Service change causing dimming lights

[Robpags]

I did a job few weeks ago for a customer whose service master snapped off his house and was literally lying in his yard. I replaced the mast and conductors. I get a call the next day that lights in his dim to almost off when he turns the dryer and/ or microwave on. He is saying it never did it that bad before. I went back and tested everything. All connections on my end are tight and made up properly. Voltage was unbalanced coming in from utility. L1=118v and L2=125v.. 244v together. Any ideas why the lights would be dimming so much?

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Since there was a huge pull on the lines I would have the poco check the lines at the transformer. Sounds like a loose neutral.

 

[brian john]

IMO What you should have done was, turn off any expensive loads and then try the appliances that caused the problem, measuring for voltage. As Dennis noted it sounds like a loose neutral.

 

[Electric-Light]

I did a job few weeks ago for a customer whose service master snapped off his house and was literally lying in his yard. I replaced the mast and conductors. I get a call the next day that lights in his dim to almost off when he turns the dryer and/ or microwave on. He is saying it never did it that bad before. I went back and tested everything. All connections on my end are tight and made up properly. Voltage was unbalanced coming in from utility. L1=118v and L2=125v.. 244v together. Any ideas why the lights would be dimming so much?

Tie in two 40W bulbs connected in series at back of the dryer with the center connected to neutral. If one dims and other brightens substantially that's a neutral issue. This is preferred over DMMs, because DMMs are a dog when it comes to fluctuating voltage.

If one dims substantially but other is unaffected, then, one of the poles are loose. As others said, have someone from PoCo come and check it at the meter at this point. From there, let 'em deal with it.