SplitSecond Power Cut
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SplitSecond Power Cut
Hi there. I'd like your opinion on something. This morning a weird thing happened and I am wondering if I should be concerned about it.
My house is 73 years old. Last year I had the electrical upgraded to 100 amp breaker service.
This morning I had only been up about 15 minutes, had turned on one stove element to boil the kettle, the kitchen ceiling light, radio, my computer had just finished booting up, and my daughter had the bathroom light on and plugged in her straightening iron (there is a GFCI plug in the bathroom where she plugs in).
Suddenly and for only a split second, the power to the kitchen light, radio, and bathroom light turned off and on. (The GFCI outlet in the bathroom did not trip.) The effects seemed to be limited to that small area. No effect on my computer. No breaker was tripped. The stove is wired directly to the panel, so I don't think it was affected.
This happened once early last summer when my computer was in the room off the kitchen, and I thought it was because my son was fooling around downstairs with an outlet. He swears he wasn't but I didn't believe him. He always had the outlets in his room way overloaded with stereo and computer equipment. He has since moved out so that is no longer an issue.
Sometimes when its really windy outside we get a split-second interruption like that, but I didn't think it was that windy this morning. Could it have just been a momentary surge because so many things were turned on at once? Do you think this could indicate a short somewhere? If so, why would that happen suddenly and after all the electrical work that was done last year?
We do have mice in the house. Do you think a mouse could have chewed into a wire somewhere and caused a short? I'm probably being paranoid here, but electrcity just scares the bejeebers out of me. What do you think? I appreciate any thoughts you might have on this. Thanks. Brighit.
My house is 73 years old. Last year I had the electrical upgraded to 100 amp breaker service.
This morning I had only been up about 15 minutes, had turned on one stove element to boil the kettle, the kitchen ceiling light, radio, my computer had just finished booting up, and my daughter had the bathroom light on and plugged in her straightening iron (there is a GFCI plug in the bathroom where she plugs in).
Suddenly and for only a split second, the power to the kitchen light, radio, and bathroom light turned off and on. (The GFCI outlet in the bathroom did not trip.) The effects seemed to be limited to that small area. No effect on my computer. No breaker was tripped. The stove is wired directly to the panel, so I don't think it was affected.
This happened once early last summer when my computer was in the room off the kitchen, and I thought it was because my son was fooling around downstairs with an outlet. He swears he wasn't but I didn't believe him. He always had the outlets in his room way overloaded with stereo and computer equipment. He has since moved out so that is no longer an issue.
Sometimes when its really windy outside we get a split-second interruption like that, but I didn't think it was that windy this morning. Could it have just been a momentary surge because so many things were turned on at once? Do you think this could indicate a short somewhere? If so, why would that happen suddenly and after all the electrical work that was done last year?
We do have mice in the house. Do you think a mouse could have chewed into a wire somewhere and caused a short? I'm probably being paranoid here, but electrcity just scares the bejeebers out of me. What do you think? I appreciate any thoughts you might have on this. Thanks. Brighit.
#2
Originally Posted by nagirrom
Sometimes when its really windy outside we get a split-second interruption like that, but I didn't think it was that windy this morning. Could it have just been a momentary surge because so many things were turned on at once? Do you think this could indicate a short somewhere? If so, why would that happen suddenly and after all the electrical work that was done last year?
The symptoms you describe are very minor when it comes to loose service connections; I wouldn't worry about it unless is happens more frequently or you notice lights dimming or getting brighter.