Electrical Problem???

[glenn514]

I believe there are several HBT members out there that either ARE electricians or have quite a bit of electrical knowledge. I ask their advice...

In my kitchen/half-bath, I've been having "flickering" problems with the light above the stove and the light in the bathroom. Today, the power to that circuit went off...but the circuit breaker was NOT blown! After some time, the power came back on...and then flickered a bunch more and went off again.

I inspected ALL the outlets and electrical connections I could see...and nothing seems to be amiss. I'm starting to suspect that the breaker is bad.

What is the collective electrical wisdom of the list? I do have a call in to my electrician, but he is notorious for NOT returning calls.

Help, please?

glenn514

 

[bad67z]

I am not an " electrician" but in my experience I would first inspect/test any GFIC's that may be in this/these circuits.

http://www.thecircuitdetective.com/gfis.htm

 

[glenn514]

The main portion of my home is at least 75 years old. Much of it was rewired in the early 1960's. The cause of the problem described earlier was due to the circuit breaker burning the clip that attaches to the hot side "buss bar." If a truck went past the house, causing the road and earth to vibrate, the lights would flicker! Our friendly electrician, Jay, will return tomorrow with a duplex circuit breaker to repair the box, but he strongly suggested replacing the entire box. He'll give me a price on that tomorrow. So, all is connected and all works...for now!

glenn514

 

[Cubslover]

Flikering to me means a loose wire/connection. Systematically go through junctions and boxes in the areas starting with the feed to those rooms.

Edit: I see it has been fixed...very good

 

[Bernie Brewer]

Glad to see it is getting fixed. If you are interested, TxBrew has another forum specifically for home repair: http://www.houserepairtalk.com/

Check it out- there is some good stuff in there.

 

[IXVolt]

Glad you are getting it fixed. Don't want your house burning down around you.

The flickering is usually a sign of arcing which I commonly see from old or loose wirenuts in junction boxes. Old houses are notorious for this. My house was built in 58 and I'm constantly finding things like that.

 

[Joker]

I am not an " electrician" but in my experience I would first inspect/test any GFIC's that may be in this/these circuits.

http://www.thecircuitdetective.com/gfis.htm

For future refence the lights are typically not on GFI circuits