Not enough electricity in my house? Help Me!

[etech]

I was having that problem and finally called the electric company. The guy that came out found that one of the connections at the house(where the wire from the pole was spliced onto the wires running to the meter) had developed a high resistence.

He respliced it(big butt connector) and the problem was fixed.

That may or may not be your problem but it's probably worth a call to the electric company. If you are renting, you should talk to the landlord and explain your concerns. It could be a safety problem. If there is a bad connection and it's inside the structure it could cause a fire.

 

[mitchafi]

Well, I actually live with my parents (I'm still in highschool). I'll definitely find the electric bill and get the number so I can give them a call. Parents probably wouldn't mind having it fixed either. We own the house so no pesky landlords to deal with 🙂.

 

[someone16]

Meh, switch to flouescent lights to lighten the load up a bit?

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: ku
Yeah, I really don't know what to do. And yes, this problem sustains throughout the whole house. I think I will have to call the power company. But can anyone confirm if a UPS will help or not? <3!

That's odd that it affects the whole house; might have been some lousy wiring there. Here, when an AC or something goes on, only that circuit is affected - the lights in one or two rooms dim, but that's it. We had other wiring issues though (reversed hot/neutral in one outlet, and open ground connections everywhere), so we got an electrician to fix that, and install a separate circuit just for the computers.
That, and we use UPSes here. My PC uses a Cyberpower 1250AVR. It seems to get the job done quite well; the monitor doesn't so much as flicker, and the speakers don't even produce any glitches when the power goes out.
I would say to ask an electrician though to see what the reason for this is. Maybe the whole house is wired to only one or two circuits; don't know.

 

[Mark R]

Dimming of the lights in response to load, in particular, severe dimming during very high surge loads (AC starting up) is suggestive of a high-resistance in your electricity supply.

The fact that it affects the whole house rules out an individual circuit as the problem, and suggests the problem is before the indivudal breakers (either a faulty main switch, connection or meter).

This may simply be because you are too far from a supply transformer with inadequate cabling running to your house.

Alternatively, it could be because of a corroded or loose connection where the main supply cable enters your meter or the meter connects into the breaker box. If this is the case, then that high resistance connection could be producing a lot of heat (which can in turn make the corrosion worse). This is a SERIOUS FIRE RISK and must be fixed, if it is the cause.

You should contact either the electricity supplier or a competent electrician and ask for your supply to be checked. If it is the latter, then it can be easily fixed. If it is the former, then you may have grounds to ask the electricity company to upgrade your supply.