Any electricians on here?

[dazz600]

Hi all,some really strange things happening in the house last coupla days.first symptom was telly making an intermittent crackling sound.xbox also going 3 red rings but loading back up ok.then the lamps were flickering (plugged into plug sockets) and likewise the fridge interior light

Then the circuit tripped coupla times.it seemed to be when Xbox was plugged in so unplugged it

Got up this morning,same again even without xbox.have tried not using certain sockets/appliances to find a culprit without success and have gone back to original setup

It seems to have cleared up by itself at the moment.we do have mostly those chrome effect plug sockets but no problems up until yesterday!

Bgas homecare are coming out tomorrow morning but just wondered if anyone recognizes the symptoms and what the engineer tomorrow will likely do?

[GentleGiant]

CRT, Plasma or LCD TV?? Could be a problem with the TV, or it could be external to your house; have you asked the neighbours if any of them had problems?? Dimming and flickering are usually caused by voltage fluctuations in the incoming supply, hence the term "brown out" (the light looks a brown colour when the voltage is too low).

[Biodieselgangan]

Have lights been going bright then dim then bright then dim????

It could be the start of an overvoltage or neutral fault in the street.

If you and your neighbours have the same problems call northern power grid 0800 375 675 and tell them what is happening.

If the fault goes tits up it will damage quite a few of your household appliances.

[dazz600]

The tv is a plasma

The lights weren't dimming,more flickering on and off as if there was either too much /little power

As for damage the house alarm power light was flashing on and off since then,and 5am lost all power

Outside box siren going off and no power at unit.not good!

Just disconnected internal battery and it stopped after 10mins tho

12 months ago I had homecare out cos some sockets were working,others not.took him a while to trace it to one socket (which was not in use this morning during problems)

Can't help but feel these 2 episodes are related

[@Lee]

as Biodieselgangan mentioned, check with a few neighbours and see if they experienced anything similar. Possibly a fault at the local substation with all the wet weather recently.

[Biodieselgangan]

as Biodieselgangan mentioned, check with a few neighbours and see if they experienced anything similar. Possibly a fault at the local substation with all the wet weather recently.

Not always substation lee....the underground joints have aluminium neutrals which corrode and then burn away.....puts 400v back up the neutral into the house's.

Dazz...if you have had an overvoltage make sure anyone alse affected ring it in as otherwise northern power grid will deny it and you will have to repair your own stuff.

If they do admit responsibility i'll see you later!

[VRSKevv]

Sounds like loose cable either in back of socket or a neutral in the fuse box.

[GentleGiant]

Not always substation lee....the underground joints have aluminium neutrals which corrode and then burn away.....puts 400v back up the neutral into the house's.

Dazz...if you have had an overvoltage make sure anyone alse affected ring it in as otherwise northern power grid will deny it and you will have to repair your own stuff.

If they do admit responsibility i'll see you later!

 

Doesnt always work even then; in Malvern about 23 years ago a HV cable dropped onto a LV supply cable at 3am and put 50KV through everyones sockets for several milliseconds, the result was hundreds of dead fridges and freezers, as well as a few other household appliances. To my knowledge, not one person managed to get the network to pay for the damages - I was lucky, my F/F was quite old and I could replace it just as cheaply as I bought/sold 3rd hand white goods for pin money back then and had a cellar full of them.

[wolvotim]

As said before in the thread it sounds like classic neutral fault.

Even if your neighbours haven't had the same issue (could be on your service) still call your DNO and and tell them you think a neutral fault may be developing and they will come and do an earth loop test on the neutral

[dazz600]

Well the electrician guy has been and gone.there was a loose connection in 1 socket (slightly melted inside) and has replaced it

However,he thinks it was unlikely to be the cause and more favoured a power surge

So up to now everything is back to normal and a case of 'see how you go'

Thanks to all replies btw

[preston334]

Still worthwhile contacting your DNO and they can do checks on their network. I'm currently doing checks on the LV overhead network and to be amazed at the risks I've identified which has been causing nuisance issues

[wolvotim]

Floating voltage caused by neutral faults can find out weak components and appliances in a customers installation.

So if your socket connection was making a ever so slightly bad contact the affects of a bad neutral value would brake it down even further.

We quite regularly send out engineers to monitor supply quality for high/low volts, neutral/earth values and flicker caused by customer generation (neighbours solar panels) or dirty load (big motors/welding equipment in factory's