Technical > Home Improvement > Electrical issue question

reply to Mr Matt

Re: Electrical issue question

Do you have an electric range? If so, when the problem occurs, try to use your range. If it doesn't heat up, or doesn't heat as much as it should, then it sounds like you have a loose leg (One of the two hots you mentionned).

Either it's loose in your panel, or at the drop (As others have said).

Whatever it is, you shouldn't try to fix it yourself. You can try to narrow down the problem as I suggested above, only to avoid having the POCO come in and not find the problem because they don't know what to check. If you find out it's a loose leg, tell them to look for that.

Its a gas range.
I'm going to try to get the electric company to come out Saturday to see if they can find anything.

Saturday because its already Friday and I can't really be at home waiting for them.

And ya no way am I going to try fixing it myself, I know the panel isn't to code and see that as something that needs to be fixed (been meaning to do that for some time)

The most I'd do is if it were just one circuit and looked to be another failed backstab I'd replace the outlet. more than that and I'll wait on a pro.

You should flip all your double breakers, leave them off until tomorrow.
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--Standard disclaimers apply.--

reply to Mr Matt

Gas hot water.

the only things in the house that use both legs are the AC units and the drier.

Gas stove, gas oven, gas hot water.

but there's a 3ton 18 seer unit and a 1ton split-mini.

The split-mini was most likely running when it last happened and only sign of power (in any of the dark rooms) was the flickering of the stove's clock.

the light rooms were fine.

Well they sent someone out today to look at it.

They said everything on their side looked fine, we'll add $50 to your bill for coming out.

As the issue is intermitent I think it could still be on them though.

Do you have an underground drop or an aerial drop? If you have an aerial drop the clowns from the power company should have climbed the pole and wiggled the splices between your drop and the leads from the transformer. They should have also checked the connections at the weather head on your service mast. If there was a loose connection sparks would have flown out of the bad connection. If the power company gives you a hard time about the service charge contact you local public service commission and file a complaint.

Underground drop

Basicly we called them.

They say they sent someone out but no one was home at the time and then later we called and they said nothing was wrong.

so who knows if they even really looked at it.

reply to DarkLogix
Your symptoms sounds almost identical to what I had on a Saturday 2 months ago. I thought I had an intermittent problem, but it turned out that every time the well pump tried to switch on I had power crossing through that and feeding the rest of the house. (Not an electrician so I do not know if that is the proper terminology). I had power but had issues with flickering and dim lights. I have a generator and with the inconsistencies, I switched over and kept things going with that

I had an electrician come out Monday. He opened the box and meter, did some tests and said 1 leg was down, call the power co. They came out and did some tests, and confirmed it. They then ran a temporary neutral over my lawn and switched the underground neutral over to replace the bad leg. They also told me I was extremely lucky that I did not totally fry my well pump. Replacing underground service is not cheap. :-(

Well they said they'll upgrade the line from 125a to 200a at no cost after we upgrade the panel.

well the panel isn't to code and the new one I bought is a 200a panel.

so the line is going to be replaced, it'll just take some time.

Well the electrician wasn't feeling well so he didn't come over yet.

and the issue is occuring as I type.

I checked my UPS's input voltage and its 122v.

So as the UPS showed the input voltage as 122v (normal) and not 240v any ideas as to the issue?

also any guesses as to the cost for the panel to be replaced?
I have the new one with all the breakers (plus a few extra to hopefully be enough to allow it to be upto code)

so I'd be looking at labor costs and maybe small parts.

Is the UPS plugged into the same circuit that was dropping out before? If not, the data may not be useful at all.

is in one of the few that doesn't drop.

Which ya'll had indicated would jump in voltage when the others went to below voltage.

Doesn't always happen that way, so you can't just go by that. Many variables involved as to what the rest of the circuits will do, depending on loading, what is on, etc.

The fact is, you need an electrician, and soon. I would get a pro out there ASAP, and not depend on your buddy to get there before the "magic smoke" finds its way out of your electrical appliances...

reply to DarkLogix
Look at the schematic that Nyan Cat provided. If the UPS is plugged into an outlet connected to L1 and N the voltage will always remain at 120 Volts. If connected between L2 and N and L2 goes open the voltage will depend on the resistance of 240 Volt appliances connected between L1 and L2. Make sure that your UPS is plugged into an outlet that drops. You would find a dangerous situation if the neutral was open. In that case the voltage between L1 and N and L2 and N would vary depending on the loading between each phase and the neutral conductor.