I thought all aluminum house wiring had to have spring compression fittings to
deal with this issue.
My father investigated a few house fires back in the 50's when aluminum wiring
was first used, and code here in Indiana was changed to require spring loaded
connections to deal with the
https://www.amazon.com/Noalox-Anti-oxidant-Compound-Oz-Bottle/dp/B0019KHHRE
Rick
> G wrote:
> Out of a present inventory of 42 houses ... 30 of them have had
> low voltage at the service entrance. Of those 30 only 2 were
> not aluminum main cable from power company.
>
> The aluminum entry cables, with use, heat up more than copper.
> With each heat, the aluminum embeds due
I have had this issue on a number of houses. In each case, the issue was at
the utility service entrance.
To date, here is what happened.
Out of a present inventory of 42 houses [I buy houses and make them
rentals] 30 of them have had low voltage at the service entrance.
Of those 30 only 2 were
Mitch,
Thank you for finally taking the prudent and safe approach. The utility
should NOT charge you as they are obligated, just as the gas and water, to
insure that they are providing safe service to your house (and even inside in
case of the gas utility). If they can't find fault
I was trying to switch off all the breakers on the the bad leg, and found that
I had flickering lights on two adjacent breakers, meaning it was both legs.
Then while I was scratching my head wondering about that, the power went out
totally. I have no idea why LED lights on some circuits were
When I upgraded my service for the new addition the utility came and ran new
buried lines (aluminum) from the pole to the meter box. 300A. I did all the
other wiring from the meter box (which I had to put in). They pulled up the old
buried lines and said it was getting to where it would need
It's happening again this AM.
Going to shut off all the 240v and the bad half of the 120v and call the
utility.
___
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Reasons why I didn't call the utility yesterday:
1. They might blow me off. I guess that's not really a reason, at worst I
wasted a phone call.
2. They might come out, say no problems found, hand me a bill for the service
call, and leave.
3. They might find the problem is in my wiring, red-tag
That would not give me a feeling of confidence relative to the electrical
system in my house…
If there are high resistance connections in the system, they can be “seen” by
someone using a FLIR camera.
I would seriously consider speaking with your utility company, if only to go on
record
> On September 29, 2018 at 9:23 AM MG via Mercedes
> wrote:
>
>
> Possibly. Or the sudden load caused a little
> bridging spark weld that may give way with a
> larger load or the larger load could produce
> an even better bridge that will last a bit
> but cause heat wherever that weak
Possibly. Or the sudden load caused a little
bridging spark weld that may give way with a
larger load or the larger load could produce
an even better bridge that will last a bit
but cause heat wherever that weak connection
is when subjected to higher amps?
MG
Who knows that electricity is
> Craig wrote:
> On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 13:17:04 -0500 fmiser via Mercedes
> wrote:
>
> > Because it's only some of them, I would guess it cannot be
> > further "upstream" than your service panel where the 220
> > "splits" into two phases. It could be one side of the main
> > breaker, or be one
And if all the affected circuits are on one leg of the 240, it can
indeed be from the transformer to the breaker box.
fmiser via Mercedes wrote:
Probably not the utility feed or it would be all the lights.
Because it's only some of them, I would guess it cannot be further
"upstream" than
Rick,
I hate to recommend the obvious, but have the power company come and
confirm their wiring before you tear up your electrical panel. Years ago, I
lived in a subdivision with underground utilities. In grading the lot next
door, the developer pierced the line into my house. I lost
On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 16:53:39 -0400 (EDT) Mitch Haley via Mercedes
wrote:
> I'm thinking of taking a nice hot bath with the water heater disconnect
> pulled, then turning the water heater back on and seeing what a 20A
> continuous load does to it. Maybe dry a load of laundry while the water
>
It's a solid half of my house.
I haven't bothered to trace the individual circuits, but it seems highly likely
it's one of my two hot leads.
Suspect connections include the ones a couple feet away from the transformer,
the ones at the pole between the transformer and the house, the ones at
Two phases and a neutral. Forgot the pictures.
Rick
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Philip sex:
>Because it's only some of them, I would guess it >cannot be further
>"upstream" than your service panel where the >220 "splits" into two phases.
Huh?
I have two distinct 120v phases from the transformer at the pole coming in to
feed the main panel in my basement. See the
On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 13:17:04 -0500 fmiser via Mercedes
wrote:
> Because it's only some of them, I would guess it cannot be further
> "upstream" than your service panel where the 220 "splits" into two
> phases. It could be one side of the main breaker, or be one
> circuit. If you can prove it
> Mitch wrote:
> Get up this am and half the lights were flickering,
> ...then you go to a room that isn't affected and you can see the
> difference.
> Time to replace the main breaker? Something wrong with the utility feed?
Probably not the utility feed or it would be all the lights.
Mitch sez:
>So I turn on the heat pump an hour ago, put a 6A >240v load on the system, see
>if I can get it to do >more than barely flicker.
>And...the flicker went away.
>Weak contact gets stronger with a little heat?
Possibly. The load tester the utility guy brought out probably pulled
So I turn on the heat pump an hour ago, put a 6A 240v load on the system, see
if I can get it to do more than barely flicker.
And...the flicker went away.
Weak contact gets stronger with a little heat?
If so, it should fail hard the first time we get a killing frost.
Mitch
Yeah, have you had rain lately?
--FT
On 9/28/18 10:05 AM, Rick Knoble via Mercedes wrote:
I had the same problem several years ago. It was intermittent (gotta love those), so it was hard to find. I checked voltage at the breakers, and found odd voltage (116 vs. 119) on all the breakers on
I had the same problem several years ago. It was intermittent (gotta love
those), so it was hard to find. I checked voltage at the breakers, and found
odd voltage (116 vs. 119) on all the breakers on one particular leg. I checked
the incoming feed, same thing. Called the power company, and
I just realized, if the feed from the meter to my load center is aluminum, the
drop from the roof to the meter probably is too.
So I have potentially corroded connections from the triplex to the drop, from
the the drop to the meter, from the meter to the feed, from the feed to the
main breaker
> On September 28, 2018 at 9:37 AM Craig via Mercedes
> wrote:
> Cycling all the breakers showed one of them to be the problem.
If it's a breaker it has to be the main.
But I don't think it is. It's coming and going now, not steady.
I think it just subsided for a bit when I was in the garage
On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 08:37:10 -0400 (EDT) Mitch Haley via Mercedes
wrote:
> I cycled all the breakers and it seemed to go away, walked the dog and
> when we got home it was happening again. Time to replace the main
> breaker? Something wrong with the utility feed?
Cycling all the breakers showed
When we lived in Gloucester, the power company was using aluminium lugs
which failed in the salt laden air, causing flickering of the lights.
The repair tech said that the old bronze lugs never failed, company
cheap-out? Who knew?
Fred.
On Fri, Sep 28, 2018 at 9:20 AM Buggered Benzmail via
My house was built in the late 1970s and while the wiring is copper, the main
feed from the meter to the box is aluminum. Not much money saved there, as the
meter is directly behind the box so the wires are only about a foot long.
Mitch.
___
I had that happen when I installed a new temporary panel and Main disconnect
when I was building my addition. Used new equipment that worked fine for some
period of weeks then the same thing started happening one night. Went out to
check the main shutoff that fed the temp panel for the
Poltergeists.
Time to call a priest.
-D
> On Sep 28, 2018, at 8:37 AM, Mitch Haley via Mercedes
> wrote:
>
> Get up this am and half the lights were flickering, as if there was a very
> brief and regularly repeating voltage drop every 1/2 second or so. It's
> something you notice, then you
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