Lights flicker on one circuit occasionally

 Greetings,

I hope this is the appropriate place to post this type of problem...

I recently started experiencing flickering lights on one circuit in my
house.  I noticed it in my utility room first, and then noticed my
upstairs bathroom and bedrooms were also experiencing the same
problem.  It gets even worse if I turn a 32" TV or my amplifier/tuner
on.  The lights will dim quite a bit and then come back to full
brightness and continue to flicker a little.  I am not sure where I
should begin to troubleshoot, so I was hoping for some guidance.

I know I should call an electrician, but I would like to try some
troubleshooting myself first.  I have tried turning the breaker off
and on to see if that would do anything, but it didn't.  We did have a
mouse or two in the house recently and I am wondering if that might be
the cause.  The house is 30 years old and I have 100amp service coming
in at the back of the house.

Thanks for any troubleshooting pointers/suggestions.  They are very
much appreciated.

-Bill Shelly

 

     Yes, you should call an electrician.  That said, you have a bad
connection somewhere and that bad connection is generating heat when it
drops your voltage.  It is possible that the bad connection is inside the
circuit breaker itself, these are easy to change.   I assume that everything
that is flickering is on one circuit, if not, then things may be a little
more complicated.  You also seem to imply that all of the flickering is on
the dim side and nothing is getting extra bright when it is flickering.

     Turn everything on in that circuit (including that big TV) and then,
starting at the circuit breaker and then going to each outlet, feel
carefully for any unusual heat.  The heat will lead you to the bad
connection or the part with the bad connection inside.  Failing that, you
will need to turn all the power off to your house and (again starting at the
circuit breaker) open up each box and look at each wire.  Does one of them
look black with the insulation flaking off?  Check for loose screws.  The
problem could be with either the black or white wire.

Vaughn

 sounds like a bad connection. Loose wire or corrosion. Aluminum or copper
wires?


--
Steve Spence
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 The house has copper wire.  The breaker panel visually looks ok and
the wiring is secure.  I imagine the problem is in a wall outlet or
switch, or perhaps even in my attic where we have three ceiling fans
and an attic fan connected to this circuit.  I will have to have an
electrician come in to inspect the attic as I am too large to fit in
the rather small opening.  A couple of the wall outlets are behind
large heavy objects too, but I will manage to get those inspected
myself.

Is it possible that a mouse would have caused some trouble even if the
wiring is in conduit?

Thanks for your help!
Bill Shelly



On Sat, 1 Nov 2003 22:17:25 -0500, "Steve Spence"

 

     Good idea!


     Unlikely, your problem is a bad connection.  Perhaps caused by some
corrosive such as mouse urine, but usually just a bad connection that
gradually gets worse.

Vaughn