Hi all,

I just bought a house (25 years old, contemporary), and at least half
of the lights in the house don't work, some of the fluorescent fixtures
glow a little but not bright, and half of the filament lights are
blown. When I turn on some of the filament lights, they don't come on
smoothly, they flicker and struggle to stay constant brightness, and
the compact fluorescents have a hard time striking. I suspect I have a
fault somewhere. Shall I call an electrician? Is there something that
is a likely cause? Its pretty much the whole house, it seems.

Thanks for any help,

Dean

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi all,

I just bought a house (25 years old, contemporary), and at least half
of the lights in the house don't work, some of the fluorescent fixtures
glow a little but not bright, and half of the filament lights are
blown. When I turn on some of the filament lights, they don't come on
smoothly, they flicker and struggle to stay constant brightness, and
the compact fluorescents have a hard time striking. I suspect I have a
fault somewhere. Shall I call an electrician? Is there something that
is a likely cause? Its pretty much the whole house, it seems.

Thanks for any help,

Dean


Hello Dean,
What's the temperature inside the house? If this house has been vacant
and had the heat turned down...that is your problem. Florescents hate cool
temperatures and are very groggy then.
If the house is warm, I suggest it will probably be your Florescent
ballasts that need to be changed out by an electrician. Hope that was of
some help.

Jim

Hi, Dean.

Absolutely- call an electrician ASAP. From what I can see from here
:'), I'd suspect you have a poorly bonded neutral at the service drop.
Been there. This can result in high enough current through bizarre
paths to ground to really heat some wiring. Meanwhile, turn everything
possible off. Your electrical utility may have to be involved for work
on the service drop.

Given the vintage of the house, I'd also suspect problems with
connections on aluminum cable. An inherently unstable situation. A
competent electrician can tell on inspection if you have aluminum house
wiring, but special tools and terminations are required to make
connections safe and stable over time. IMHO, all connections to
aluminum cable are suspect.

No intention to hype the seriousness of your situation, but you really
want to get a pro in there NOW.

John

wrote:
Hi all,

I just bought a house (25 years old, contemporary), and at least half
of the lights in the house don't work, some of the fluorescent
fixtures
glow a little but not bright, and half of the filament lights are
blown. When I turn on some of the filament lights, they don't come on
smoothly, they flicker and struggle to stay constant brightness, and
the compact fluorescents have a hard time striking. I suspect I have
a
fault somewhere. Shall I call an electrician? Is there something that
is a likely cause? Its pretty much the whole house, it seems.

Thanks for all the help

Yeah I've had a bad ground before, but it affected the fridge and other
things really obviously. This is just the lights. The furnace is
electric and runs great, so I don't think its the ground. Are there any
line testers I can pick up at home depot to narrow down the problem?

You didnt get it inspected prior to purchase? Incandesants flicker,
half are blown and brightness varies? Geees ....And you are asking if
an electician is needed.

wrote:
I just bought a house (25 years old, contemporary), and at least half
of the lights in the house don't work, some of the fluorescent fixtures
glow a little but not bright, and half of the filament lights are
blown. When I turn on some of the filament lights, they don't come on
smoothly, they flicker and struggle to stay constant brightness, and
the compact fluorescents have a hard time striking. I suspect I have a
fault somewhere. Shall I call an electrician? Is there something that
is a likely cause? Its pretty much the whole house, it seems.

Well, yeah, you should call an electrician. With the whole house being toast
like that, the problem's somewhere from the breaker box out into the power
company's territory. Tracing it down shouldn't be hard, but it helps to know
what you're doing.

wrote:
Hi all,

I just bought a house (25 years old, contemporary), and at least half
of the lights in the house don't work, some of the fluorescent
fixtures glow a little but not bright, and half of the filament
lights are blown. When I turn on some of the filament lights, they
don't come on smoothly, they flicker and struggle to stay constant
brightness, and the compact fluorescents have a hard time striking. I
suspect I have a fault somewhere. Shall I call an electrician? Is
there something that is a likely cause? Its pretty much the whole
house, it seems.

Thanks for any help,

Dean

Yes you need some help. I sounds like a floating neutral ,or two, bad
grounds plus other issues.

The part of this you need to remember is it can damage electrical
equipment and may cause a fire. Some of the stuff you describe is
dangerous.

--
Joseph Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

I think your house needs new batteries.

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

I don't get that one! Can you explain?

Hi, Dean.

I made no mention of "bad ground" and tried to make it clear that you
have a potentially dangerous situation. Such that you need to get a
pro to check it out to avoid electrical fire. What's needed here is
education and experience, not cheapie meters.


Please note what most all other responders suggest. This is serious,
and it's your butt.

HTH,
John

wrote:
26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

I don't get that one! Can you explain?

Ireland has 32 counties. 26 in the Republic and 6 in the North Ireland
that England split from the whole. When they are all once again joined
there will be but one Ireland.

--
Joseph Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

Matt wrote:
I think your house needs new batteries.

You sure are ignorant.

It's usually just dirty connections. Take the house and bang it against a
big table. Often this will knock the corrosion loose and fix it, at least
for awhile.

First laugh I had today!

Get an electrician. You obviously don't know about electricity. For one, a
bad ground won't stop your furnace from operating, grounds are safety
things. Also your electric furnace will be 240 volts and bypasses any
problems with the neutral. Some of your 120 volt items could be operating at
excessive over-voltage if you have neutral problems, which could damage them
or cause a fire.

wrote in message
ups.com...
Thanks for all the help

Yeah I've had a bad ground before, but it affected the fridge and other
things really obviously. This is just the lights. The furnace is
electric and runs great, so I don't think its the ground. Are there any
line testers I can pick up at home depot to narrow down the problem?

Two words, licensed electrician.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi all,

I just bought a house (25 years old, contemporary), and at least half
of the lights in the house don't work, some of the fluorescent fixtures
glow a little but not bright, and half of the filament lights are
blown. When I turn on some of the filament lights, they don't come on
smoothly, they flicker and struggle to stay constant brightness, and
the compact fluorescents have a hard time striking. I suspect I have a
fault somewhere. Shall I call an electrician? Is there something that
is a likely cause? Its pretty much the whole house, it seems.

Thanks for any help,

Dean

On Tue, 8 Feb 2005 03:54:58 -0600, "effi" wrote:

Two words, licensed electrician.

Four words, reputable insured licensed electrician.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi all,

I just bought a house (25 years old, contemporary), and at least half
of the lights in the house don't work, some of the fluorescent fixtures
glow a little but not bright, and half of the filament lights are
blown. When I turn on some of the filament lights, they don't come on
smoothly, they flicker and struggle to stay constant brightness, and
the compact fluorescents have a hard time striking. I suspect I have a
fault somewhere. Shall I call an electrician? Is there something that
is a likely cause? Its pretty much the whole house, it seems.

Thanks for any help,

Dean


hth,

tom @ www.Love-Calculators.com

Just curious, I'm in the market for a house.
Did you have a home inspector look stuff over, or am I odd for
wanting an inspector to evaluate a home I want to by.
The current house I was going to get needed $20K in repairs that
I had missed - termites, water damage, ect. The home owner
thougth I was stupid for getting one. But I don't have the money
to lose.
So, this is not a flame. And, while not helpful, when you toured
the home, what reason did the past owner give for showing you the
house with a candleobra.

Just curious
REH

On Tue, 08 Feb 2005 10:16:43 -0500,
wrote:

On Tue, 8 Feb 2005 03:54:58 -0600, "effi" wrote:

Two words, licensed electrician.

Four words, reputable insured licensed electrician.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi all,

I just bought a house (25 years old, contemporary), and at least half
of the lights in the house don't work, some of the fluorescent fixtures
glow a little but not bright, and half of the filament lights are
blown. When I turn on some of the filament lights, they don't come on
smoothly, they flicker and struggle to stay constant brightness, and
the compact fluorescents have a hard time striking. I suspect I have a
fault somewhere. Shall I call an electrician? Is there something that
is a likely cause? Its pretty much the whole house, it seems.

Thanks for any help,

Dean


hth,

tom @ www.Love-Calculators.com

"Reh" wrote in message
...
Just curious, I'm in the market for a house.
Did you have a home inspector look stuff over, or am I odd for
wanting an inspector to evaluate a home I want to by.
The current house I was going to get needed $20K in repairs that
I had missed - termites, water damage, ect. The home owner
thougth I was stupid for getting one. But I don't have the money
to lose.
So, this is not a flame. And, while not helpful, when you toured
the home, what reason did the past owner give for showing you the
house with a candleobra.

Just curious
REH


I bought a house about a year ago and went with a house inspector. I work
at a plant in the electrical department. I could check out the wiring but
would not know exectaly what to look for as some of the other parts of the
construction. I did ask if I could follow the inspector around and he gave
me the OK for that. He pointed out a few things that I might expect for a
20 year old house. Did not find anything that I was not allowing for in the
price I offered for the house. After all at 20 years old you expect to redo
or replace things. I did not opt for some insurance (sold as a house
warrenty) as it seemed high for what it did cover.