130v when clothes washer is running?

[tpolley]

when everything is off in the house with exception of a few lights i have around 120v which is normal, right? i'm checking voltage at the outlets with a volt meter all thru the house. i get the same voltage everywhere.

if i run any appliance such as the microwave, window unit air conditioners in the bedroom and the living room i get about 110v. even if i'm running all three.

if i start the washing machine in the basement the voltage spikes around 140-150 and stays at around 130v and the lights start dancing. if i turn on the microwave in the kitchen the voltage drops to 96v and the backup power supply on the computer starts beeping at me and the window unit in the bedroom shuts off the compressor for 30 minutes. a washing machine shouldn't pull that much current should it?

if i turn on the stove it doesn't seem to make a difference, i assume because it's running off of 220v?

don't houses have two 120 (or 110) volt lines coming in from the power pole? i wonder if the whole house is running off of the same 120v line and the 220v appliances just have the other 120v line running to them. shouldn't the house be split up between the two 120v lines (assuming my theory is correct)?

where should i start? electrician or appliance repair guy?

 

[VHF]

Sounds like a loose neutral! This can cause wild voltage swings for 120V circuits depending on what is switched on on each of the two 120V hot legs. It can easily fry electronics and appliances, so I would keep stuff switched off until this is corrected!

It could be in your main panel, the meter, or even at the transformer. I would have an electrician and/or your utility look at it right away!

 

[tpolley]

It can easily fry electronics and appliances, so I would keep stuff switched off until this is corrected!

that's probably it. our stove, a/c, and a few other electronic devices were fried two weeks ago. we thought it was lightning.

this was going on before that.

 

[1grnlwn]

yep bad neutral.

 

[Aceman]

Call the utility first, they'll usually come out for free.

 

[rlitman]

Call the utility first, they'll usually come out for free.

YES! They take loose neutrals seriously. Just mention that your lights are getting brighter at times. They know exactly what this means.

 

[bjcouche]

As Everyone else said it sounds like a loose neutral. This problem can cause serious problems and destroy nearly every electric device in the house. If you have a subpanel off of your main panel and the problem is isolated to devices off the subpanel then the problem is in your house and your responsibility to pay a qualified electrician to fix. If you don't have a subpanel or a disconnect before your main panel, then there isn't any way to fix the problem yourself. You need to call the power company immediately to have them come out and fix the problem. It's either at your input to the main panel which they need to pull your meter to shut off and fix, or its at the transformer at the pole.

I'd immediately unplug everything that I didn't want to have destroyed and wait for the power company to resolve the problem. Don't just turn your HDTV, Computer, microwave, etc off, unplug them because they still have standby circuitry powered up to power the clock, remote control, etc. Heck I'd even unplug the washer, dryer, stove, dishwasher, hot water heater, furnace etc. Maybe I wouldn't bother with the hot water heater or furnace if it was a rental property, but if I owned the device, I'd unplug it...

The only thing I wouldn't bother unplugging is incandescent lights, they are cheap to replace if they blow. and it's nice to not be in the dark until the power company arrives.

Good luck and be safe.

Brian

 

[Milton Shaw]

Utility company came out on my wiring problem, pulled the meter and put a measuring plug in the meter base and found loose neutral. One side showed 128, the other 119, He went to pole and found loose neutral at pole and corrected it Now one shows 122, the other 123 with load in house on. I was tripping a Backup UPS on computers 6 or so times a hour. When the power was fixed the UPS had to be replaced as it was still tripping by itself, I guess it had burned contracts from tripping so many times. The transformer had been replaced a couple of years ago in the middle of the night and I guess they forgot to tighten the neutral all the way up, but it's working now fine. They came out same day I called. I have since installed new ground rods and made sure everything in panel was tight also as they should have been helping keep the neutral grounded.

 

[Kirkvkid]

I don't really know if the new ground rods will do much. I just had the same problem in my barn. I blew out half my lights, my radio, and the wireless dog fence (yikes that was costly).
I spent the entire day checking everything before I noticed the voltage spikes and drops.
I am lucky as there is a shutoff panel between the barn/house and the meter for a generator hookup, so it cuts having to call the poco. I had a loose lug where the main lines connect to the weatherhead. (old sytle aluminum wire from the pole) But the barn has new wiring and new ground poles.

I can't attest to any techincal side of the issue, but I know my grounds didnt stop the stuff that was on the high voltage side from being fried.

 

[matt151617]

It can't hurt to ask, see if they'll pay for the new UPS since the problem was on their side.

 

[KinzeMech]

It can't hurt to ask, see if they'll pay for the new UPS since the problem was on their side.

It can't hurt to ask, but I wouldn't expect anything. I've never heard of a utility company covering any loss due to bad power, or no power, but I've heard plenty of damages from brownouts, losses from blackouts, and the util company pays nothing.

 

[MN4x4]

Check your homeowners insurance - they will often cover these kinds of losses. Be sure to mention the other items that were damaged as well, since your deductible probably will apply but it will apply to your entire loss, not each item individually.