Dimming lights - my house and adjacent street light
 

My lights have been flickering (it's really more of a dimming, as they
don't get brighter), whenever something is turned on that takes a bit
of load - garbage disposal, vacuum, washing machine, AC, microwave,
even the toaster and the TV makes the lights flicker. It affects all
of the lights in the house. I've called the utility company and they
came out and replaced the 'taps' and told me to have a nice day. It
seemed to settle down for a day, but now they are dimming again. It
happens a lot - once every few minutes or so maybe, and it seems to
happen more in the morning than in the evening for some reason.

But the strangest thing is that I noticed that the *street* light
outside my house dims if I turn on my garbage disposal. I've asked my
next door neighbor if she has noticed her lights flickering and she
said she hadn't (which I don't completely believe because I swear I saw
her garage light flicker when my washing machine turned on a few days
ago).

So, who should I call first - the utility company or an electrician?

Dimming lights - my house and adjacent street light
 

wrote:
My lights have been flickering (it's really more of a dimming, as they
don't get brighter), whenever something is turned on that takes a bit
of load - garbage disposal, vacuum, washing machine, AC, microwave,
even the toaster and the TV makes the lights flicker. It affects all
of the lights in the house. I've called the utility company and they
came out and replaced the 'taps' and told me to have a nice day. It
seemed to settle down for a day, but now they are dimming again. It
happens a lot - once every few minutes or so maybe, and it seems to
happen more in the morning than in the evening for some reason.

But the strangest thing is that I noticed that the *street* light
outside my house dims if I turn on my garbage disposal. I've asked my
next door neighbor if she has noticed her lights flickering and she
said she hadn't (which I don't completely believe because I swear I saw
her garage light flicker when my washing machine turned on a few days
ago).

So, who should I call first - the utility company or an electrician?

I should have mentioned - this actually occurs quite randomly, not
necessarily when we turn something on. Almost like my lights are
dimming in response to something turning on at one of my neighbor's
houses.

Dimming lights - my house and adjacent street light
 

Dimming lights - my house and adjacent street light
 

Dimming lights - my house and adjacent street light
 

wrote in message
oups.com...
My lights have been flickering (it's really more of a dimming, as they
don't get brighter), whenever something is turned on that takes a bit
of load - garbage disposal, vacuum, washing machine, AC, microwave,
even the toaster and the TV makes the lights flicker. It affects all
of the lights in the house. I've called the utility company and they
came out and replaced the 'taps' and told me to have a nice day. It
seemed to settle down for a day, but now they are dimming again. It
happens a lot - once every few minutes or so maybe, and it seems to
happen more in the morning than in the evening for some reason.

But the strangest thing is that I noticed that the *street* light
outside my house dims if I turn on my garbage disposal. I've asked my
next door neighbor if she has noticed her lights flickering and she
said she hadn't (which I don't completely believe because I swear I saw
her garage light flicker when my washing machine turned on a few days
ago).

So, who should I call first - the utility company or an electrician?


Call an electrician to check all of your main connections and if that
doesn't correct the problem ask him to call the power company. It could be
loose connections anywhere from the transformer to the connection at your
house to the meter, and to your main panel. It is also possible that the
transformer is too small for the current load and needs to be upsized.

When the taps are changed on a transformer, it means that the outgoing
voltage has been changed. In your case they probably upped the voltage a
little, but it didn't do much good.

As Joseph said, keep a log of date, time, and occurrence as these problems
may be associated with something else going on somewhere in the area. My
bet is on an undersized transformer because of the dimming streetlight.

Let us know what the outcome is.

Dimming lights - my house and adjacent street light
 

The utility company took care of it. We're on a corner lot, and we're
the last ones down the line from the transformer (well, technically the
street light is the last one on the line). Apparently the secondary
fuses at the pole nearest my house had blown even though they replaced
them the first time I called them a couple months ago. So, they
suspected a short in the transformer. They fixed it up yesterday and
all I've noticed since is normal dimming of the lights when the fridge
or garbage disposal turns on, not the dips every couple of minutes that
we were noticing before. Much better.

Thanks for the help.

John Grabowski wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
My lights have been flickering (it's really more of a dimming, as they
don't get brighter), whenever something is turned on that takes a bit
of load - garbage disposal, vacuum, washing machine, AC, microwave,
even the toaster and the TV makes the lights flicker. It affects all
of the lights in the house. I've called the utility company and they
came out and replaced the 'taps' and told me to have a nice day. It
seemed to settle down for a day, but now they are dimming again. It
happens a lot - once every few minutes or so maybe, and it seems to
happen more in the morning than in the evening for some reason.

But the strangest thing is that I noticed that the *street* light
outside my house dims if I turn on my garbage disposal. I've asked my
next door neighbor if she has noticed her lights flickering and she
said she hadn't (which I don't completely believe because I swear I saw
her garage light flicker when my washing machine turned on a few days
ago).

So, who should I call first - the utility company or an electrician?


Call an electrician to check all of your main connections and if that
doesn't correct the problem ask him to call the power company. It could be
loose connections anywhere from the transformer to the connection at your
house to the meter, and to your main panel. It is also possible that the
transformer is too small for the current load and needs to be upsized.

When the taps are changed on a transformer, it means that the outgoing
voltage has been changed. In your case they probably upped the voltage a
little, but it didn't do much good.

As Joseph said, keep a log of date, time, and occurrence as these problems
may be associated with something else going on somewhere in the area. My
bet is on an undersized transformer because of the dimming streetlight.

Let us know what the outcome is.