Just bought a house!

[mechanicworkman]

So I just bought my first house. Been in it about a week and the problems start to become evident only not sure exactly what I need to do?

My most pressing concern is the electrical. It seems that when the heater starts up the lights dim in the front room kitchen and bed room???? Now a few hours later I finish hooking up gas dryer and plug in the 110 plug to wall and as I start the dryer it dims the lights down stairs? Shouldn't a bunch of these be on differnt circuits or something.


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[mechanicworkman]

The main breaker box has a 200amp main breaker and goes down to all the differnt splits from there!


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[Big-Foot]

You may have some recourse with the seller of the house if there are problems that were not disclosed at the time of the sale. Speak with your realtor about that.

Welcome to the world of home ownership. It was once part of the American Dream. I'm not so sure anymore...

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Is the heater gas or electric?
When was the house built?

What might be going on is the dryer outlet, lights and heater blower(if gas fired) are all on the same circuit. When a motor starts up it draws 6-8x more current(amps) than while its running! This is called in-rush. This in-rush of current can cause voltge sags aka brown outs, which will cause lights to dim, especially if the wire feeding the circuit is long and/or of a smaller gauge, such as #14.

For this reason, its a good idea to put motor loads on their own circuit. The NEC now requires central HVAC units to be on a dedicated circuit. Of course your house is probably older.

The other thing u might have going on is a corroded connection on a breaker, outlet or fixture thats causing resistance and thus voltage sag/dimming lights.

 

[tylernt]

We get dimming lights in our house, even though everything is on separate circuits. I believe the issue is with the service, for example a corroded connection at the weather head or something. Could also be the POCO's transformer is on it's way out.

 

[MrMark]

Some dimming may be unavoidable on motor startup, even with separate circuits and proper connections at the service entrance. It depends on the severity as to whether it is normal.

You have to realize that the inrush current from a motor like a washer or dishwasher is many times running current for a few milliseconds. It may be 6 to 8 times for 100 milliseconds, for example, but who knows what spikes it may create in the first couple of milliseconds. This is enough to drop the whole house voltage enough to dim the lights even with a perfect setup.

Sounds like you have mismashed wiring though.

 

[jrsulo]

Loose neutral ??

 

[mechanicworkman]

The house has a gas furnace was built in the 50s. But was updated a few years back. I am working out of town this week but plan to call an electrician to come check it out next week


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[mechanicworkman]

I am hoping its some thing as simple as a loose wire somewhere


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[Milton Shaw]

If you have a accurate volt meter, go to a 240 volt outlet and check each line to neutral voltage. If there is more than 1 or 2 volts different you have a loose neutral probably at the power pole. Call the utility company to check for you. Here they came out that same day pulled the meter and checked, climbed pole fixed problem and reinstalled the meter total time was about 2 hours from when I called. (It wasn't a storm week so they had time linemen available.)

 

[mechanicworkman]

Good call on having the power company come out first better to have them come rule out it being their problem first


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[CNGsaves]

Congrats on taking the home ownership plunge. Since your house has 200 Amp main panel, it's either fairly new . . . or large !! Electrician who did walk-thru of my house before purchase said some dimming is normal . . . but then again mine was built in 50's and only 60 Amp main panel thus far . . . it'll be upgraded to 200 Amp so I can have a 100 Amp subpanel in garage.

If you haven't been on GJ long, you may not know that pictures do tell a thousand words. So post up some pics of your main breaker panel . . . a pic with cover on . . . and pic with cover off. Guru's will be able to tell you a lot just with a few pics.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Good call on having the power company come out first better to have them come rule out it being their problem first


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Do u have a voltmeter? If you do, check the power at your main service panel. First, check the line to line voltage, then check each line to neutral voltage. Report the readings back here.

A few other possibilities are a loose neutral, as others have said,(which would be indicated during a main service panel voltage check, or the voltage from the PoCo is low! I had a service call one time where the customer was having issues with dimming lights even when turning on small appliances. I tested the main service and it turned out the main service voltage was WAY to low(225v) and apparently the PoCo had already been out to the trailer park multiple times to try to fix the issue, which multiple customers were having. And when this customer turned on the air conditioner, the lights would dim REAL BAD!

 

[matt151617]

If there's any concern about a loose neutral, get the power company out asap. It can cause massive damage to electronics. I had a concern about this at my house, the power company came out within a few hours. They had a special device they plugged in to the meter socket that allowed them to check the line. Also, you may want to have an electrician come out to check over stuff and tighten everything in the box. A home inspection will usually pick up on major electrical problems but small ones will require an electrician.

 

[mechanicworkman]

I have been out of town for work all week but will take some pictures when I get back in the morning!


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[mechanicworkman]

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[wyliesdiesels]

Unfortunately, pics dont help in this situation! You really need to take some voltage readings and report back here!

 

[rodm1]

If the meter gets pulled you should have someone add some Anti-Oxidant to the main feeds into the panel. Yours looks like a brand new install.

 

[Norcal]

If the meter gets pulled you should have someone add some Anti-Oxidant to the main feeds into the panel. Yours looks like a brand new install.

It's not required unless called for by manufacturers instructions.

 

[mechanicworkman]

I got the guy that did my home inspection coming tomorrow to check reading on things ill report back with what he comes up with


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[mechanicworkman]

Forward Progress!!!!! OK first off I want to say that suggested the Loose neural on the pole WOW.........Yes was Extrememly loose on pole there were many chain of events that happeded before the power company came but, I wanted to express the "Props" to the one who suggested it.

 

[matt151617]

Glad that you found it, hopefully that solves your problem and nothing got damaged.

 

[mechanicworkman]

Well after getting the loose neutral problem sorted out it rues out the fridge and all outlets in kitchen, combined with heater were all on the same circuit and to top it all off si was the dryer.Ran new circuits separately for each so fridge, heater, dryer/washer & wall outlets in kitchen now have their own circuit.dimming of lights seems have disappeared.


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[BFBOB]

Reminds me of when my wife (then girlfriend) asked if I would come over and have a look at her air conditioner. Two window units, and each would slow down when the other kicked on. Yeah, yeah, I said. That's normal. MANY hours later I sauntered in to find that the ac's were practically grinding to a halt when the other turned on. Oh, my, I said. Let's look at the breaker box. Oops- could feel the heat from the box ten feet away. FUSE box. Can you guess?
Not just a penny behind the fuse, an OLD penny, back when they were solid copper. One 12 ga extension cord later, ac's on different circuits, and all was well.
That taught me to pay attention when she says something's wrong.