Flickering Light Trouble

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kwired said:
Never said what voltage AC runs at. Some have assumed it is 240 volt with 120 volt indoor blower - which is common but not necessarily what everybody has either.

That said I am still with others in that you are likely looking for a bad neutral connection someplace.
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Most likely where the sizzling is !!!

Could be the meter jaws if it is a hot, or just a termination screw for the neutral which does not normally go to the meter itself.
 
Little Bill said:
What do you mean that the neutral termination screw doesn't go to the meter?
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Unless it has a fifth or seventh jaw the meter doesn't utilize the neutral, though the neutral is ordinarily spliced, passed through and even bonded to the meter socket enclosure.
 
kwired said:
Unless it has a fifth or seventh jaw the meter doesn't utilize the neutral, though the neutral is ordinarily spliced, passed through and even bonded to the meter socket enclosure.
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I never said the meter utilized the neutral. I was asking Golddigger(the one I quoted in my post). Unless the neutral was ran straight through, which some were years ago, a loose connection there could make the "sizzling" and also the voltage fluctuations. His statement could be read that the neutral doesn't even go in the meter (base).
 
Little Bill said:
I never said the meter utilized the neutral. I was asking Golddigger(the one I quoted in my post). Unless the neutral was ran straight through, which some were years ago, a loose connection there could make the "sizzling" and also the voltage fluctuations. His statement could be read that the neutral doesn't even go in the meter (base).
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My post was intended to address the likely possibility that the neutral not only ran through the meter base but was also spliced or bonded in the meter base even though it did not connect to a jaw of the meter itself.

I strongly suspect that POCO never pulled the meter as part of their testing, but even if they did they might only have looked at the meter jaw connections and not the neutral.
 
AA5112 said:
I checked voltage at the panel and have 115v on one leg and 126v on the other. I did notice a sizzling sound at the meter base. It sounds like it might have been coming from the disconnect there. Every neutral connection I have checked looks good and is tight. With the main disconnect open I read 120v on both legs on the meter side.
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OK so it seems you have a meter/main. You have 120V on the line side of the main disconnect on both legs. You have 115V and 126V at the panel.

That means the problem is between the meter/main and the panel. If the connection is good at the meter/main and the connection is good at the panel that only leaves on thing. The feeder between the meter/main and the panel.

I doubt if this feeder is buried so the only thing I can think of is that somehow this feeder neural was damaged. Maybe a nail was driven into it.

None of this would account for a sizzling sound in the meter area other than a bad connection.

Why not turn the power off at the disconnect and pull the neutral and check to make sure it's not corroded and that the set screw is not cross threaded (this will give the appearance of a tight connection) and is really making a good connection.
 
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