iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

what will

Started by coxy, May 06, 2016, 07:29:47 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

coxy

make my house lights flicker they all do it not just one and its not bad just every 30 seconds or so then they will stop for a while and start again

Gearbox

loose wire at the meter or on the input side of the main . Call the power company and pull the meter and tighten the allen set screws . make sure you know what wires are coming from the transformer and do not touch them .
A bunch of chainsaws a BT6870 processer , TC 5 International track skidder and not near enough time

JBlain

Sounds like a loose common lug on either the meter box or your panel.  The loose connection generates resistance which equals a lot of heat and it can cause a fire.  Could also be a bad main breaker, usually they just die though.
Josh

coxy

the breakers 1 at the pole and in the fuse box are cold when you feel them but that don't mean much  I no NOTHING  about electric weight I lied it hurts when you get zapped  :D :D

red

I had this happen and we could not use our 220v clothes dryer . Power company should fix in just a few minutes
Honor the Fallen Thank the Living

North River Energy

I've an old glass screw-in fuse box at the camp, mounted above the entryway. 
After you've slammed the sticky door enough, the fuse gets loose and the lights flicker.
So obviously, you need a new door. :D

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Christmas   smiley_christmas
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

r.man

If it is all the lights it may be a loose neutral, that is the return wire to a 120 volt circuit. The neutral is generally " bonded " to the ground so as long as it is hooked at the panel end it is not " live ", don't count on it. Every wire should be treated live until proven otherwise. If all the lights flicker you are looking for a main wire problem, usually at a connection. Main panel, main switch, maybe meter base depending on the system and at the connection to the transformer or electric mains coming into the house. If the power comes in overhead take binoculars and try to get a good look at the connectors to see if there are heat distortions in them or the wires. Try touching the outside of any metal boxes, meterbase, main switches etc to test for heat, especially on the front. You shouldn't let this slide because the other thing that a main neutral failure does is cause a voltage shift due to the 120 volt power going back to the grid through the other live wire via 240 loads. If the neutral becomes very bad some loads will suffer low voltage and others will suffer high voltage.
Life is too short or my list is too long, not sure which. Dec 2014

sandhills

I agree with Gearbox however my disclaimer is I know very little about electricity other than what dad always says, you can't see it or smell it but it still will kill you so respect it  :D.  We had that in our shop and it was simply bad connections and we were able to shut the power off to the entire farm to fix them.

coxy

ok dumb question  :)    where the triplex wire comes to the meter then from the meter down a foot to the out side main breaker box can you tighten the wires one by one with out getting lite up like a light bulb  cause there is no way to shut power off with out power co coming I'm not shur if the wires are loose there but would be a good place to start if its possible                                      thanks coxy

r.man

I work with 120, 208, 240 and 600 volt which is the highest normal voltage in Canada except special cases or the grid. For the lower voltages good insulated boots, tools and gloves allow me to work on live lugs if necessary. It is not recommended and the chance of shooting flames by slipping and grounding a tool is always a possibility. Extreme care is needed and I would not suggest anyone work on live lugs who is not very comfortable and confident around electricity. In Ontario if there is a potential problem in the meter base or at the pole the utility is very good about sending someone around at no charge to check and or fix the problem. They will also send someone to temporarily pull the meter to tighten the wires on the utility side of the main breaker so it does not have to be done live.
Life is too short or my list is too long, not sure which. Dec 2014

coxy

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR HELP  8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) it was the main breaker in the house     the flickering got real bad today/night the prongs on the breaker was loose/burnt and the breaker was ready to fall out good thing my dad keep a spare on the panel (my he RIP) it was ok last night   it was not warm/hot but this evening it was warm/hot not hot hot never thought about it being the breaker  we have to put a breaker in about every4-5 years I always told him what it was doing and he fixed it but hes  not here anymore  :'( :'(   ill have to get 1-2 spares to keep on hand  THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE  FOR ALL YOUR HELP  :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

breederman

I am no electrician , but , something is wrong if you keep burning up breaker contacts .
Together we got this !

sandsawmill14

see if the model number on the panel board is still available it is no trouble to change the entire insides of a panel if it has not been discontinued :) most likely the stab where the breaker hooks to stabs is arced up causing so many failures before i quit the electrical work i kept a siemens  2030 and a 2040 at the house all time as these were the most common in my area. i could change one out in less than 2 hrs you dont even have to un wire the breaker just unplug them an pull them to the side change the inside most had 4 screws holding it in  the just snap the breakers back in and you had a new panel :) it works the same on all panels as long as you can get the exact model number but you do have to buy a new panel board to get the parts as they are not sold seperately if you change only the breaker pay close attention to where the breaker hooks to the panel it may need some sanding or some kind of clean up before you put the new one in or it will do it again shortly :)
hudson 228, lucky knuckleboom,stihl 038 064 441 magnum

coxy

is there some kind of grease that goes on there or any grease or non at all    if I remember right my dad said they no longer made this style panel it has some sort of a snap spring on the top to hold the main breaker in you have to lift up on the springy thing to change the breaker  ill try to take a pic of it

sandsawmill14

you can  use any dielectric grease or noalox is designed for aluminum or copper to aluminum connections :)
hudson 228, lucky knuckleboom,stihl 038 064 441 magnum

Gary_C

Once you overheat the buss bars in that panel it is toast. It will always be a high resistance connection and will get hot. That dielectric grease will not help.

Replace the entire panel is the only solution.
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

sandsawmill14

Gary_C is right all the grease will do is prevent arcing but it is a temporary patch at best :)
hudson 228, lucky knuckleboom,stihl 038 064 441 magnum

coxy

that's like the me and the rest of my stuff temporary fix to a permanent problem  :D :D the only breaker I could find was a GE the rest was close but not right the number is thql21100p don't know if anyone could tell me what breaker panel I have by that #or not      again thanks for all the help 

Gary_C

That number you gave is a GE number. That is just the style of the breakers that fit in the circuit box.

I can tell you from previous experience that buying parts for a breaker box is more expensive that buying a whole new box. It's more work to just replace the entire box but in the long run it's easier and cheaper.

So just get a new circuit breaker box and toss the old one. If you get a GE style you can reuse your old breakers.
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

Thank You Sponsors!