Various circuits in house not working properly

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patricknola

Electrical contractor/Generac Dealer
Location
new orleans, La, United States
Occupation
Electrical contractor.
Hey Guys, I've got a customer who called with a issue where lights, fans and appliances are cutting out. They're on different circuits. I checked voltage coming from meter and it was ok. I assumed there was a loose neutral on the poco pole so I reported the issue to them but when they came out the checked and said its ok. Any advice. TIA.
 
Just because the neutral is ok, doesn’t mean you don’t have a problem with a hot.
Neutral issues have specific indicators. You did not mention any of them. Where is the meter? On the house or a yard pole? Underground or overhead service? Did you check for loose connections in the panel?
 
ptonsparky said:
Just because the neutral is ok, doesn’t mean you don’t have a problem with a hot.
Neutral issues have specific indicators. You did not mention any of them. Where is the meter? On the house or a yard pole? Underground or overhead service? Did you check for loose connections in the panel?
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The meter is on the house with an overhead. There are no taps at weather head , it terminates at poco pole. I tightened all the hots in panel. One of the non working appliances was a fan, the lights worked but the fan didn't. A little while later the fan worked. Refrigerator receptacle in kitchen also oscillates between working and not. There's lights in bedrooms fluctuating also.
 
You need to measure each line-to-neutral voltage while the issues are occurring.

Also check for MWBCs (shared neutrals) on troublesome circuits.
 
patricknola said:
Hey Guys, I've got a customer who called with a issue where lights, fans and appliances are cutting out. They're on different circuits. I checked voltage coming from meter and it was ok. I assumed there was a loose neutral on the poco pole so I reported the issue to them but when they came out the checked and said its ok. Any advice. TIA.
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Why didn't you assume there was a loose neutral in a panel somewhere?
 
Maybe you just have multiple problems on multiple circuits.
ie. Fan motor tied up then loosens and runs, poor connection at a receptacle somewhere, etc.
 
mopowr steve said:
Maybe you just have multiple problems on multiple circuits.
ie. Fan motor tied up then loosens and runs, poor connection at a receptacle somewhere, etc.
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If it's an old house all this stuff may be on the same circuit. Wouldn't be the first time I have seen a refrigerator plugged into a circuit that also went to a hall or bedroom.

You can have old house problems and then there are handyman or house flipper wiring. I would turn off the circuit to the refrigerator and see what else goes off (may be half the house ).

If the refrigerator circuit is dedicated then check out the receptacle wiring. If that good then go to the panel and check the breaker and see if it's arced at the buss.
 
growler said:
If it's an old house all this stuff may be on the same circuit. Wouldn't be the first time I have seen a refrigerator plugged into a circuit that also went to a hall or bedroom.

You can have old house problems and then there are handyman or house flipper wiring. I would turn off the circuit to the refrigerator and see what else goes off (may be half the house ).

If the refrigerator circuit is dedicated then check out the receptacle wiring. If that good then go to the panel and check the breaker and see if it's arced at the buss.
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Thanks. Best response yet.
 
patricknola said:
Because there are issues across many circuits.
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I’ve had calls before where the electrician said it’s the POCO neutral. Guys get there and it turns out to be the neutral in the meterbase or the main panel. It still causes issues across many circuits.
My point is did you check all of them before calling?
 
when fridge outlet is not working run to your panel and check power across the phases and see if you have a dead leg. Did the poco test the drop coming from them it could have a break in it and when the wind blows it could be making and breaking the connection. plus if they have a smart meter I have seen these things fail and do this same thing. I had a customer that had lost half power to their home and it had came back on when I got there an I couldn’t find anything wrong. So I turned everything on A phase off and walked through the home with the customer to see if i matched what was off before. So it didn’t match so I turned a phase back on and did same thing with B phase and it matched. It turned out that the power company had to replace the meter when it finally happened again.
 
patricknola said:
....a issue where lights, fans and appliances are cutting out. They're on different circuits. I checked voltage coming from meter and it was ok....
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Are all things that stop working out at same time or are they variable one time a fan next time lights? If all at same time, determine if all on same leg, L1 or L2, if all on same leg, utility maybe dropping intermittently one leg. I've seen where utility was shorting to ground one phase leg due to tree limb making contact with a primary or a shorted feed leg after xfmr, that would only happen under windy or rainy conditions. It would go on and off for a long while until finally making a permanent short. Might even be getting intermitant brown out conditions prior. I've also had one that it was in the meter doing same thing, intermitant and usually under larger loads conditions, AC on or a Dryer running.
 
Do a fall of potential test on the main. Contacts in the main, or stabs behind the main (if so connected) are often burnt, and cause issues like that. Turn on heavy loads such as an oven to see if it makes a difference.
 
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