Flickering lights

[DanOmar]

I have been doing residential trouble-calls for almost 30 years but I am out of ideas with this one. The homeowner was experiencing intermittent power outages and flickering lights in two bedrooms. It sounded like a neutral problem so I checked all of the connections in the panel (they were ok), I checked the incoming power and the outside connections (they were ok), then I opened up all of the electrical boxes in the rooms in question but couldn't find any loose connections, etc. I get normal 120V readings from hot to neutral and to ground. Then things started to get really weird. When turning switches on and off in another part of the house (on a different circuit), the lights in the bedrooms would flicker or get dim. After opening these switches I discovered that even physically moving the switches (not turning them on or off) caused this issue. Everything seems to be wired correctly.

The house had an old fuse box and I discovered that moving the wire for the bedroom circuit to another fuse seemed to make the problem go away. I believed that the problem may have been from the fuse box so I changed the panel to a new circuit breaker panel. I was shocked to find that the problem persisted after the panel change. At this point I don't know what else to do. Any advise would be great.

 

[ptonsparky]

Go out to the POA with meters capable of MIN/MAX. Check voltages. Do it again at the incoming of the Main breaker. Then at the circuit(s) involved. Typical testers may not catch the drop.

 

[tesla six]

stand by for brain storming...
Can you have the utility dispatch a lineman and have the POA redone to completely rule it out? Change the switches. Is there any LED lighting (I've had incompatible LED's cause other LED fixtures to act odd, changed one and the others worked with no issue)
What about a switched neutral with bad neutral connection elsewhere? Some motor load or appliance unknown to you so far. Buried splice you may be lucky to find.
Put a bowl of water in a microwave and turn it on and measure voltage at meter channel, voltage readings that are obviously out of wack while the mircowave is running can reveal the issue with the grounded conductor at the service. BUT with only a couple rooms showing symptoms it has to be some place inside.
If I was placing a bet I would say, poor connection at a junction you haven't found yet. Oh the fun of old houses.

 

[Rdcowart]

1. I have had this problem before it ended up being the transformer on the street. The transformer was old and wearing out as soon as the power company replaced it the problem was solved.
2. But if you are moving the switches and it is causing this to happen it could be a broken wire just on the outside of the box i have ran into that as well.
3. plus if someone had lost a neutral on the other circuit they could have tried repairing it with the neutral of that circuit.
4. or someone could have wired the neutrals wrong at some point.

5. when All else fails tell them it’s time for the home to be rewired.