lights in house are blinking

[Powerstroke]

The lights in at least two rooms in my house are blinking, however I notice that when they blink its getting BRIGHTER rather than dimming that may be associated with another draw such as the dishwasher or microwave kicking on.

Any ideas? I've been seeing it all evening on my living room light fixture, a ceiling fan with 4 bulbs. However my wife noticed the flash happen on the refrigerator light when she had the door open.

Its fairly frequent, every 2-3 minutes.

[CAMAN]

CALL your power company emergency number RIGHT NOW and ask them to check it out. You may have a loose neutral and that IS VERY DANGEROUS and could cause an electrical fire.

Also, it will probably be a good idea to have an electrician on standby if it turns out to be inside the house. The power company will only fix/diagnose what's on their side, and won't be able to fix anything inside the house.

[CAMAN]

Also unplug all your appliances as it could damage them severely.

A family member had their entire electrical box melt about a month ago because of this problem. When the power company came out to disconnect it the guy said its the worst he's ever seen without the whole house burning down. They had to replace all the wiring coming out of the box to the first outlet/switch and had to get new fridge, chest freezer and microwave.

[Powerstroke]

Already have xcel coming out. They said the same thing about the neutral.

[hunt fish repeat]

Already have xcel coming out. They said the same thing about the neutral.

Powerstroke, it could be an outside issue just as easily as inside, if you have a loose neutral it will build up heat at your breaker box and will usually show up with a melting plastic smell as the insulating plastic heats up.

[Powerstroke]

Well, Xcel has come and gone. He tested everything up to the meter including providing a heavy load and still was not able to find a problem with the neutral and I am the only person on the transformer.

Tech said to call an electrician.

The flickering is getting more frequent. About every 30secs now.

[CAMAN]

Since it is getting more frequent I would shut off the main breaker and get an electrician in ASAP. You should be safe with the main breaker off.

[Powerstroke]

Well I started a more systematic search and narrowed it to a circuit in the garage. Thats where it starts costing me money. I have a older fridge/freezer I use for extra storage and of course my beer. The compressor was kicking on at the exact same pattern as the flashing. I wasn't sure if that was cause or effect so I unplugged the fridge and the light flashing stopped.

When I checked the fridge/freezer it was clearly not performing well. Most of the items in the freezer were already less than frozen.

I'm hoping that is the true cause of the problem. I will try and verify it tomorrow.

[northernflyer]

I had a similar situation to you. The circuit that my fridge was on kept tripping. It ended up being the fridge was plugged solid so the compressor was continuosly trying to run which drew way to much current for the breaker. If that is your situation I would be concerned why the breaker isn't tripping. Good luck

[Archerysniper]

Had this same thing happen last week, undersized neutral or bad connection if I hadn't caught it the house would have burned down. It started melting the neutral wires and melting the plastic holder for the neutral bus bar also arcing a spark which was causing the lights too dim.

A infrared digital thermometer can show you where the hot spots are in the panel and where the problem is,check everything it should read room temp anything hotter should be where the problem is. Mine was reading 230 degrees at the neutral bus bar

[Tom7227]

I have never heard of this before. What is a common cause? What if anything should a homeowner to to avoid a problem? Shouldn't the main breaker shut things down before a fire?

[CAMAN]

I have never heard of this before. What is a common cause?

[hunt fish repeat]

I have never heard of this before. What is a common cause? What if anything should a homeowner to to avoid a problem? Shouldn't the main breaker shut things down before a fire?

No the main breaker (or any breaker) will only trip due to an overload above the rated amperage or a dead short. Usually a clear indication of a loose neutral problem in the box is a melting plastic smell, it's not common and not something one has to worry about it can also occur when corrosion between the two disimiliar metals (copper wires touching aluminum bus bars)causes resistance to build up at that point.

[Powerstroke]

As a firefighter I'm completely aware of the fire danger and the possibilities. I have had no other electrical issues since unplugging the fridge. I have checked the panel several times today and there is no heat or unusual smells etc. I can guarantee you I was very worried about the possibility of a fire.

[Powerstroke]

As a firefighter I'm completely aware of the fire danger and the possibilities. I have had no other electrical issues since unplugging the fridge. I have checked the panel several times today and there is no heat or unusual smells etc. I can guarantee you I was very worried about the possibility of a fire.

[Whoaru99]

As a firefighter I'm completely aware of the fire danger and the possibilities. I have had no other electrical issues since unplugging the fridge. I have checked the panel several times today and there is no heat or unusual smells etc. I can guarantee you I was very worried about the possibility of a fire.

I don't doubt that at all, but perhaps only the load exacerbating the problem has been removed. It's still possible there exists an issue on the circuits that's just not clearly showing itself with that load removed. Point being, just because the symptom has diminished doesn't necessarily mean the root cause has gone away.

[SkunkedAgain]

I'm not a trained electrician, but I have a few thoughts/questions:

1) Were all of the lights in your house dimming? It sure sounds like it.

2) Is there too much load on the circuit tied to your garage?

In my view, anything that causes that much of a load issue on the rest of your house is symptomatic of a larger problem. I would think that a bad appliance would only affect the circuit that it's on. Maybe a qualified electrician can refute that statement though.