Dimming and Flickering lights in home

Keisha34

Our lights have been dimming and flickering..sometimes worser than the other. we uplugged all major appliances and the lights still dimmed and flickered. the power company has came and checked outside the house and said he didn't see anything that would cause it on the outside and he even look at our panel box on the inside of the house and he still didn't find a problem. He tighted up a couple of loose things in the panel and cut away a couple of branches on the outside and that was about it. The lights still flickered and dimmed. next we called an elcectrian the checked the panel on the inside and seem to be tightening something on the inside. They even replaced sockets on the inside of our house. They basically couldn't find a problem either outside of replaceing sockets. They told us to call them back if we had any more problems.. for the rest of that evening into the begining of the next day the lights did not dim nor flicker. But later on in the evening of the next day the lights started back dimming and flickering. So in the next couple of days I called the power company back because I noticed branches close by our electrical line and I asked them to see if that could possibly be the cause of the dimming and flickering of our lights. After they checked he notice the limbs but he said it would not be enough to cause dimming and flickering of our lights. so after that a guy who usually troubleshoots for electrical problems in homes checked our panel box out and he only tighted up things too and did not find any problems as to what would cause the lights to dim and flicker...I'm not sure about what to do next no one can find the problem. Should I call the electrician back? ( also last week we had our air conditioner fixed but even with that off the lights still dim and flicker) What do you think the problem might be? any suggestions will be appreciated

jammin06

Yes, call an electrician. It is probably a loose or bad connection.

A competent electrician should be able to track it down. Although it can be quite time consuming.

Good luck

Keisha34

do you have any idea where most bad connections and loose wires could be?

busman

I think you should get an electrician that specializes in residential troubleshooting. Electricians are a lot like Doctors and tend to specialize in certain areas of the trade.

While this is not a DIY fix (most likely), there are some things you could do in advance of professional help that would be useful to the electrician. The most important would be to map out the circuits in your house that are experiencing the problem and trace them to the circuit numbers in your panel. If you can provide this information and a photo of your panel, I can help you to narrow this down.

Mark

Jim Port

This sounds like an overhead service. The neutral in the triplex could be in bad shape or there could be a poor connection at the transformer. Were the connections in the meter socket checked?

Sound like you have had the panel connections checked a couple of times so I suspect this is a power company issue. Do any of your neighbors have the same problem? If so this is definitely a power company issue.

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busman

Jim,

That's why I asked the OP to trace the circuits; to determine if this is a branch circuit, neutral or phase issue. I doubt its a neutral, since there is no mention of lights getting brighter. My guess is going to be a poor crimp on one of the phases (PoCo splices). I've also seen where the phase isn't insulated and slaps against the neutral when it's windy.

Mark

Keisha34

i have looked for a layout of the circuits but cannot find it...as far as I know the lights are all on one circuit and sockets in different areas are on various circuits. Mainly the lights have been blinking and dimming . When it dims when a tv is in almost every room none of the tv power dims or loose connection. the only thing in the house that indications these mini power surges or voltage drop is the refrigerator cause I can hear it slightly go out and in during the dimming

Keisha34

we asked neighbors they didn't any problems and they only mention sockets that need replacing in their home and that about it

bernie963

keisha,

Do any of the lights get brighter than normal? (regular incadesent lamp bulbs) Does this happen when windy? Neighbors having the same problem? how far away is the transformer on the poco pole?

with out bright lights it sounds like an intermitant conection on 1 leg.

bernie

Keisha34

they don't get bright just only flicker or dim and as far as i know none of the neighbors are having problems..the lights flicker and dim even when it is not windy. our transformer is in our backyard

Keisha34

also i am not sure if the connection in the meter socket was checked

AllanJ

Do some lights in different parts of the house flicker in unison? Do lights in other rooms some distance away dim if you turn on a hair dryer?

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Keisha34

yes they flick and dim in unison.. it will not necessarily flicker or dim when the blow dryer is on..

knotquiteawake

Systematic fault isolation.
Speaking from a lack of electrical experience but years of troubleshooting various equipment systems and computer systems. I would maybe flip one breaker off at a time and leave it off. See if the flickering continues or not. At least if you are able to isolate to a single breaker then you can investigate every outlet on that breaker?

Keisha34

that does make alot of sense i will see if i can get some one to do it for me