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JeffLD · Jan 3, 2011, 10:09 AM

About four months ago I noticed an infrequent flicker of all lights in my 60 year old house. At the time I assumed it was because some high draw appliance was kicking on or something. Over time the flickering got worse, to the point I was suspecting a short somewhere. The random nature of the flickering has made this very hard to pinpoint. I tried flipping breakers one at a time for a few hours. Just when I thought I had it, I would get more flickering. I gave up for a while in frustration. Three nights ago it got even worse. In the middle of the night the circuit to my bedroom / part of the bathroom / part of the living room went dead entirely. Other circuits in the house seemed unaffected. I checked the panel. No breakers appeared to be flipped, but the GFI on the washing machine (on a different circuit then the bedroom) was tripped. I reset the washing machine GFI, but the bedroom circuit was still dead. I then flipped each breaker off and on again to make sure they were reset. Still no power to the one leg. Several minutes later, the bedroom circuit came back on, by itself. At that point I was sure I had a bad breaker. I replaced the breaker the next day, sure I had fixed the problem. That night, it all happened again - no power to the bedroom. But this time a breaker was tripped - but it was not the bedroom breaker, and it was not the washing machine breaker. I reset them all, and again no power to the bedroom until it decided to come on later, by itself. I've also noticed the clocks on kitchen appliances are resetting nightly, even though they are on yet another circuit, and even before I go through and reset all the breakers. All I can think is that I am getting severe brownouts due to a short somewhere, but wouldn't a brownout severe enough to cut power to an entire circuit for fifteen minutes be enough to trip the breaker on that circuit? I know I should call an electrician. That would be the smart thing to do. I'm broke, so it's not an option right now for me. My dad and brother in law are electricians, but live on the other side of the country. Any advice you could give me is greatly appreciated. Thank you! - Jeff

donf · Jan 3, 2011, 11:58 AM

Please take some time and verify all of the connections in the circuit.

If you have to do any work on the circuit, make sure you turn the breaker for that circuit off!

If you have receptacles that are "Backstabbed", wires are placed in the holes in the back of the receptacle, then remove the wires and use the attachment screws on the side of the receptacles.

Missouri Bound · Jan 3, 2011, 01:08 PM

Invite your dad and brother in law for a visit... tell then to bring their tools and testers. You have a loose connection, and those generate heat... and heat causes fires... so don't wait for it to fix itself.

JeffLD · Jan 3, 2011, 01:23 PM

Thanks, I will try that. I've read that a loose neutral could possibly cause problems like this. Of course I will check all the connections, but is that what you are suspecting? Thanks for your reply.

JeffLD · Jan 3, 2011, 01:25 PM

They no better then to come out here. Last time they did we built my garage :) I am concerned about the fire risk, that's why I'm not waiting anymore. Thanks. Jeff

JeffLD · Jan 4, 2011, 09:17 AM

Still no luck. I went through the bedroom circuit (the one that was going dead in the middle of the night)but everything was still flickering, even with this circuit turned off at the breaker? I've also noticed that anything I do in the house now seems to start the flickering. Starting the microwave, the ice maker in the fridge, even turning on a TV. These are on all different crcuits, and the flickering is not a momentary thing, it goes on for about ten seconds, even after stopping the microwave, ice maker, etc...

donf · Jan 4, 2011, 09:27 AM

Okay, Jeff, now you have me worried.

Call a licensed electrician now. You may have a loose Neutral on the panelboard or you may have lost Neutral from the transformer.

This is not a DIY situation anymore. It is involving to many different circuits and the risk of fire is always present.

JeffLD · Jan 4, 2011, 10:00 AM

I just called the power company to come out and take a look. I will let you know what they find. Thanks for your help!

JeffLD · Jan 4, 2011, 03:57 PM

Well the power company came out just now. They found a loose neutral connection at the weatherhead outside. Now that I think of it I had that connection replaced by an electrician a couple of years ago when a falling tree branch ripped off our service entrance drop. I'm guessing two years worth of hot/cold loosened up the lug to the aluminum wires. The only part I can't figure out is why just one cicuit would turn off and come back on on it's own? Is that a normal symptom of a loose neutral? Thanks for your help Don!

Missouri Bound · Jan 4, 2011, 04:29 PM

It's probable that one of the hot wires had this problem. In an ideal world 1/2 the load is on one hot wire and 1/2 on the other. In older homes it's not always that case. I'm sure that many outlets went out as well as your lights, just in an area that isn't always obvious. Glad you got it fixed.

JeffLD · Jan 5, 2011, 07:32 AM

Last night was flicker free! What a load off my mind. Thanks everyone, I'm really glad I found such helpful and knowledgeable people here.