Strange Electrical Problem
Posted by Kathy B on May 15, 2015, 4:09 am 189.164.202.7
Anyone else having strange electrical problems? Yesterday afternoon, all of our overhead lights/fans quit working while most everything else worked fine--only wall plug that appeared not to work was the one with the refrigerator. After a couple hours, everything came back on. Then last night at 9 p.m., the same thing happened. It is now 4 a.m. and still no overhead lights/fans & fridge if off again. Any ideas as to what the problem might be would be appreciated. | ------------------------Re: Strange Electrical Problem
Posted by Red on May 15, 2015, 6:53 am, in reply to "Strange Electrical Problem" 189.164.202.203
Kathy B., after thinking on your problem, a few ideas. First would be a loose hot wire at the breaker. Begin your check there at the breaker panel. Second, your electrician needs to make sure that everything losing power is on the same breaker; even though it seems strange that only the outlet for the fridge would be on the same circuit as the ceiling fans. If you can isolate the problem to one circuit have the electrician start by replacing the breaker, then working out from the closest fixture checking each connection along the way. If you replace the breaker up-size it to the next larger size, ie: 15 amp up to 20 amp. The way the problem comes and goes is why it sounds like a loose connection. (it can be either the hot lead or the neutral which is loose) However, the way they pull wires and make up connections follows no simple logic. The course the wire follows is not simply a straight line, but may follow the path of fixtures the original electrician decided to add to the circuit. For example, if all three ceiling fans are wired together, then he decided to add the fridge outlet, power for the fridge may come from your master bedroom side rather than a direct course from the breaker panel. Finally, if the same electrician was used on your home that wired mine, don't expect him to remember how it was done. The process I watched was totally baffeling, seeming more by chance than by design, with some boxes containing 20 or more wires, some used but also some dead-heading when found to be surplus. Good luck. Rojo
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Posted by Nancy C on May 15, 2015, 10:42 am, in reply to "Re: Strange Electrical Problem" 24.246.142.201
We have had things like that happen over the years. Sometimes half the house would go out and the other half would be fine. It had something to do with the 110/220 lines. It was usually associated with part of the town losing electricity. We never did anything about it and it stopped happening. That seems to be associate with the town upgrading some electrical lines. | ------------------------Re: Strange Electrical Problem
Posted by Criss on May 15, 2015, 11:49 am, in reply to "Re: Strange Electrical Problem" 104.187.201.95
If you have 220 in your home it is most likely CFE working on the lines. Check your incoming lines ahead of your main. If you have 220 there check the load side. If that is OK then check the load side of each breaker. If you find a bad breaker, REPLACE IT WITH THE SAME SIZE BREAKER! {f you increase the breaker size with out increasing the wire size your wiring may over heat melting them togather. People should not mess whith there electric wiring if the don*t know what they are doing. I was an electrican for 40 years and I saw a lot of goofy things people did with there wiring. | ------------------------Re: Strange Electrical Problem
Posted by Dean & Judy on May 15, 2015, 1:08 pm, in reply to "Re: Strange Electrical Problem" 67.169.203.5
Agreed....damn near burned my building down last year and the business right along with it!!! Looked like molten plastic in the bottom of the panel box. The manager NO LONGER works there & she stated that it was "NOT THAT BAD!" Leave it to the professionals... | ------------------------Re: Strange Electrical Problem
Posted by Kathy B on May 16, 2015, 5:18 am, in reply to "Re: Strange Electrical Problem" 187.192.197.222
Thanks everyone for your input. As I understand it, the problem was with the 220 breaker at the street where one of the wires fried. I think the electrician said it was not done properly in the first place. Anyway, CFE had to come out to do something at the street, and the electrician came back and did something else at the street and now everything is working again. | ------------------------Re: Strange Electrical Problem
Posted by Erin Strench on May 17, 2015, 11:11 am, in reply to "Re: Strange Electrical Problem" 96.54.244.169
My experience tells me the problems you are having are caused by one of two issues: 1. CFE (the power utility company) is not providing good clean power and one of the two feeders to your house is single phasing or not giving you 120 volt. Unfortunately this is not all that uncommon and there is very little you can do other than phoning CFE and wait for their response 2. The electrical system in the house is not well grounded to earth, because of the humidly, the grounding system within the main panel get corroded and the good connection is either lost or intermittent or still working but not doing it well enough to provide a clean path to the ground with zero resistance. I have found that many homes are using the utility system as a ground which does not always work well. What happens is, one of the two power legs goes higher and the other goes lower which usually results in electronics and lamps being fried and on the other side, lamps dim or don't work at all. This sounds somewhat technical however, if you call someone in. ask them to check your ground to see if it is still good and them your system will be considerable for stable. House maintenance in an area like LM is an on going process and the electrical should be checked annually by a qualified electrical mechanic. | ------------------------Re: Strange Electrical Problem
Posted by Ross on May 17, 2015, 12:02 pm, in reply to "Re: Strange Electrical Problem" 207.81.225.152
One year we were getting shocks from the tap at the kitchen sink. It was really weird. The electrician found nothing wrong with our wiring. The next day the CFE guy was around. I told him the problem. He checked my neighbor and found some very funky stuff going on there with ground wires, elecrical boxes, and buried lines. He disconnected stuff and the problem solved. So if something can't be figured out sometimes check out the neghborhood too! | ------------------------
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