billy 8-{) |
Billy T (70) | ||
| 1260203 | 2012-02-20 17:39:00 | Dont stuff around, get it checked out by an electrician urgently. It could be serious. | tut (12033) | ||
| 1260204 | 2012-02-20 18:04:00 | I live in a group of 3 units and about 6 years ago the middle units power went off. What had happened was the middle units connection to the underground power box on the street had corroded. :) |
Trev (427) | ||
| 1260205 | 2012-02-20 18:46:00 | If you already don't have a UPS for your comp I would get one quick smart Low power and Electrical spikes and computers don't go well together |
Lawrence (2987) | ||
| 1260206 | 2012-02-20 19:01:00 | I wonder if it's not something to do with the flood you had a week or so ago? Especially if you have underground service. Are the neighbours affected? What tut said x2: dont stuff around, get it checked out by an electrician urgently. It could be serious. |
WalOne (4202) | ||
| 1260207 | 2012-02-20 19:49:00 | Agree with Wal, check with the neighbours to narrow things down | Whenu (9358) | ||
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