[dscherer2010]

I live in Southern New Jersey. We are currently in the midst of a huge Noreaster snow storm. At 5 am this morning, the power went out in my bedroom. I got up and saw that power was out in most of the house, however about 20 percent of the outlets were still working. Also, my natural gas powered heating unit (which uses electric to distribute the heat) is also working.

This is a heavy snow. My power comes off the pole into my house up near the roof.

My question is: Is it possible to only lose some of your power? I never encountered this before. I am hoping that there is something on the Electric Company's end where power comes into the house.


Thanks for any help anyone can give.

[tkrussell]

Assuming you do not have an internal problem that just happened by coincidence,the utility will be the problem that one of the two hot lines feeding the home lost power.

***Edited***

Funny just after answering this question, Fox News had live shots from Wildwood Nj of the heavy snow taking down power lines.

Looks like you guys are in for a long weekend.

[dscherer2010]

Assuming you do not have an internal problem that just happened by coincidence,the utility will be the problem that one of the two hot lines feeding the home lost power.

Thank you. Do you know if it's possible to "overload" the power that is coming in? I plan to plug my fridge into one of the working outlets if that is OK. Thanks!

[tkrussell]

Sure, for now use any outlets that are live. In the mean time, if at all possible, try to determine if you do have an internal problem, or do you really have a partial power failure from a lost leg from the utility.

I suspect the utility lost a leg from downed power lines, or blown cutouts (utility pole fuses) and that soon you will lose all power.

[tkrussell]

What you do need to be aware of that while some outlets may still seem to be live, the voltage may be low, again due to utility issues and storm related problems, and low voltage will damage refrigerators, etc.

[Stratmando]

Try a couple of 240 volt appliances to see if a hot leg is lost before your panel.

[dscherer2010]

Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it.

We sure are in for a long weekend. 20 inches of snow already. Here is an update.

It definitely seems like we are on half power. The half that is working seems strong. It is running my natural gas heating unit and has been for the whole four hours since we lost the other half of the power.

On the outlets that work, I am running at what seems like full power. I have my laptop, TV and light on. I just brewed coffee and the heat is working fine.

The stove is off. Every now and then, the clock on it comes on, then goes off. Also, the fan on the microwave goes on from time to time as well. I am guessing that it is getting a little power here and there. Should I turn off the breakers to that or doesn't it matter?

Looking outside, the line from the pole to my box looks like it's definitely being weighed down by snow. Is it possible that it is maybe pulling it away from the connection on my house? All I know is I am smart enough to not touch it.

I also have a well, so I have to dig out the front yard and then the back to get under the house to plug that in. Hopefully, the electric holds.

[tkrussell]

Shut off any 240 volt loads at the breakers.

This may include the water pump, usually these are 240 volts.

One leg may be a good, solid 120 volts, while the other is fluctuating between zero to 120 volts. Voltages less than - 10% can damage damage devices.

Shut off any device or appliance that is on the bad leg, until full power is restored.

[dscherer2010]

Update: Just as I was getting to go under the house and plug in the water pump we came back to full power, so it was definitely the electric company.

Thanks for the help folks!