Intermittent flickering on 2 separate circuits

[Toasty]

The flickering coincides on 2 separate circuits that I know of.

This is not the brief interruption of electricity that occurs when a major appliance starts up.

A licensed electrician inspected the circuit breakers for ground, broken buss bars, signs of arcing and loose connections, but found nothing. He also inspected the utility company's electric meter for loose connections and signs of arcing.

One of the circuits has a refrigerator and microwave oven connected to it (2 separate electrical outlets on same circuit). I notice the clock on the microwave oven dim and hear the refrigerator cut off at the same time. Also, a fluorescent lamp flickers at the same time the electricity to a modem is cut off on a different circuit (2 separate electrical outlets on same circuit).

What could affect 2 separate circuits and cause this flickering?

[RBM]

[John Grabowski]

*There could be loose connections anywhere along the circuit. Each outlet on the circuit should be opened up and inspected. A common cause of this problem is the back stabbing of the conductors into the back of switches and receptacles. Although this can happen with screw connections as well it seems to be more prevalent with back stabbing.

You didn't say, but the electrician should have tightened ALL connections in the panel; Neutrals, hots, grounds.

Are these circuits on the same phase? If so that could indicate a utility problem which could be at the pole or at your service head.

[oparr]

By "2 separate circuits" does that mean that you are sure that two separate circuit breakers are involved? The rest of your post is confusing in this regard. If you really mean two electrical outlets fed from the same circuit breaker then the first and easiest step would be to have an electrician replace the relevant circuit breaker regardless what inspection revealed unless the inspection involved some form of load testing. The next thing to look at would be loose connections or faults in the wiring beyond that circuit breaker.

Whatever, this is something an experienced electrician would have to troubleshoot and solve. Suggest you get another electrician (not the same one) and have him start from scratch. Just like getting a second opinion from another doctor when tricky health issues arise.

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[Big Bob]

I've got to agree with RBM here. It sounds like the neutrals have a bad connection someplace. It's easy to find a bad breaker, but it's tough to find a bad neutral. Shut the breaker down, start at the receptacle giving you the problem and check every connection from that point to the breaker box. You may have to use use a circuit tracer to find all the connections.

[JIMMIE]

We have annual maintenance at work that requires us to check the connections on all the breakers. It says nothing about checking the neutrals. I do it anyway. This omission is interesting because I have found more problems with bad neutrals than I have ever found with breaker connections.

Jimmie

[Kalarama]

Interesting. I've been living in my newer home for a few months and the lights would dim when I'd turn the TV on. Uh-oh.....

So, I've just been spending a few days removing all of the wall outlets and re-tighting the screws... and three out of about twelve outlets, so far, had *very* loose screws. Almost all of them were daisy-chained.

This type of thing could've raised hell in years down the road...

Next step: redoing attic junction boxes.

[The Daring Dufas]

On commercial service calls I can often take the cover off a conduit box and have one or more wire nuts fall off when I pull the wires out. Makes me wonder who's training todays electricians.

TDD

[Joe]