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Rod & Betty Jo Rod & Betty Jo is offline
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Default Flickering lights on one circuit

James wrote:
In my study, my lamps will flicker every few minutes or so. I
assume that I have some defect in the wiring on this circuit, or that
there is a problem with my circuit breaker connection, or the breaker
itself.


When I had a circuit flicker it was the BUS in the breaker panel.....the
Galvanized bus was corroding..... maybe I've been told from mild water
damage(panel is under the kitchen sink area in the basement). When the
lights flickered I could hear a soft crackling noise in the panel(definitely
unsettling). I pulled the suspect breaker and saw damage on the breaker
connectors, cleaned up the bus spot some, replaced the breaker and a few
months later the flicker returned. I then polished/cleaned surrounding
breaker connectors and moved the circuit(another new breaker) to another
spot(no more flicker). I'm about to replace the panel(next week). My panel
is almost 30 years old but the suspect breaker was added about 10 years ago.
If your breaker & bus shows no damage I would carefully check every
connection, switch etc. on that circuit and/or hire an electrician.....the
circuit could be asking for a fire. Incidentally due to a panel design
change(code) I'll need to run new wires from the meter to the panel(short
easy run) as they have lengthened the distance from the top of the panel to
the main cutoff breaker. Rod