electrical load

I have a house built in 1960 here in Houston, Texas. 2,000 sq/ft with 3br, 2 bath and formals. The house has 100 amp service box on the exterior with no recent expansions.

I have noticed, for the last few weeks, that the lights flicker or dim momentarily, usually resultant of some load, mainly the refridgerator or vacumn cleaner as noticed.

I havent had the opportunity to check the service box, but I was wondering what your opinions might be.

I thought it was due to a heavey load on a particular circut, but I have noticed that all circuts are affected when the load is applied.

As a note, when this house was built, there was no central A/C. Of course, it has been added sometime in the past, and probably taxes the whole system.

Curious how houses were wired in 1960. The bathroom feeds the hallway, which might run a plug in one room before they moved on to the garage. What were they thinking?

JT

 

There could be several reasons why, but for starters, first look for loose connections at the panel, and outside at the mask. including the power company's transformer. But remember none of this a DIY'er job, Then check for proper wiring sizes feeding into the house, and the branch circuit wiring as well. If none of this pans out then things to remember is older houses were not wired for a lot of these new electrical appliances that are used today, and when we use more than the house was wired for, up grading is our only option. With a little bit more information about the type of appliances your using, like Heat, A/C, Sq. footage, Water heater, so on, then we can do a load calculation and determine if you have exceeded the 100amp panel. A lot of what you are describing has the characteristics of a loose connection, or improper wire sizes. good luck.

 

If the service-conductors are Aluminum and the aluminum conductors are not coated with a compound at connection-points, then the connection will corrode and you''ll have a voltage drop across the connection.----Good Luck!!!!