Intermittant problems

I need some advice about a problem I am having.

I have 4 circuits in my house that have started giving me problems. They will just lose all power for periods of time, from a few minuets to a couple of hours. the circuits that have lights attached also dim and flicker. they are not on the same side of the breaker pannel or even directly above or below each other. There has been no electrical work or construction work done and the problem started about 3 months ago and has steadly gotten worse. could the breakers themselves be going bad ??

thanx in advance

joel

 

This is most likely a problem with one leg of your power. It is usually best to report this to the power company first, since they will fix it for free if the problem is on their side. If the power company says all is okay on their side, you should have a qualified person inspect and tighten the connections in your panel.

Note that "same side of the breaker pannel" is not related to leg of your power, and "directly above or below each other" indicates opposite legs. If you would care to give us the numbers of the circuits (numbers stamped into the panel cover), we will be able to tell you whether these four circuits are on the same power leg.

You might also try to correlate the outages with other events. People often notice that these problems occur when it is windy outside. If you can make this correlation, be sure to mention it to your power company.

Let us know.

 

Good point John. When there is a problem like that I always ask about the weather and wind. Seems that happens a lot especially in towns and cities where they have a kettle and several overhead feeds off of it. That stuff has been crimped on, clamped on, spliced on and bolted to over years and years that it never suprises me when there is a bad connect there. Works fine till the wind starts blowing. I had one that I had the poco come on twice and they swore up and down that there wasnt a problem. 15 V less when the wind blew. Finally dropped off in the parking lot one day. They come and hook it back on and there has never been another prob.