What was said.

You might even be able to find a program/card that would monitor the voltage
over time on yer PC.
And, I would see if I could glean what the wave-form of the voltage was, as
well--in addition to spikes, you might be getting DC surges as well.

And the point about neighbors is good--what is happening to you ought to be
happening to them, as well. Unless some protective component (surge, etc)
is absent on your equipment and not theirs. We don't have such stuff
here--around NYC.

The ground advice was good too. Sometimes a really bad ground can wind up
sending 220 into some 110 outlets.
A quick way to test the quality of your existing ground is to attach a wire
to the neutral bar in a panel, and touch the other end to the *street side*
of your water meter. Turn the lights out, and look for sparks/arcing. If
you see this, you don't have a good existing ground, which may or may not be
the source of your problem, but getting a good ground is always a good
start.
Often, you won't even have to turn the lights out to see the arcing. Ask
me...
If you are not comfortable with this, get someone who is comfortable with it
to do the test.

If the test is positive, find out from your power company why your neutral
connection to the pole (assuming your neutral bar to the weatherhead/outside
connection is OK) is so crappy.

On top of it all, if there is a real problem (and not just a run of bad
luck), it seems to be an intermittent one, which are the worst to diagnose.

Gary Lucas on alt.machines.cnc and on rec.crafts.metalworking is a real
sharp tack, electricity-wise. He might have some add'l insights. A few
people on rcm are good sparks.
--
Mr. P.V.'d
formerly Droll Troll
"ameijers" wrote in message
...

"catlyns" wrote in message
ps.com...
I need your help! I moved into my 50 year home in September, brought
(tale of woe snipped)
Again, the power light comes on but it won't heat up!
The electrical appears to have been updated, in that there is a circuit
box with breakers and it's not full and all that.
Do I just have really bad luck with electronics, or is something
strange going on here?

Spikes? Testing at the service entrance only tells the quality of the
power
there, right then when they did the test. If you have a whole-house surge
protector, it may have crapped out. (You are talking about an extra ring
under the glass meter dome, right?) How long was the electrician there?
Did
he open stuff up, or just check outlets with a meter? Call the electric
company back, and find out if they would be willing to leave a recording
device on site and plugged in, to monitor the power over 48 hours or so.
If
they won't, an electrical contractor that does commercial work could do
the
same, but it wouldn't be cheap. Quiz all your neighbors, especially those
fed off the same pole transformer as your house, and see if they had any
problems. If the mains power is dirty or off-spec, likely they will have
had
problems, too. If not, something is fubar'd in your drop or inside wiring.

aem sends...