i have this side job to go to ,the lady is telling me all the light bulbs in her house keep burning out after like a week. Its been going on for quite some time. I havent looked at it yet but really dont know where to start .ive never heard of that happening, any ideas on the cause??????
bulbs blowing out....
- Thread starter etlocal24
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jwelectric
Senior Member
- Location
- North Carolina
open neutral maybe
tbonse
Member
- Location
- South Carolina
RE: bulbs blowing out....
This sounds like it is a split phase 3 wire installation (shared neutral) where that neutral is no longer connected. Check all outlets, switches, and fixtures for loose connections. Check to see if any of the bulbs dim or brighten especially when certain appliances are active (ie. stove or water heater), such conditions or fluctuations would indicate the open neutral up stream as suggested by dereckbc.
This sounds like it is a split phase 3 wire installation (shared neutral) where that neutral is no longer connected. Check all outlets, switches, and fixtures for loose connections. Check to see if any of the bulbs dim or brighten especially when certain appliances are active (ie. stove or water heater), such conditions or fluctuations would indicate the open neutral up stream as suggested by dereckbc.
GalwayElectric
Member
I've heard of various bulbs burning up when the voltage coming from the service is spiking. This could be because of a bad grounding system. I've also seen electricians change all the bulbs that were buring out from 120volt bulbs to 130volt bulbs. All of a sudden, the problem goes away!
paul
Senior Member
- Location
- Snohomish, WA
Check your voltage, both at the sockets and at the panel. Then do as Galway mentions...switch to 130v lamps. Also check the panel out completely to insure proper grounding and go through and tighten all connections inside the panel.
stew
Senior Member
- Location
- federal way,washington
my very first test would be at the panel to see if there is a voltage variation like 110 on on leg and 135 -140 on the other. open neutral definate possibility or at least a bad coonection at neutral say on the poco splices.
Jim W in Tampa
Senior Member
- Location
- Tampa Florida
This is where problems start SIDE JOB now we have unlicensed uninsured electrician that perhaps knows enough and perhaps not.This could be a fire just about to start.Likelyhood is open neutral.We now must hope that your skill level is high enough to proceed with this job.Start with breakers all off except main.Carefully turn on only 1 circuit to an easy to fix load like 1 lightbulb.If it will not light at full voltage then look deep for open neutral.Last one i had turned out to be a tree rubbing the service drop untill it finally broke.The lady had already lost 2 frigs plus some tv's and other costly stuff.I turned mains off to duplex and called her poco
FrancisDoody
Senior Member
- Location
- Durham, CT
Limited voltage
Limited voltage
Had a service call that lights were dim and garage door would not open. To busy to respond so advised to report problem to power company. POCO responded with two trucks and a pickup to check for open neutral connection. They checked from the transformer to the weather head. Said everything was fine.
They called the office and had a meter crew dispatched to check out the meters. Everything was fine so they thought. I showed up several hours later and sure enough one phase has 122 volts and the other side around 60-80 volts.
It turned out that the slot connectors on the circuit breaker in the meter can had rotted away. When I wiggled that phase conductor it would arc on the neutral bar. Replaced the breaker and job done.
Limited voltage
Had a service call that lights were dim and garage door would not open. To busy to respond so advised to report problem to power company. POCO responded with two trucks and a pickup to check for open neutral connection. They checked from the transformer to the weather head. Said everything was fine.
They called the office and had a meter crew dispatched to check out the meters. Everything was fine so they thought. I showed up several hours later and sure enough one phase has 122 volts and the other side around 60-80 volts.
It turned out that the slot connectors on the circuit breaker in the meter can had rotted away. When I wiggled that phase conductor it would arc on the neutral bar. Replaced the breaker and job done.
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