DIYbanter - View Single Post - Voltage drop

In article ,
says...

You mentioned two things that always send up a red flag for me; The
previous owner did a lot of improvements himself and you have a Federal
panel. The electrician was right in checking and tightening all of the
connections in both panels, but you could have one or more bad circuit
breakers that are causing the lights to flicker.

You could also have loose connections in one or more outlets, switches, and
junction boxes on the problem circuits. It could also be a problem with the
electric service coming to the house. The fact that the overhead conductors
were pulling on the connections is an indication that the problem may be
right there. I would call the power company and have them check the service
drop from the pole to the house. The connections inside of the meter should
also be tightened. In the mean time keep a record of time and date when you
have these occurrences. It may be useful in correlating your problem with
something else. Are your neighbors having the same problem?

Regarding the FPE panels. I suggest that you get estimates from several
contractors on the cost to replace them.

Many thanks to everyone who replied with suggestions. A few additional
comments:

I'm not sure the previous owner did any electrical improvements himself
- he may well have contracted that kind of work out, especially since he
was in a position to have plenty of contacts who would be capable of
doing such work.

The guy that examined everything last week commented that whoever had
installed the panels had done a pretty good job (not that in this
instance that has any bearing on how well they function, obviously). He
did check all the panel connections with a meter after tightening them
down, and didn't see any readings out of the ordinary.

None of the breakers are warm to the touch even slightly. Some of them
have tripped as they were supposed to in the past, but this has not been
a frequent occurrence.

I don't have a voltmeter, but I can certainly borrow one from my dad,
and this will probably be my next step. I'm definitely going to call in
a ticket to the utility as well and have them check the service drop and
meter. Not sure if my neighbors are having problems as well, but I'm
going to talk to them and find out.

Finally, I'm definitely going to have the panels replaced, it's just a
question of when funds become available to do so. Glad I found out about
their history now rather than before they became a more serious problem.

Dave