More electrical shenanigans - any thoughts?

[Reynard]

Did someone "helpfully" replace all your bulbs with low-energy equivalents?

Cos your symptoms fit with my experience of the bloody things here ...

Bless, but no... I wish...

I'm running mostly LED lights, with the odd incandescent bulb still clinging on in little-used fixtures.

I furkled out some incandescent bulbs from the garage this morning and swapped out the LED lights in the ceiling fixtures for ones of equivalent wattage, but they were actually worse...

 

[bikingdad90]

Go to your meter box where the electric comes in to the property and turn off the switch to cut the electric to your house in full and then wait 5 seconds before turning it back on…. Bound to work…. It’s what IT always suggest first 😂😂😂

 

[Reynard]

Go to your meter box where the electric comes in to the property and turn off the switch to cut the electric to your house in full and then wait 5 seconds before turning it back on…. Bound to work…. It’s what IT always suggest first 😂😂😂

I have already tried that, you know

 

[Arrowfoot]

Don't call any electrician until you call the supplier first and rule out network supply issue. They will fit a device to measure incoming for a few days. Either the distribution has reached capacity with a neighbour having installed a new appliance or a business that has opened up recently.

Failing that it is likely a corroded wire, likely the neutral in view of age of wiring. If it near the entry, the supplier would spot it as they would need to fit the measuring device. And it is likely to be near the entry as the whole house is affected and you have more than one circuit.

 

[slowmotion]

Are the lights dim all the time or do they vary at different times of day?

 

[Reynard]

Are the lights dim all the time or do they vary at different times of day?

Dim all the time, no fluctuation that I can discern.

Of course, it's less noticeable in daylight hours, but you can tell by the godawful colour cast.

 

[Reynard]

Don't call any electrician until you call the supplier first and rule out network supply issue. They will fit a device to measure incoming for a few days. Either the distribution has reached capacity with a neighbour having installed a new appliance or a business that has opened up recently.

Failing that it is likely a corroded wire, likely the neutral in view of age of wiring. If it near the entry, the supplier would spot it as they would need to fit the measuring device. And it is likely to be near the entry as the whole house is affected and you have more than one circuit.

Thanks for the advice.

There are a couple of new builds on the other side of the road that have recently been completed, so maybe that could be it - if it's not the cable itself.

 

[johnnyb47]

Hmmm , Maybe a neighbour is growing some exotic plants in there loft for recreational use.

 

[Reynard]

Hmmm , Maybe a neighbour is growing some exotic plants in there loft for recreational use.

Do keep up! I'm surprised it took as far as post #6 to be suggested...

 

[johnnyb47]

Doh, it's been a long day :-)))

 

[Reynard]

Doh, it's been a long day :-)))

It's ok Laughter is what keeps the stress at manageable levels.

 

[slowmotion]

Dim all the time, no fluctuation that I can discern.

Of course, it's less noticeable in daylight hours, but you can tell by the godawful colour cast.

In that case, it's unlikely to be excessive demand from other buildings. Even dope growers tend not to have their Growlights on 24 hours a day for various reasons.

It could be a high impedance fault that wouldn't blow a fuse but I don't know enough about the fusing of the electricity distribution network. Maybe a fault at a substation or a pole-mounted transformer. As others have suggested, contact your electricity supplier and tell them that you think there's a problem but it probably isn't in your house.

 

[Reynard]

When you gents say supplier, I'm assuming you're all talking about the people who maintain the infrastructure...

Sorry if it's a stupid question, but my brain is goo.

 

[Low Gear Guy]

The supplier is the company you pay for electricity. It sounds like the voltage going into the house has dropped due to a nearby user adding a big load or some issue with the distribution system.

 

[aferris2]

Our last house had overhead cables and we kept on getting power drop outs one year. Lights would dim for normally short periods especially if it was windy. Turned out to be loose connections between lengths of cable on the overhead supply.

If some other neighbours are also affected then it's likely to be overhead line or sub-station fault (may not be all neighbours if they are on a different phase). If it's just your house, could be the underground cable from the pole.

Either way, to you it seems like a fault so it's worth reporting. UK power network (Freephone 105) could be a good starting point if you can't contact your supplier before Tuesday.