1. Home
  2. Electronics Repair
  3. Home electrical problem

Home electrical problem

[First -- I didn't see a better group to post this question... if one exists, I'd appreciate a pointer... but I've found that this group will deal with almost any electrical issue!]

Hi, all.

I've got a problem with my home electical system, and was hoping to get a pointer from the group before I scheduled a service call.

Setting: A 10-year-old house in the US with standard 110 wiring, no known electrical or wiring problems before this. Home is currently vacant, but everything worked when my family and I were living there with all the normal drains of computer, microwaves, electonics, refrigerator, A/C....

What's happening: I noticed a few days ago that the first floor A/C system did not seem to be cooling, but I didn't have time then to check it out. When I went back to investigate yesterday, I found that the unit blower would be on but the air wasn't coming out cold.

I noticed an unusual dimming of the living room lights when the A/C unit came on -- not just a temporary dip-then-back-up, but a noticeable drop to maybe 2/3 brightness that didn't come back up again.

I checked and all circuit breakers seemed to be set -- but I flipped them off and reset them to 'on' anyway. Back in the house, when I turned the A/C unit back on, the same bank of lights that dimmed before with A/C operation (living room et al.) now wouldn't come on at all! They did eventually come back on, but it was after I went outside to reset the single-throw breakers, and I believe it took several minutes even after I turned the A/C off (these are standard incandescent bulbs, not fluorescent or halogen).

I went in to the attic and didn't see anything strange with the heater/AC blower unit, fwiw. I believe that the HVAC system is on a separate circuit from the 110v circuits that feed the lights in the house.

Puzzled and without a flashlight to see in to the breaker box or look at the outside cooler enclosures (the grills with fan in the center), I turned the HVAC system off at the thermostat and left.

Questions: I'm a bit confused by the behaviour of the lights, which have never acted this way before. What would the group's guesses be as to cause? Is it possible that it is just a breaker is going bad? What would you do as next steps?

I appreciate your suggestions.

thomas. SelfGovern at Yahoo dot Com.

Reply to
thomas rush
Loading thread data ...

The central A/C should be 240v, you can verify this by looking at the breaker for it, which would be double pole, usually there's two separate levers connected with a bridge though some have a single lever on a double wide body. If that's the case, I suspect one whole side of the panel may have a poor connection, take the cover off and look at the heavy wires coming in at the top where they connect to the main and touch the insulated portion near the main breaker to see if they're warm. A common problem here is the lugs work loose and you get a poor connection, but it could also be outside in the sealed meter box, where the wires splice at the weather head (if overhead wiring), or out at the transformer on the pole or in a box, the latter of which you'd need to call the utility, if it's on their side of the meter they'll fix it for free. If the lugs in the panel are loose, you can carefully use a screwdriver to tighten them, being sure to only touch the plastic handle, wearing gloves is a good idea too. I normally check mine every few years just to make sure since we had a meltdown in the service panel of the house I grew up in because of that.

Reply to
James Sweet

check the ground connection at the breaker panel and try posting your question in

alt.home.repair

Mark

Reply to
Mark

The blower is a separate motor from the compressor (the outside unit).

Stalled compressor. Might just need a capacitor.

When you manually tripped the breakers, one or more failed to close. Your second trip fixed that. Several minutes???????????????

My guess is your only problem is the compressor.

Reply to
Charles Schuler

Better yet...call an electrician. Don't open the panel and start tightening things UNLESS you are 110% comfortable doing so.

One slip and you may have a bad holiday season

-- ========================== Jeff Stielau Shoreline Electronics Repair

344 East Main Street Clinton,CT 06413 860-399-1861 860-664-3535 (fax) snipped-for-privacy@snet.net ========================
Reply to
Shoreline Electronics
[that stuff's below; here's what I've found out...]

Called an electrician who suggested it might be a problem with the wiring between the transformer and meter -- apparently not uncommon here in Houston with the underground, usually aluminum wiring.

So I called the electric company who confirmed that one leg of my feed was at 120V, the other was at

30sometingV.

The good news is that it was that easy to diagnose. The bad news is that this is considered to be the homeowner's problem. So I'm putting in a new line in, in conduit, at $12/foot. The buyers should have good power for a long time to come.

Thanks to all for your insight.

thomas.

Reply to
thomas rush 

--
Joe Leikhim K4SAT
"The RFI-EMI-GUY"

"Follow The Money"
Reply to
**THE-RFI-EMI-GUY**

That's bizarre that it's you who has to pay when the problem is on the electric company's side of the meter, my utility fixes anything on their side on their dime.

Reply to
James Sweet

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.