Members wheresgrant3 Posted June 8, 2004 Members Share Posted June 8, 2004 This has little to do with sound & production, however, I am becoming more interested with power and how it affects electronics. I have a small issue where I live and I would like some insight as to why it's happening. I live in a private apartment complex, in a basement two bedroom apartment. The complex is a single building and has 14 units... I have one of the largest apartments (1100 sq feet). We frequent have alot of flickering lights and there seems to be a power drag somewhere in our apartment, although it might affect our building (I've never asked). Since we've moved in last fall we've had alot of freaky electrical things happening. It started with a 3-way touch lamp we have sitting on a night stand. After plugging it in for the first time, the lamp would turn on and off in a sequence until we would unplug it. At first we joked about ghosts but we noticed that at the same time the lamp would go off, our cable reception in our living room would be affected with a notable waveness in the picture. For months we noticed it. It didn't seem to harm anything and it is just an annoyance. Now it seems that sometimes while running an air conditioner (the compressor kicks in) or running a vaccum will draw enough power to kick off the power supply in my PC off and cause it to reboot. This usually happens on days when it rains or is very wet outside. I bought a UPS unit to prevent it from happening and again put it out of mind but last night again, I noticed something very strange. In the dark I turned off a small fan plugged into our bedroom wall, adjacent to the wall where the 3-way touch lamp is plugged in. As I turned it off I saw what looked light a brief flash of lightning from out the window. After truning the fan on and off again I realized the "lightning" was a flash from the outlet that lamp is plugged into. The flash was similar to something being plugged in and the being ripped out of the outlet. Does anyone know what is going on.... lamps that control themselves,... a PC that keeps rebooting,... flashs sparks from outlets when appliances are turned off. Both my PC and the bedroom wall that this is affecting are part of the same wall... different rooms along the same wall. That wall is half underground and is facing outside. Could moisture be a problem. Should I call an electrician? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members B. Adams Posted June 8, 2004 Members Share Posted June 8, 2004 Originally posted by wheresgrant3 Should I call an electrician? Yes. There are serious problems somewhere in your buildings electrical system, and they should be fixed ASAP. The whole system is probably antiquated and overtaxed, and needs to be replaced with something adequate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scodiddly Posted June 9, 2004 Members Share Posted June 9, 2004 Call an electrician - you've got at least one bad outlet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mitchdoggMDR Posted June 9, 2004 Members Share Posted June 9, 2004 call an exorcist.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted June 9, 2004 Members Share Posted June 9, 2004 I wonder if the building was wired with aluminum branch circuit wiring? Aluminum, being so ductile and soft, has this nasty habit of creeping (plastic deformation under mechanical load... ask Terry, I'm sure he knows a bunch about this kind of thing) which loosens the connections on pressure type connectors. Definately this should be looked at. The new electrical code has an important addition that includes AFCI's (arc fault current interrupters) that shut the branch circuit down in the case of an arcing fault like this. It is very dangerous from a fire perspective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RickJ Posted June 9, 2004 Members Share Posted June 9, 2004 It's also possible that the wiring to the outlets was "backstabbed" into the holes instead of screwed to the terminals. Backstabbed connections can loosen over time and cause the problems you described. They might be fine with very low loads, but as soon as you plug in a high-draw device, they heat up. This high-draw device can include the "spikes" from turning on fans (motors) and transformers (computers). If you're handy, you can shut off the breaker(s) and pull some of the receps to check them yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members picker13 Posted June 9, 2004 Members Share Posted June 9, 2004 Sounds like a bad ground or neutral to me. Needs to be fixed immediately. Unplug your electronics until it is fixed. There is also a significant safety hazard. Sometimes this happens where the service originates from the outside line (like the pole connection), so give the electric company a call and they'll come out and take a look. If it's bad wiring throughout the building, someone's looking at $$$$$$$$$ to fix! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted June 9, 2004 Members Share Posted June 9, 2004 It's not going to be a bad ground (though there could be some) since it's established that the fault is in the current carrying conductor path, and there's no casual wat to determine if its an intermittent hot leg or neutral leg. Get a professional out there ASAP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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