said by antidelldude:This one has been driving me nuts for a while now and I can't figure it out. I have a 100amp service. My house's draw is minimal. With all my incandescent lights on, my computers on, network gear, toaster, tv, washer, dryer, etc... I draw right around 55 amps at 110. My circuit panel is balanced, with everything on, I get an almost even draw on each leg.
*Had the power company come out, they replaced the line from my house to the poll, the Neutral was cut (I must have had a VERY good ground). The transformer is three polls down from my house.
*Replaced wire from power company to meter housing AND replaced meter housing.
*Balanced the electrical panel and got as many lights off the leg my sump pumps were on.
*Tightened all the wires coming from the meter into the electrical panel (you can bet I had the electrician torque the hell out of the bolts on the meter can as well).
*Had the power company check the transformer (but I think this is the issue).
What else can I do? I had an electrician do most of the work and he is stumped as well.
I can't just get over it either. One of my Sump pumps runs every 3-5 minutes and it's distracting. (which I also had checked, my land is just wet). For my A/C I got a 3 wire hard start kit, but the HVAC tech I asked about installing it, wouldn't. He said even the nice ones can damage the compressor... In the summer, my lights could dim 30 times an hour between the two sumps and A/C...
I believe a lot of the problem is that very long distance to the transformer.
Try to get the poco to install a transformer on the pole nearest your house and run a 200amp supply line from it to your house. Remember those lines are aluminum which does not carry electricity all that efficiently compared to copper.
Then also switch to a 240V pump.
There is one other way around this that will guarantee your problem will be solved, order 3 phase power supply from the poco, put the pumps and ac on phase 1 and 2 and your lights on phase 3, lol.
Thanks for reminding me I need to complain to my poco, my lights dim and stay dimmed when the electric heat is on, my panel is 200amp but the line to my house looks like 100amp or less and is quite long.