"JC" wrote in message
m...
Here lately we have had the opposite of a power surge. The power takes a
dramatic downward dive. We sleep without air conditioning and use a small
"Patton" fan mainly to create some noise to drown out the trains and
highway traffic. For the last three or four days the fan would drag down
to almost a complete stop. One of us would wake up immediately and jump up
and turn it off.

Last night I decided to do some detective work. So, when it happened, I
just left it along and went through the house turning on lights and
things. Several lights, I'm assuming they are on the same circuit, were
very dim. (we use those curly cue florescent bulbs). Nothing I did changed
the fan speed. This morning I turned the fan on and it ran fine. I'm
wondering if a breaker could overheat and drag the power down. Also, we
have a terrific infestion of fire ants and those damn crazy rosemary ants
(I think that's the name---it's a new discovery here in south Texas and
they are taking over everything so fast it's unbelievable) But, I've dealt
with the ant problem before and this just doesn't act the same.

I'll be calling the local electrician but before I sprang for that 100
bucks up front, I thought I'd check and see if anyone else has had this
problem and might have an idea what's going on.

JC

Had something like this recently happen to me. It ended up doing $4500
worth of damage to my house, so beware. In my case, the power company's
nuetral line failed at the transformer. Apparently surge protectors can
handle power surges but I only had one survive (well the stuff attached to
it survived, the surge protector melted) the alternating current from a
blown nuetral. Tvs, clock radios, stereos, control boards on the stove,
etc. did not survive. BTW the power company only paid for new surge
protectors, light bulbs (the hi-efficiency ones did not survive), an
electrician, and the stove repair. Everything else came out of my pocket.
I mention that because I am in Texas too and apparently this denial of
damages is part of the deal they made about deregulation.