On 6 Dec 2005 16:51:59 -0800, "
wrote:

My wife was useing the stove and disposal.The furnice was running and
the dryer.The lights started to get dim and then everything on one side
of the house went out.Turned everything off looked for a blown
circuit.Nothing.My wife turned on the stove again and the lights came
back on but was very dim.Turn the stove off.No lights.Stove on,lights
but dim and the furnice won't work at all. It's like the stove needs to
be on before anything works but the stove dosn't heat up.Very low power
help!!

The others have all figured it out, but I want to explain in a little
more detail.

Lets say there are two legs of electricity coming in 120V-1 and
120V-2, which are opposite of each other. Let's say v-2 is dead
because the wire from the street, or from the fusebox, is open
somewhere. So there is zero volts at V-2. That's why half your
lights don't work.

Let's say you turn on the stove. (Even though it is AC current, let's
use language as if it were DC. In practice, the results are the
same.) The current goes in via one wire 120v-1 to the stove and it
"wants" to come out via the other leg 120v-2, back to the street, but
like I said the path back to the fuse box, or to the street, is open.

But now there is voltage at 120v-2, and that voltage will power the
lamps that didn't work before. So the lights go on, but why do they
go on dimly. Because all the current that runs through the lamps
first runs through the stove. So the voltage is lower than 120 by
the time the current starts to feed into the lights.

In fact, the entire voltage -- from 120-v1 through the stove to the
connecting point at 120-v2 and on from there to the lights, and from
there to the neutral -- is 120 volts. And because the stove and each
light (or the lights as a whole) are in series** the 120 volts is
shared by the stove and the lights. The fraction that each gets
depends on the resistance of the stove and each light and how many
lights are on at the moment,, but roughly the lights get 60 volts
instead of 120 and the stove gets 60 volts instead of 240. Or 80 for
lights and 40 for the stove. AC I think the lights need at least 80
before they will glow, but the stove will get slightly hot iiuc no
matter how low the current. through it.

**even though the lights themselves are in parallel with each other.)


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