Bob Sisson
06-04-2012, 03:50 PM
This one has lots of people baffled...
New Construction, 12 month walk-through...
Client complained when the washer spins the lights in certain rooms flicker in time with the washer, also the disposal makes the same lights flicker, and so on...
Turns out, everything on ONE SIDE of the Panel has issues. Bulbs burn out fast, High loads (Washing machine, disposal, etc make everything else on that side blink.
That side of the panel is about ~4v weaker than the other side.
Everything on that side of the panel shows a MUCH higher voltage drop under load than the other side.
I used my suretest in every room, and got the following numbers...
Laundry (simplex) 10.3% at 20A
Dining room 9 % at 20A
Family Room 4.4% at 20A
Den 5.8% at 20A
Living Room 6.2 % at 20A
Kitchen #1 6.3% at 20A
Kitchen #2 6.1 % at 20A
Front Bed 17.6% at 20A 13.2% at 15A
2nd hall bath 8.8% at 15A
Mbed 18% at 20A 13.8% at 15A
Toy bedrm 12.4% at 20A 9.3% at 15A
rt fnt Bed 6.2% at 20A 4.7% at 15A
I realized about 1/2 way through the house that some of the 15A circuit WOULD have higher drops at 20A, but I continued and tested EVERYTHING at 20A for consistency, but got many of the 15A circuits at 15A as well.
Some circuits were ~4-6% drop, others were ~14% drop, -Depending on which side of the Panel they were on-. The Voltage at the Panel was ~117 on the left and ~121 on the right. Everything was tight and Cool (I used my thermal Imager on the Panel, no hot spots other than the stack of AFCI"s (image below for those who don't think a stack of AFCI's don't get rather warm...))
Other than "Have Evaluated by licensed Master Electrician..." dose anyone have any idea where to point them? I was thinking that is could be in the meter socket or beyond...A higher resistance somewhere could be doing it... they are very near the transformer...(at end of driveway) don't know if they can have the local power company do a test of the feeds...
With only a Suretest and a MultiMeter and no helper I couldn't pull a load and watch the feed at the panel at same time (I doubt the Suretest loads long enough for the multi-meter to see it anyway)
The Client was happy with what I did, documented, and looked at...but I said I would post a message in a few places and see if anyone had some ideas...(Jerry ?)
New Construction, 12 month walk-through...
Client complained when the washer spins the lights in certain rooms flicker in time with the washer, also the disposal makes the same lights flicker, and so on...
Turns out, everything on ONE SIDE of the Panel has issues. Bulbs burn out fast, High loads (Washing machine, disposal, etc make everything else on that side blink.
That side of the panel is about ~4v weaker than the other side.
Everything on that side of the panel shows a MUCH higher voltage drop under load than the other side.
I used my suretest in every room, and got the following numbers...
Laundry (simplex) 10.3% at 20A
Dining room 9 % at 20A
Family Room 4.4% at 20A
Den 5.8% at 20A
Living Room 6.2 % at 20A
Kitchen #1 6.3% at 20A
Kitchen #2 6.1 % at 20A
Front Bed 17.6% at 20A 13.2% at 15A
2nd hall bath 8.8% at 15A
Mbed 18% at 20A 13.8% at 15A
Toy bedrm 12.4% at 20A 9.3% at 15A
rt fnt Bed 6.2% at 20A 4.7% at 15A
I realized about 1/2 way through the house that some of the 15A circuit WOULD have higher drops at 20A, but I continued and tested EVERYTHING at 20A for consistency, but got many of the 15A circuits at 15A as well.
Some circuits were ~4-6% drop, others were ~14% drop, -Depending on which side of the Panel they were on-. The Voltage at the Panel was ~117 on the left and ~121 on the right. Everything was tight and Cool (I used my thermal Imager on the Panel, no hot spots other than the stack of AFCI"s (image below for those who don't think a stack of AFCI's don't get rather warm...))
Other than "Have Evaluated by licensed Master Electrician..." dose anyone have any idea where to point them? I was thinking that is could be in the meter socket or beyond...A higher resistance somewhere could be doing it... they are very near the transformer...(at end of driveway) don't know if they can have the local power company do a test of the feeds...
With only a Suretest and a MultiMeter and no helper I couldn't pull a load and watch the feed at the panel at same time (I doubt the Suretest loads long enough for the multi-meter to see it anyway)
The Client was happy with what I did, documented, and looked at...but I said I would post a message in a few places and see if anyone had some ideas...(Jerry ?)