Hello,
I stumbled across this forum while researching an issue with a house I just purchased and was hoping to get some advice. The problem I'm having is that the lights dim, seemingly randomly, all over the house. I connected a voltmeter to an outlet and witnessed a drop from 119/120 Volts to 114/115 Volts during these dims.
My house is 100 years old in good old Altoona PA, and has had half of its knob and tube wiring replaced. The house used to have an old fuse box, but the seller had an electrician come in and install a 100 amp service and breaker box before we purchased it. The city of Altoona took their sweet time inspecting the work, so we had already moved in by the time that happened. I had already paid a home inspector to look everything over and he hadn't found any issues with it. When the city inspector came, I told him of the issues we were having. He doubled checked the tightness of the neutral lines and couldn't find anything loose. He passed the install and put his sticker on the breaker box door.
The line from the breaker box to the meter is new, the meter is new, and the line from the meter to the feed in from the street is new.
I've had everything turned off in the house (including the gas furnace and refrigerator) and just left a light on. The voltage drop still occurs. I'd really like to believe that this problem is a result of the breaker box being installed and that the seller didn't hide a pre-existing problem, but I just don't know.
Should I try and get the power company come out and examine their part outside the house? Should I try and track down the electrician that did this install and see if he made a mistake? Or should I try and find a new electrician and employ him to investigate this mystery. It's Christmas and I just bought a house, so I'm trying not to go crazy spending money, but I want to be safe and not have the house burn down.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I stumbled across this forum while researching an issue with a house I just purchased and was hoping to get some advice. The problem I'm having is that the lights dim, seemingly randomly, all over the house. I connected a voltmeter to an outlet and witnessed a drop from 119/120 Volts to 114/115 Volts during these dims.
My house is 100 years old in good old Altoona PA, and has had half of its knob and tube wiring replaced. The house used to have an old fuse box, but the seller had an electrician come in and install a 100 amp service and breaker box before we purchased it. The city of Altoona took their sweet time inspecting the work, so we had already moved in by the time that happened. I had already paid a home inspector to look everything over and he hadn't found any issues with it. When the city inspector came, I told him of the issues we were having. He doubled checked the tightness of the neutral lines and couldn't find anything loose. He passed the install and put his sticker on the breaker box door.
The line from the breaker box to the meter is new, the meter is new, and the line from the meter to the feed in from the street is new.
I've had everything turned off in the house (including the gas furnace and refrigerator) and just left a light on. The voltage drop still occurs. I'd really like to believe that this problem is a result of the breaker box being installed and that the seller didn't hide a pre-existing problem, but I just don't know.
Should I try and get the power company come out and examine their part outside the house? Should I try and track down the electrician that did this install and see if he made a mistake? Or should I try and find a new electrician and employ him to investigate this mystery. It's Christmas and I just bought a house, so I'm trying not to go crazy spending money, but I want to be safe and not have the house burn down.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!