# Lights Flickering



## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Open neutral.
Undersized branch circuit wiring.
Undersized service conductors.
Loose connections.
Unbalanced loading of service.
Bad POCO transformer.


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## Black Dog (Oct 16, 2011)

kwik said:


> Hello,
> 
> I have a problem and hopefully someone can lead me to an answer.
> 
> ...


This is due to the poor wiring practices of the electrical contractor that wired your home and most likely could care less about the coming electrical fire at 3 in the morning, after all, He got paid.

So you must find the problem, open up some of the device and switch boxes and observe the wire nuts falling off of the loosely made up splices and back stabbed devices.

Good luck and welcome to the forum...:thumbsup:


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## kwik (Sep 21, 2012)

I looked in boxes and all connections are tight and the wires are wrapped around the plugs/switches. Looks like a good job actually. Sounds like more than likely a service problem since it happens with more than 1 branch circuit?


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## A Little Short (Nov 11, 2010)

kwik said:


> Hello,
> 
> I have a problem and hopefully someone can lead me to an answer.
> 
> ...


I would vote loose/bad neutral.

As for you putting in ground rods, you wasted money on two rods, wire, and clamps, and a ton of energy (yours)!
As the rods or ground plate have nothing to do with the functionality of your electrical system!


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## 3DDesign (Oct 25, 2014)

Call the Power Company and tell them you have an Open Neutral and that you have an emergency situation. They will normally check their end for free. Have them pull the meter and make sure the lugs are tight. Also have them check the connections all the way back to the transformer. Check the lugs in the main panel and any sub panels.

Open Neutrals are dangerous and can cause major damage in your home. Here's the theory; You have two 120 volt lines coming into the house, 120 volts from hot to neutral. When the neutral becomes "open" (bad connection) the unbalance load of the two lines will cause the voltage to fluctuate. It will still total 240 volts but could be 170 on one line and 70 on the other. This is why you see bright and dim lights. 170 volts on appliance will burn them up. As you turn off the bright lights, the unbalanced load can cause the second line to burn bright and burn up everything on that leg.

DO NOT DISCONNECT THE GROUNDS until the open neutral is fixed. Open Neutrals can cause voltage on the grounds.

TURN OFF THE MAIN BREAKER and get this fixed immediately. I've seen this cause major damage to appliances, TV's and just about everything in the home.


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## chicken steve (Mar 22, 2011)

Bum Noodle....

~CS~


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## cdub347 (Jun 26, 2014)

A heat gun probably draws asich as a hair dryer which usually require a dedicated 20 amp circuit to run without issues , Does this same issue accur when you plug anything else in or just the heat gun?


Sent from my iPhone using electriciantalk.com


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## silver50032000 (Jan 21, 2014)

It sounds to me like a loose neutral in the panel.


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## gnuuser (Jan 13, 2013)

if this does this from different circuits i would say loose main neutral or loose neutral in the meter pan.
if its just one circuit it could be anywhere from the neutral buss, junction boxes, or outlets
check for loose connections! poor or open neutrals are dangerous
get it sorted out quick


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