Lights flicker. A ghost?

Status
Not open for further replies.
aftershock

aftershock

Senior Member
Location
Memphis, TN
I have been doing this electrical work for 11 yrs now and it seems I am on the receiving end.

Our lights are flickering at random. Across different circuits and legs of the panel.
I upgraded our service and panel as well as rewire and add circuits over a year ago. All permited work. A month ago a squirrell got fried on top of our transformer which in turn kicked the jack that held the fuse. The jack was refused but the squirrel never removed. This may not be thbe problem but our problem with the lights flickering has been happening since.

We called the POCO. They came out, said the connections were loose in the meter can. Lights still flicker after they were tightened. They then said that the split bolts to tie the service in was the problem and replaced with their wedged clamps. Problem still happening.

I have checked the connections in the panel and found no problem. I checked the readings across the hot to neutral on one leg and when the lights did flicker it went from 123 to 118.

I cant see this problem to be on my end. It is too random to track. It is across multiple circuits. The POCO has yet to check the swing or the connections at the pole (where I have told them to check).

If that is not it then we have a ghost.
 
What you have is a transformer that was damaged by the surge from the squirrel contact and will eventually fail completely.

See if any of your neighbors are connected to that transformer and if they are having problems too then there's your answer.
 
The last thing the POCO ever wants is a suggestion from us electricians that just might know more. Ask them to hook up one of there boxes to monitor the power at there meter and take readings for a few days.
You likely have the cure but still are a few possabilities that its on your end. Your main breaker could be arcing or making bad connection. Keep bugging them and they will fix it.

Just how often are we talking ?
 
Check voltage while under reasonably heavy load, Line to Line, each line to neutral - make sure there is heavy load using neutral for this test. If you have any undesirable results share them with POCO.

Watch the current draw when you do have a flicker. You may have a load that is contributing, such as a motor load that starts at that time or if there are other customers on the transformer it could be one of their loads starting up when this happens. POCO could have voltage regulation problems also on the primary side of transformer - several other customers should be effected if this is the case.
 
When the guy from the POCO was out here yesterday he took readings from the meter can, on the load side while the meter was plugged in. I did not verify his readings but he said they showed a problem and that is when he pointed out the split bolts making the connection to the service and called to have them changed.

I tried putting a load on the service (running dryer, washer, microwave) I could not get the problem to show itself. Sit back and do something else and then the flickering starts. The flickering may last a few seconds or a minute, but its so random and I cant seem to recreate it.

Inside my main box looks fine and it's tight. Readings are showing up upstream of my main so that tells me it shouldn't be in my panel.

If it was persistent enough I would pull the meter and take readings from the swing and that would tell for sure it's further upstream.
 
mxslick said:
What you have is a transformer that was damaged by the surge from the squirrel contact and will eventually fail completely.
Click to expand...
Probably not the transformer itself. Could have weakened a bad connection at the transformer. Maybe the lowside. We have had some of the cutouts have arcing at the contacts and a fault would only make it worse.

Can you talk the POCO into taking a IR of the transformer cutouts and connections? They could at least examine the contacts up close. Most of the times the linemen will pull the cutout but never get close enough to see if they are pitted badly.
mxslick said:
See if any of your neighbors are connected to that transformer and if they are having problems too then there's your answer.
Click to expand...
That is a good way to find out if it is up or down stream.
 
Try heavily unbalancing load from one line to neutral to see if the neutral has a problem. A heavy balanced load will not expose a neutral problem.
 
I would try banging on the meter pan and the panel and see if you can create the flickering. Obviously if you can then something is amiss in one of those places. It does seem very likely it is a poco problem. If it is happening on both legs then I suspect a neutral problem. Could you have a compressor motor that is causing this issue.
 
Dennis Alwon said:
I would try banging on the meter pan and the panel and see if you can create the flickering. Obviously if you can then something is amiss in one of those places. It does seem very likely it is a poco problem. If it is happening on both legs then I suspect a neutral problem. Could you have a compressor motor that is causing this issue.
Click to expand...

no compressor.
only 2 220/v in house. dryer and cac. cac is not in use because of the mild weather. Only other motors in house are washer ,disp. vent hood
Neighbors dont speak english.

As of this morning, no flickering. Mainly happens in evening. I go out of town today so no further TS until Sat.
 
Jim W in Tampa said:
The last thing the POCO ever wants is a suggestion from us electricians that just might know more. Ask them to hook up one of there boxes to monitor the power at there meter and take readings for a few days.
You likely have the cure but still are a few possabilities that its on your end. Your main breaker could be arcing or making bad connection. Keep bugging them and they will fix it.

Just how often are we talking ?
Click to expand...

Must be the luck of the draw here, but when I call, I never get anything but a good response. They seem to go out of their way to help.

The squirrel would not have been left up there to arc and flash with the humidity thus causing (possibly) the lights to flicker.
 
I wired a friends shop few years ago with same occasional issue. I could not find the cause and semi-joked that the old transformer that fed his shop and 3 other small shops was probably going bad. Last week power died and poco finally confirmed my suspicions. Tranny was undersized as well.
 
You said you checked all the connections in the panel, did you pull the breakers to check the connections to the bussing? I had a similar issue to trouble shoot last month and it turned out that one of the breakers (a 2 pole 40 amp, feeding a distribution panel) had a weak connection to the bussing. It was arcing and loose. I changed the breaker, cleaned the carbon of the buss, put a little no-ox on the buss, problem gone. $10.00 in parts.
 
He can be glad he is his own electrician as this type of problem could take several trips and many hours to find. In time it is very likely the cause will get worse. I am sure he will get to the bottom of this. Only takes one bad connection. POCO simply does not wish to spend money till forced to. I am still having problems with my service as they simply do not provide the 200 amps that i sometimes need for a few short hours every week. Dealing with a POCO can be worse than dealing with a mother inlaw.
 
Jim W in Tampa said:
He can be glad he is his own electrician as this type of problem could take several trips and many hours to find. In time it is very likely the cause will get worse. I am sure he will get to the bottom of this. Only takes one bad connection. POCO simply does not wish to spend money till forced to. I am still having problems with my service as they simply do not provide the 200 amps that i sometimes need for a few short hours every week. Dealing with a POCO can be worse than dealing with a mother inlaw.
Click to expand...

I agree with Jim. The POCO here is usually pretty good, but sometimes you have to really push them.

We were having a problem when I first moved into the last place we lived. We were going thourgh light bulbs pretty quick and had the lights dimming. I checked all the usual suspects, even called POCO out to check their lines. The one day I happened to be in my bedroom when the neighbors AC came on and my lights dimmed. Finally got POCO to admit that the transformer was installed 20 years before and was fine before all of the additions and swimming pools, etc were added. Took a lightning strike before they would finally change it though.

But I wouldn't rule out that it's a ghost.:grin:
 
cowboyjwc said:
I agree with Jim. The POCO here is usually pretty good, but sometimes you have to really push them.

We were having a problem when I first moved into the last place we lived. We were going thourgh light bulbs pretty quick and had the lights dimming. I checked all the usual suspects, even called POCO out to check their lines. The one day I happened to be in my bedroom when the neighbors AC came on and my lights dimmed. Finally got POCO to admit that the transformer was installed 20 years before and was fine before all of the additions and swimming pools, etc were added. Took a lightning strike before they would finally change it though.

But I wouldn't rule out that it's a ghost.:grin:
Click to expand...

This is when the new smart meters help, the POCO can track peak useage.
 
ptonsparky said:
Which means they will start trying to shed loads instead of installing larger equipment.
Click to expand...

Your forgetting one major thing with that comment, POCO is a public utility they get to do what ever upgrades they want, then pass the cost off to the end user, it benefits them to do the upgrades and spend the money. Wish I could work that way.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top