Another blinking light

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guschash

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Ohio
Got a service call that HO says her lights blinking. All her lights are blinking when she washes clothes. I go to basement and pull the plug on the washer and blinking stops. I check panel tighten breakers, neutral bar, main breaker . Panel is neatly done, clean, bus looks good. One has 120 volts the other 118 volts. Utility company replaced the wires from transformer to house because connections were bad. But blinking still is going. I checked at meter box and one leg still is at 118 volts. I didn't pull meter but I did notice some insulation had melted at one terminal. Washer is brand new still had tags on it. My question is do you the washer is drawing the voltage so low on the 118 leg that this is causing the blinking. Should I call Utility company back out and check at weather head or have them cut weather and clean terminal at meter. Thanks for any help.
 
My gut tells me that there's a loose connection somewhere. I know that's not much help but logically speaking that's probably what would cause the lights to blink IHMO.
 
guschash said:
I didn't pull meter but I did notice some insulation had melted at one terminal.
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I'm guessing that there is a poor connection here, and you should be able to read a few volts acrosss the poor connection (line-to-load direction), as you would across a fuse, because there should be no voltage across a good connection.
 
I agree with above. Besides.. 120 volt appliances should actually be ok in operation from 104 to 135 volts if I remember the allowed variations... the 104 because it used to be a 110 service... and used to ally plus or minus 5 percent.
 
If I was concerned low voltage may be causing lighting issues, it stands to reason a person should at least verify the voltage reading at the lights in question. No?
 
To show the 118 is not the problem, temporarily swap the washer circuit to a breaker on the 120 volt bus.

Did the 118 stay constant while the washer was running on the 118 bus breaker?

Have one of those infrared temperature meters to see how hot the melted insulation terminal is?
 
guschash said:
I didn't pull meter but I did notice some insulation had melted at one terminal.
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I have never known of insulation melting to be a good thing so that probably needs checked out.

Is the washing machine the only load that will cause the lights to blink? A big vacuum cleaner will draw as much current as a washer.

It may even be a main breaker gone bad internally, check for voltage drop from line to load as if the breaker were a shunt resister.
 
Frank DuVal said:
To show the 118 is not the problem, temporarily swap the washer circuit to a breaker on the 120 volt bus.
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One of the first things I would do.
Then I would get me a cord and plug it into a different receptacle.
 
By how much are they blinking? Many washers will cause the lights to dim a bit when the motor reverses direction every half second or the auger on the agitator pulls down. Certain light bulbs will amplify it.
 
Adamjamma said:
I agree with above. Besides.. 120 volt appliances should actually be ok in operation from 104 to 135 volts if I remember the allowed variations... the 104 because it used to be a 110 service... and used to ally plus or minus 5 percent.
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Washer is probably fine. But washer in agitator mode will constantly be varying current draw - that is what will cause voltage to fluctuate if there is bad connection in the supply or even because of voltage drop in a long service run. If a lamp sees voltage change from 104 to ~120 every second or so it will be noticeable in the light output, even 115-120 fluctuation in voltage will probably be noticeable.

Old washers with a transmission the motor ran continuously during agitation cycle - load on that motor may have fluctuated some but was not as severe of an effect on the input power to the motor. Most newer washers are more directly driven and the motor actually stops and reverses instead of mechanically reversing within a transmission assembly which resulted in more of a constant speed and direction given by the drive motor. This will lead to more severe current fluctuation on input leads to the appliance on these newer units than you may have seen with older units, making lamp flicker more common than it used to be when that appliance is running.
 
kwired said:
, even 115-120 fluctuation in voltage will probably be noticeable.
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I agree:




http://www.lamptech.co.uk/Documents/IN Voltage.htm



IN%20Nomograph.jpg



Lumen curve is second in steepness to the life curve.
 
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All her lights are blinking. Is that the entire house? What type of lighting, LED, resistive?

And, what does blinking mean in this context?

Inquiring minds have nothing to do this morning!
 
mbrooke said:
By how much are they blinking? Many washers will cause the lights to dim a bit when the motor reverses direction every half second or the auger on the agitator pulls down. Certain light bulbs will amplify it.
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My previous home had a 1930's vintage 60 amp fuse panel. Every time I ran the washer, the (incandescent) lights in the whole house would blink in time with the agitator. When I upgraded to a 150 amp panel and put the washer on a dedicated breaker, that nonsense stopped.
 
gadfly56 said:
My previous home had a 1930's vintage 60 amp fuse panel. Every time I ran the washer, the (incandescent) lights in the whole house would blink in time with the agitator. When I upgraded to a 150 amp panel and put the washer on a dedicated breaker, that nonsense stopped.
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I recall much the same, one of the old homes I had the washer was off the basement lighting circuit (hack job laundry relocation) and would notice the same, lesser degree for everything on the "A" phase through out the home. I think in part the long service drop and tiny pole pig played a role in that too.
 
gadfly56 said:
My previous home had a 1930's vintage 60 amp fuse panel. Every time I ran the washer, the (incandescent) lights in the whole house would blink in time with the agitator. When I upgraded to a 150 amp panel and put the washer on a dedicated breaker, that nonsense stopped.
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Presuming there was also an increase in size in service drop or lateral which was a big factor in reducing voltage drop?
 
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