Joined
·
25 Posts
Hi,
I just had a new central air system installed in my house. It’s a Heil system, with a 3 ton compressor. Whenever the compressor starts up, the lights in my house dim a little, very briefly. I had my electrician come back and look at it, and he checked all the connections for tightness, and the voltages and current. I have a fairly new 200AMP service. The voltage at the unit was consistently being 241-243 volts. It drops 2 volts at startup. He also measured the current at startup, and he measured 110AMPs. That’s quite a bit larger than the 77 AMPS written on the compressor label for ‘LRA’ (Locked Rotor Amps). He wasn’t sure if that could be causing the dimming or not (possibly a bad or weak startup capacitor?). He suggested having my installer call Heil to see if the 110AMPS is within spec. He also suggested having the power company check the taps and neutral connection at the pole.
Has anyone else had a problem with lights dimming when an A/C system starts up? The electrician said it really shouldn’t be happening with my setup (new system, good 200AMP service, etc..). Any ideas or suggestions?
Thanks very much.
I just had a new central air system installed in my house. It’s a Heil system, with a 3 ton compressor. Whenever the compressor starts up, the lights in my house dim a little, very briefly. I had my electrician come back and look at it, and he checked all the connections for tightness, and the voltages and current. I have a fairly new 200AMP service. The voltage at the unit was consistently being 241-243 volts. It drops 2 volts at startup. He also measured the current at startup, and he measured 110AMPs. That’s quite a bit larger than the 77 AMPS written on the compressor label for ‘LRA’ (Locked Rotor Amps). He wasn’t sure if that could be causing the dimming or not (possibly a bad or weak startup capacitor?). He suggested having my installer call Heil to see if the 110AMPS is within spec. He also suggested having the power company check the taps and neutral connection at the pole.
Has anyone else had a problem with lights dimming when an A/C system starts up? The electrician said it really shouldn’t be happening with my setup (new system, good 200AMP service, etc..). Any ideas or suggestions?
Thanks very much.