I had a plug in the garage that was not working. I found the problem to be in the control panel and got the plug working by jiggling and finally pressing on the circuit breaker. Since then, I have noticed the other lights in the house will flicker. We used to get a little flicker on and off when the whole house fan was on, but now it seems constant. Any ideas appreciated.

You seem to have a loose connection inside the panelboard. Unless you are comfortable and qualified to work inside the panel, you need to bring in an electrician to investigate and make the necessary repairs.

Judging from the symptoms, you may consider having this taken care of farily soon.

Even the poorest box should last long time without problems. If it is old, and 100 amps or less, you might ask about having a 200 amp box installed. To get much except worse problems, you may need other upgrades.

The house is only 18 years old. Any idea on what a new box and breakers will cost? I'll call a couple of electricians to get someone out, but would like to have some idea so I have better feel I am not getting ripped off.

The cost for a new panelboard complete with breakers will depend on the size of the existing panel,the amount of breakers, and the general area you are located. If it is a 100 amp 24 circuit the cost can be approx $400-$600. If is is a 200 amp 42 circuit, the cost can be $600.00 to $800.00.

If the box is replaced with the same brand, and there are no hidden problems with the citrcuit breakers, all you will need to replace is the panel box, and reuse the breakers. This can save some money.

Any additional upgrades, say from 100 amp to 200 amp will require the meter socket, and all feeder wiring to the meter and the panel be replaced also, causing you to incur more possibly unnecessary cost. If the home has not had any additional appliances or square foot additions to it, then whichever size service you currently should be sufficient, and a larger service would be wasted money.

While an electrician is there, be sure to have the connections inside the meter checked for proper torque. This may require the utility company to visit to unseal/reseal the meter, and may be a minor nusiance, but take my word for it, if you do not check, there will be a loose connection there also.

I learned everything the hard way, believe me.

A panel 18 years old can certainly have loose connections develop, consider the fact that the original installer may not have tighten everything properly at first, then it gets used everyday for 18 years. The current drawn causes heat, then at night when the house quiets down, the current stops, and the heat cools down. This causes fatigue and stress on the metal, which adds to the looseness of any connections.

What most people, including most electricians,are not aware of is that every manufacturer of electrical equipment recommends that preventive maintenance be performed, at least annually to their equipment. Most buildings get wired, and the electrical system is completely ignored for decades. Then the owners don't understand why there is a problem. Landscaping and painting gets done promptly, but a critical electrical system, that when it fails, can cause power failures and fires,

Now a residential home certainly does not use as much current as an office building or a factory, and annual inspections may be a bit overdone, but checking connections once in a while certainly does eliminate unplanned outages and expend money not bugdeted.

Most people will have a $10,000.00 car checked thouroughly by a mechanic for $70.00 per hour, but not have their $250.000.00 home checked by an electrician for $50.00 per hour. If a car stops working you get stuck somewheres and call a towtruck, if an electrical systems fails, you loose power, all the food in the frig, cooling ,heating, hotwater, lights and in the most severe cases, the home itself, and call the fire trucks.

I hope you don't take this personal, I just saw an opportunity to get a few things out for any others that read this forum to see, and hopefully learn from this.

And why does everyone think electricians are out to scam? Call three reputable contractors, and ask each for a price for the same job. When I get that a potential customer is wary and thinks I am out to gouge, I turn around and move on. I don't mind, and encourge a wise shopper, but if someone thinks I am a crook, then no matter what I do will never change his mind. People will spend $40.00 for a hair cut that took an half hour, that's $80.00 per hour, and think $50.00 per hour for an electrician is outrageous.

Please take a moment and get back with the results of what is found, your experience will benefit many.

Thanks for the information. I do not take your comments personal and hope you don't take the scam comment personal either. I contacted a local contractor and found one that does not offer commissions to their electricians. The cost of the initial 1/2 hour visit is about $120. Based my conversation with the office, they believe the one breaker is loose and probably just needs to be moved to an open slot. I will be provide an update after it is repaired next week.

A $120 for the first half hour? What market are you in. Here in northern New England I get $78.00 for the first 1.5 hr? I am in the wrong business.

I never heard of commissions for electrical workers, thought I have heard of everything. Guess there are all kinds of methods out there.

Nothing personal here, I realize how most people perceive contractors, all because of a few real nasty ones. Ever watch the movie the Money Pit? My favorite flick, plumber gets $5K down, drives away in a Lincoln on his way to the Caribbean, and never promises when he will start.

The crew finally showsup, they picked this customer's name out of a hat. Outrageous! Laugh my a** off. And two weeks the job will take, two months later they will be done in two weeks. I try this on my customers with a sense of humor.

They are probably right about the breaker, but be sure they thouroughly check out the bus bar in the panel for any damage. If any of the bar or the plastic insulating material is damaged by heat, the panel needs to be replaced, otherwise the carbon can, and will continue, and fail at the worst possible time.

Northern California. I thought it was a little on the high side also, so I made some other calls to a friend who is remodeling contractor ( I should have started here, but don't like taking advantage of friends). He gave me the name of the electrician he uses. The guy came out, looked at the panel and said the wrong breakers were installed in the panel. Something about a double vs a single. He said the breakers were rigged to work on the panel and over the years worked loose and arced. He replaced the bad breakers with some used ones he had because he was heading out of town and did not have much with him (he stopped by as a favor to my friend). He will be back today to go through the entire panel and fix what needs fixing.

It is interesting the wrong breakers could be put into a new house 18 years ago. I asked how this could happen and when I told him who the builder was, he immediately told me who the electrical contractor was(must be a reputation in the industry?). Once I get the bill I will send a copy to the builder to see if they want to make good.

It is a sad mess for both the reliable contractors and the homeowners, that 18 years later the guy is still in business. At least the guy that threw my house together was out of business 7 years later when I bought it.

I can understand your frustration, and sending him the bill seems to be appropriate, but, I am sure you know, a waste of paper and the stamp.

But you may be on the right track. I will come back to that thought later

But first I need to caution you about replacing the breakers. The bus bar the breakers push onto must be inspected thouroughly for any arc damage also. If the old breakers were arcing, the only place they can arc is against this busbar. Many times I replace an arcing breaker the bar it plug onto has been damaged also. If there is any signs of arcing, carbon, or melted metal at these points, the new breaker(s) will surely fail again in the future.

It's great you found someone you can trust, but, hopefluuy he has checked this before installing the new breakers. Even if he has to shut off the main, and pull out all the breakers at once to get a real good look at all these connections points, whatever he needs to do to be sure there is no related damage.

Do not be shy, let him know you know this fact, and insist he check each busbar location that a new breaker will land on. Do not get wishy washy at this time because someone is doing a favor. He is still a licensed qualified electrician and must perform each any every job to the best that is necessary, no matter a favor or not.

As far as the original contractor, you should take pictures of all damage, save the old breakers, save a copy of the invoice for the repair, and give the local or state inspector a call. Contact the town and see if there is a copy of the original permit on file. You may be able to cause this contractor some grief, and get reasonalbe compensation.

Also contacting your insurance company may be a big help. If the improper installation were to fail catestrophically, they would have been liable, and they would certainly do exactly what I have proposed to do, of couse , by now you are living in a motel, if your alive.

Some of this depends on the contractor doing the repair. He needs to have the balls to write up the invoice correctly or write a letter as to what problem he found and what he needed to to to correct it.

As long as the original contractor took out a permit, it is problem his forever, in most states. I always get customers that want a quick fix or the cheap way out, not with me. I want to be able to sleep every night no matter how old a job is.

See where this brings you, if you decide to pursue the matter. Please get back to us here, again we are all curious and many can learn from your experiences.

I've read all the replies. Pretty good stuff.

A quick question. Did your light bulb generated constant noise (crackling noise) in addition to flickering? I am just wondering if I have a similar problem.

No crackling noise, just the flickering, and a lot of it to all lights on the circuit.