Sattelite TV/ electrical problem?

[luvlex1017]

Hi. I am so very frustrated and wondering if someone can help. My husband isn't very "handy" and my dad who is an electrician lives on the other side of the country and is in bed. So here's my story (sorry if it is long).

I have a 9 year old manufactured home that I bought in November of 07. From then til recently I had comcast for tv/internet/phone. For weeks my modem would reset itself over and over and over all day long. I had technicians out numerous times and nobody could tell me what was wrong. So thinking it was a comcast issue, I switched to Qwest. The direct tv guy came out today to install my dish...and was here for 5 1/2 hours. He hooked up the first receiver in the living room and it worked fine. Kid #1's room-fine, kid # 2/3 room-fine. He goes to hook up the master bedroom, turns it on and it blew out the signal in EVERY room. So he spent hours replacing his own parts (the only cable he didn't replace is one preexisting one in the living room). After hours, all he could get to work were the living room and Kid #1 bedroom. He tells me he thinks I have a bad ground somewhere in the house. Oh, I should say, that everything had power, but no signal. So, I called my father who tells me to get an outlet tester. I haven't tried all the outlets yet, but I just wantedsome other opinions. Plus I flipped all my circuit breakers on and off and all the outlets in my house with the exception of the very front of my house are on one circuit? ? And the one satellite in Kid 1's room, the picture freezes every time she changes the channel. Besides regular outlets, could outlets in power strips have the same grounding problem, should I test those? Could it be my husband is overloading our system with too much crap in the living room? I really want to pull my hair out right now. Thanks for reading this.

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[ransley]

has to be a troll

[ransley]

from the stucco company no less

[Bill]

There can be problems with grounding and these problems can be quite technical. Something an "outlet tester" might not find.

Being as you have had problems with two different services, it is a good possibility there could be something wrong with your electrical system grounds.

I would suggest calling an electrician. Tell him about the problems you have been having and what the technician told you. Have him check your voltage, check the main electrical grounding, check for "ground loops", check for "floating grounds" on the outlets where you have your electronic equipment plugged in (be sure the grounds on the outlets in question connect to the main electric ground), and check to be sure you don't have a malfunctioning appliance placing a "voltage" on a floating ground. Also might want to remove the covers on those outlets and peek inside to see if there are any problems like loose wires, especially on the ground wires.

[RBM]

I agree with Bill, although it sounds like a possible open neutral on an Edison circuit, causing high voltage to some outlets. Definitely get an electrician out, and give him all the info that you posted here

[hallerb]

I as a former dish installer would of tried the non working receivers in the location that still worked, to see if the boxes were damaged somehow....

The outlet tester is a good idea, and I carried one when installing dish. Although never ran into this problem.

So is dish coming back?

[ransley]

How can the installer replace all cable[except in one roon] that sounds like a troll.

[TWayne]

...

You already said that once. TROLL ALERT.

[J. Clarke]

Well, a fish tape and fiberglass rod will generally do the job. Why would a cable installer _not_ be able to replace cable?

[luvlex1017]

luvlex1017 had written this in response to

:

Okay, so this is the first time in my life I have been called a troll. I assure you I am not. I may be horrible at explaining things I am unfamiliar with, but I am certainly not a troll. I'm neither 12 nor pathetic, so thanks so much for your help.

A genuine thank you to the people that actually answered. The technician used an existing comcast cable that was already in my living room to connect to the dish instead of putting in a new one, that is why I thought maybe it was that cable. No, he is not coming back out. He told me to call an electrician, left me with the 2 boxes and went on his way. I also pulled out my tv and bookshelf and realized my husband had like 12 things plugged into one outlet (a power strip plugged into a surge protector). So I unplugged a bunch of things and rerouted other things into different outlets. Anyway, thanks for your help, those of that actually helped.

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[Leroy]

Some mobile and manufactured homes have coax installed during manufacture, from outside jack to inside wall outlet. Could well be impossible with no attic. Usual cure is to run new cable under the dwelling.

[J. Clarke]

It was clearly stated that the cable that he replaced was the cable that he installed. I don't think that installation during manufacture was an issue.

[David Nebenzahl]

On 8/8/2008 9:32 AM luvlex1017 spake thus:

Just so you know, that business of having, like, 12 things plugged into one outlet isn't as horrible as you might think. It may be ugly, but as long as the total current draw of all 12 devices doesn't come close to, or exceed, the total current rating of the circuit, there's no problem. Contrary to popular belief, fires are *not* caused, generally, by having "too many things plugged in".

Now, if *one* of those things plugged in has a frayed cord ...