Bad Wiring or Ghost, Please Help.

[MattG]

Three weeks ago the floor lamp in my living room began to dim intermittently and continued to do so. Then 3 days ago the floor lamp and the television lost power and immediately came back on. The following day this happened again, and not 20 minutes later it happened again. Now the power loss is happening at 5 minute intervals or less, sometimes a 1/2 second and the time it takes for the power to restore is lengthening. Most recently it took 15 minutes for the lamp and the TV to come back on.

In actuality the problem described above is affecting all the outlets and fixtures on the circuit supplying power to that portion of the house. Also, it seems that the interval between power loss decreases with an increase in load. For example, if I have one floor lamp turned on it may stay on for 20 minutes, but as soon as I increase the load, the power loss occurs more frequently.

Any guidance or ideas here?

Thanks,

Matt G

[CJT]

Make sure your fire insurance is paid up.

[m Ransley]

Call your electric co, they will send somene out today, either it is their line or they should look inside for you and maybe fix it free, it could be serious, not a ghost.

[Jeff Wisnia]

You've got a "loose disconnection" somewhere in that circuit.

Turn off the breaker and start checking the tightnes of the wire terminal screws on all the recepticals on that circuit, starting with the one closest to the panel, if you can tell which one that is. Chances are you'll find discoloration at a "loose screw".

If any recepticals have been wired with "back stab" connections, switch them over so the wires are firmly captured under the terminal screws. If you find a loose connection which seems like it's really fried the receptical, put in a new receptical.

If you didn't find anything suspicious, throw the main breaker, open up the breaker box, and CAREFULLY check the tightness of the output terminal screw on the breaker for the troubled circuit and trace the neutral lead from the same circuit back to where it's secured in a ground strip and check that screw too.

Betcha that'll do it.

Jeff

[Bob]

If you notice it happening to all circuits on one side of the power box and not just one cicuit it could the power companys problem. I had that happen and they replaced a tans(something) outside and the problem went away.