Could be also - you have a 200 amp box - and share a transformer with 3 other houses -
each with 200 amp boxes. The pole (example only) can supply 400 amp max - and never
expects to see more - much less 800 amps. Now the neighbor installs an electric heater.
Another installs a monster TV and ... another adds a pool pump and a spa...
So the transformer might be on the edge and you brown out the transformer!
I'd take off the panel cover and verify the mains screws - carefully.
Martin
Martin Eastburn
@ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net
NRA LOH & Endowment Member
NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder
Ignoramus18851 wrote:
On Thu, 12 Jan 2006 20:56:39 -0500, Steve Smith wrote:
Jon Elson wrote:
Well, actually, that isn't so ridiculous. My dad remarried about 15
years ago,
and they were having problems in her house, with lights going out and
then
coming back on later. I said that sounded serious, call your
electrician. The
licensed. professional electrician
said it was "normal, nothing you could do"! I said, "wow, you need a new
electrician!" My dad didn't want to believe me, then his next-door
neighbor,
who is an EE, agreed, in much stronger terms. Well, nothing happened
until
I got a chance to visit. I pulled the cover off the electrical panel,
and many
of the wires were so loose in the breakers you could just pull them
striaght
OUT! Yikes! So, I retorqued all the hold-down screws, and there were no
further problems. EVERY screw in the panel was loose.
If Igor has a reasonably-rated electrical service, this could be the
same problem.
Anyway, that is something he can check. And, if he has anything less
than
a 100 A service, he really is not going to be able to run a 10 Hp
idler motor.
With typical house loads running, you really don't want any less than
a 200
A service to run this kind of equipment.
Jon
We had classic loose neutral symptoms--the microwave starts and the
kitchen lights got *lots* brighter. I measured a peak of 135V (on the
other side of the box) when the microwave turned on. It was when I was
headed for the power drop on the pole with my DVM that my wife put her
foot down and said to call an electrician.
I was at work when he came. My wife said that he poked around here and
there, spent a lot of time talking with his helper by the truck, then
left. I talked to him later and he explained that the problem could be
anywhere, we might have to rewire the whole house. Can't we isolate the
problem? Nope, no way to do that. Then he says (referring to the fan
motor in the microwave) "You know, motors are funny things, they have
memory. I bet if you just wait a few weeks, the problem will go away.".
I immediately called his boss. His boss said "sounds like a loose
neutral". He offered to come out that evening (Friday yet). He finally
found it--the neutral drop on the pole was loose in its screw. The screw
was corroded in place, doing a good imitation of being tight.
That's a nice story. In my case though, the RPC runs on 220V, so
neutral is not a big deal aside from the control circuit. Loose hot
mains wires at the power panel could possibly (but not very likely)
account for dimming lights.
i
----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Unrestricted-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----