Whole house weirdness...this is crazy!

[GunsOfNavarone]

Calling all electrical gurus! As of late, I have been in my shop and heard UPS' clicking on and off. My wife said smart lights have come on, on their own. I was in the bathroom this morning and I noticed lights getting brighter and dimmer. I put a meter on an outlet, voltage was varying from 98 to 144 volts! WTH? After scanning the house trying to figure what was going on....I found it was my new, pricey espresso maker from Italy. NOOOOOOO!!!!!
Anyway, turn that off and my house is stable, no more variance in voltage. Now, that machine is on a GFI outlet, but I have a tester, and it does trip. I put the espresso machine on a different outlet/curcuit....same issue. I can (and will) contact vendor, but ideas fellas? (Bill...please be gentle) I honestly cannot fathom WHAT issue could cause ENTIRE house to do this, especially without tripping something.
Thanks guys

 

[Flyinfool]

It sounds like you have a bad connection in the house wiring or even possibly outside at the meter or even the pole.
Do you have any other high power appliance that turns on and off that uses a lot of power to see if similar weird things happen? something like an air conditioner or space heater or electric fry pan.........

 

[Nigel123]

Calling all electrical gurus! As of late, I have been in my shop and heard UPS' clicking on and off. My wife said smart lights have come on, on their own. I was in the bathroom this morning and I noticed lights getting brighter and dimmer. I put a meter on an outlet, voltage was varying from 98 to 144 volts! WTH? After scanning the house trying to figure what was going on....I found it was my new, pricey espresso maker from Italy. NOOOOOOO!!!!!
Anyway, turn that off and my house is stable, no more variance in voltage. Now, that machine is on a GFI outlet, but I have a tester, and it does trip. I put the espresso machine on a different outlet/curcuit....same issue. I can (and will) contact vendor, but ideas fellas? (Bill...please be gentle) I honestly cannot fathom WHAT issue could cause ENTIRE house to do this, especially without tripping something.
Thanks guys

I would check out the neutral wire it looks like you are getting unbalanced loads which the neutral should take care of
This would be on your feed from the supply to your panel
In Canada the neutral is gounded at the panel or meter dont know if it is the same as the states

 

[Just for fun]

I agree with Nigel123. I would call the power company and have them check out the incoming power. I don't think your espresso machine would or could change the voltage if things were correct on the incoming side.

 

[markba633csi]

It's likely you have a problem with the neutral connection to your house- it's supposed to be grounded at the pole but
they sometimes come loose which can give the symptoms you described
Espresso machines draw a lot of current and often have a lot of electrical leakage from the heating element but I don't think it's the culprit- only a symptom
of the bigger problem. It's good that you have the machine on a GFI- if/when the heating element is starting to fail the GFI will trip
-M
The power company should measure the voltage drop from the neutral to a true earth ground like a water pipe-

 

[GunsOfNavarone]

Possibly related, I just had my whole house stripped to the studs replaced osb boards, insulation and cement siding. Obviously the panel was removed (loosed) from house to do this. Related? Maybe? Probably? I have a call into power company to come out. 80k for this jobs and there have been many screw ups. My AC went out during this, I though coincidental….I checked it out and the capacitor blew. Replaced it and it’s been fine. Related? Well if voltage has dropped to 98v (that I KNOW of) then absolutely. I’ll let you all know what power company says, glad it’s not my espresso maker, but odd we only see the issues when it’s on….nothing else. (Machine shop, AC, microwave, washer/dryer) there has to bigger draws in the house than espresso machine.

 

[Eddyde]

I agree it appears to be a intermittent neutral fault. It could be the lug on the neutral busbar is loose (especially if its aluminum wire). You can tighten it if you have the skills or have an electrician do it. It's also a good idea to tighten all the lugs to the neutral branch circuits and check the breaker lugs, periodically.

 

[ddickey]

Take your espresso machine to your neighbors and try it there.

 

[rabler]

Like others have mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind is a bad neutral connection. The neutral connection is your zero volts reference for the working power to appliances. If a central connection on the neutral is bad, then the neutral voltage will swing toward whichever leg of your panel is drawing more current. This causes the voltage on one leg to drop, and the other leg to rise. These changes can occur rapidly as various things like your expresso machine switch on/off. That widely fluctuating voltage then causes other things in the house, like the smart lights, etc, to glitch. This is a problem that needs to be addressed as it could easily result in damaging electrical appliances.

Note that 240V appliances, like a water heater, electric range, etc, will not cause the neutral to swing because they don't rely on the neutral. The neutral line is only used for 120V devices. Unbalanced load between the two 120V mains is the issue if it is a floating neutral. Imagine if you had two standard light bulbs, wired in series across 240 volts with the middle + wired to neutral

L1---bulb1-----+------bulb2---L2

Normally the + in the middle is connected to neutral, but if the neutral connection on the backside of the panel is bad, then those bulbs are just in series across the 240V lines. If the bulbs are equal wattage than each bulb will get 120V. If the bulbs are unequal wattage, than they will get unequal voltages.

Neutral is suppose to be connected all the way to the power transformer. It is also connected to the grounding system (green grounding wire) in one place, typically at your service disconnect. The exact requirements are defined in the electrical code. My first *guess* would be that when working on the siding the jostling of the lines associated with the main panel caused the main neutral wire to work loose. Often those large main wires are aluminum, quite stiff, and subject to surface oxidation which causes poor connections. That may fall on your side of the power service. Often the power company boundary is at or shortly after the meter, so the power company may not be willing to diagnose and fix it.

 

[GunsOfNavarone]

Thanks all! I'm not going to say you're all geniuses. but you all might be. Waiting for electric company, I pulled the panel cover. The neutral bus bar service supply was somewhat loose. Tightened it really well and went along and tightened everything. There was a lot of aluminum line BTW. Also found the physical ground to earth was very loose. perhaps not even functioning for its purpose. Buttoned everything up went in and turned on espresso maker. All is well. solid at 122v.
I've said it before. there is a plethora of knowledge here. I would (and did jump to) it being my espresso machine. No way, no how I would think about service panel.
Thanks all!