Fpbear II wrote:
Yes, I noticed that when I plugged things into one outlet the appliances
were kind of wimpy, and when I plugged into the other outlet, the appliances
would work on turbo-boost. When I would turn something on that had a big
load, the aquarium lights would appear brighter. This led me to check the
voltage.


"buffalobill" wrote in message
ups.com...
buffalo ny: was there a symptom or damage that led you to check the
voltage?


I encountered something very similar a few years ago. My wife commented
that the lights were getting brighter and dimmer at times. I then
noticed when something like the refrigerator turned on or off this would
happen. I went to the circuit breaker box and found that the input
phase voltages were changing, one being high and the other low. Called
the power company and they found a very scorched piece of about #4
Aluminum wire in a distribution box. The neutral was open and my house
was using the copper ground stake as a return.

They said that Aluminum is still very common in large distribution wires.