# Had a little problem with electric power last night here



## brasssmanget (Apr 15, 2014)

Doesn't directly pertain to wiring machinery, but in a sense maybe a little - after all, I WAS working in the shop with machinery when this all started. :thinking:

  We had some pretty good rain, and then some snow, so when lights started flickering and going dim late yesterday I figured it was weather related. After mama got home and started dinner, she told me the lights were dim in the basement and in the refrigerator. Well, she reset a breaker [she said] and things came on fine, so I didn't give it much thought. But not 15 minutes later the lights were dim again, so I went down to the power box. No breakers had tripped so I was confused, but I reset 4 general lighting breakers just for kicks, and the lights were on again. Hmmmmm.......???

  OK Fast forward - electric company sent out a trouble shooter - all OK outside the box, so it has to be inside. Right? Take a look at the main breaker we pulled out. 









  I'm guessing it has been arcing for sometime in there. Right side panel only had 58V going through it according to the electrician's meter - I guess we got off lucky in that there was no fire. That would not have been cool........:angry:


  Have a Great Day everybody!! :allgood:


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## rdhem2 (Apr 15, 2014)

Mr. brasssmanget;

You got away with a good one, congratulations you, your family and any pets all came out well and good. Trouble with pets is they run and hide to be safe and they are actually signing their death warrant by trapping themselves in a corner somewhere.  The best to you and yours and may GOD bless.

The photo you show is actually damage caused from excessive heat.  This is typical of a high resistance connection that slowly cooks its self to death.  Those are all evidence of burn marks.  I am kinda surprised you didn't mention smelling something when near the panel location.

Anyway, you dodged a bullet.  How does the bussing the breaker clips to look?  No, melted burn marks from arcing?  Breaker did not act like it was welded in place when you removed it.  Then all should be well.  If the replacement breaker is a little tough to clip in put a little penetrox or vaseline on the breaker clips, just a little with a tooth pick and slide it back in.  The hole in the breaker next to the wire attachment lug is probably the culprit of the whole mess.  Poor, loose, screw connection, no penetrox if aluminum feeder wire is the basis for this.  Seen it many times.

Get her fixed so your wife can make dinner while you make _*SWARF!*_


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## GarageGuy (Apr 15, 2014)

We had a problem similar to this about 30 years ago.  The lights in the house would randomly dim and brighten.  We called the electric company, and turned out it was the connection to the power pole at the street.  They replaced the connection, and everything went back to normal.

It's good that none of your appliances, motors, or electronics let out the magic smoke because of low voltage.

GG


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## brasssmanget (Apr 15, 2014)

GarageGuy said:


> We had a problem similar to this about 30 years ago.  The lights in the house would randomly dim and brighten.  We called the electric company, and turned out it was the connection to the power pole at the street.  They replaced the connection, and everything went back to normal.
> 
> It's good that none of your appliances, motors, or electronics let out the magic smoke because of low voltage.
> 
> GG



yes we are very great-full nothing went haywire due to the problem - at least nothing we have noticed to this point. The more we think and talk about it, the luckier we feel......


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## Ray C (Apr 15, 2014)

One year, I had a wall outlet melt down.  I shut the power off in the house and systematically checked every single outlet in the house and much to my surprise, found that many of the connections worked their way loose by a good half turn.  About every 4-5 years I check them all.  They seem to loosen-up over time -no doubt caused by many cycles of expansion and contraction due to heat.


Ray


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## chips&more (Apr 15, 2014)

Do you aluminum wire? Or is it copper wire feeding that breaker?


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## brasssmanget (Apr 16, 2014)

chips&more said:


> Do you aluminum wire? Or is it copper wire feeding that breaker?



I'm going to say copper, but I was not in the panel box replacing the breaker.....:thinking:


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