When the electric shower is turned on, the lights in the bedroom and on-suite become 'Dim' this lasts until the shower is turned off ...... any ideas why?
I've had a think and I've come up with two possiblities:
Any comments or other suggestions?
By the way this *really is* a mate's house not my own and I haven't seen the circuitry.
You may just have a relatively high impedence electricity supply.
It is unlikely that a faulty consumer unit could cause this, although your first suggestion of taking a lighting spur off the shower circuit would definitely have this effect.
Replacing your bulbs with CFLs could help markedly, as they are less sensitive to supply voltage variation.
Just how dim do they get?
Christian.
Not significantly, only from his description, but I'd imagine 10% ish.
What is his physical setting? Urban, suburban, rural? Overhead supply, or buried? Any idea on where the local substation is? Do neighbours complain?
Christian.
It can be quite normal
Working in a mate's house in Basingstoke - estate built in the '70s, PME connection - the lights dimmed when my 500 watt tile cutter started up...
High impedance supply, from e.g. a long cable from the local substation, or a grotty old transformer-on-a-pole like I used to have. Whole house dimmed when the microwave went on.
If its localised though, chances are the high impedance is local too.
Trace the circuits and see.
However, if it's suddenly started doing this not having done so before, I would be really concerned as it would imply a bad connection.
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