Power in rooms goes on and off by itself.

68 Fastback

For some reason the lights and outlets in 1 bedroom and the kitchen as well as the ceiling fan in the living room will all go out at the same time and within seconds to an hour will come back on by itself.

The breaker does not trip and trying to reset the breaker doesn't fix the problem.

Last night my son also noticed that the oven (220v) and the light inside the oven didn't work as well when the power went out, so I tried turning on the stove and the indicator light on the stove worked (I didn't check to see if the burner put out any heat.

The stove and oven is a free standing unit so I don't understand why the stove would work and the oven wouldn't.

I kept playing with the oven and stove switches and all of a sudden the oven light, the kitchen light, bedroom light and the outlets all started working.

Since the power comes back on by itself, I don't know if messing with the oven and stove switches had anything to do with the power coming back on.

Why and how could the 110v going out in part of the house effect the 220v stove/oven and while the power is out, how in the world could the stove (or at least the stove indicator light) work when the oven indicator light and inside oven light not work?

If the power goes out again, I will check to see if the stove burners work or not.

By the way, the power can go out at any time with heavy usage or at night with nothing more than the alarm clock (what a pain) being used.

Thank you in advance for any ideas or suggestions.
Ken

AllanJ

Next thing to do. Turn off the stove and oven and all 240 volt applances for a moment. (If you have an electric water heater you would need to flip off its breaker.)

Then check the lights and receptacles (outlets).

One kind of problem has one of the two feed wires dead; it's needed for 240 volts and also about half of the 120 volt circuits in your house. It might be dead coming in from the utility pole.

With one side dead it is still possible for stove burners to work on some of the lower heat settings.

Aside from all that perhaps there is a loose connection somewhere that happens to come together when there is some vibration such as from a truck rumbling by on the street outside.

__________________
The disadvantages of crab apple trees. In summer, the apples are too sour to pick and eat. In winter the birds come and leave dropping all over the place.

68 Fastback

Thank you for your help.
I'm working some crazy hours (Left the house at 3:45 am and got home at 8:00 pm) and haven't had a chance to do the check yet, but I have some interesting information that I just noticed.

Tonight when I got home I noticed that the sodium light that I rent from the power company was not working (it's very dark outside) and when I got in the house, the same lights, outlets and stove were not working.

I turned on the stove (which was kinda working) and then turned on the oven (which was not working) and within 10-15 seconds the lights in the kitchen turned on and the stove started working. I immediately went to the the front window and the sodium light was now coming on.

Is it possible for 1 of the feed wires from the transformer to go on and off and back on again?

Thanks again.
Ken

SD515

Yes, a loose connection can cause these very problems. The wind blows, it disconnects...a truck goes by, it reconnects. Call the power company and have them check their end of the feed to your house and the connections at the transformer. It could be in your equipment or theirs. They should be able to tell rather quickly.

__________________
Kyle

Just because you can, doesn't always mean you should

68 Fastback

The power company checked today and said that they found 1 wire at the pole that was loose, but they were not sure if that was the problem or not.

So far the lights haven't gone out, but only time will tell.

Thank you for your help and I'll be back if it goes out again, but I may not be able to do any trouble shooting for a while. We just found out that my Father who has been battling cancer for 5 years may only have 1 or 2 weeks left, so I will be with him as much as possible.

Thanks again.
Ken

SD515

The POCO finding a loose connection on their end is a good sign that the problem stands a strong chance of being fixed. As you said, time will tell. Hope it was all that was wrong.

Prayers to you and yours. I’m sure that most on this board are with me when I say that we hope for the best for your father and your family.

__________________
Kyle

Just because you can, doesn't always mean you should

68 Fastback

Thank you very much for your thoughts and prayers.

I also want to thank you all for your help. So far the power has not gone off again.

Thanks.
Ken