Author Topic: To all the electricians (Read 428 times)

Charon · « **on:** March 13, 2002, 09:27:35 AM »

Hi guys, I have noticed something odd.

My new house has a finished basement with 12 recessed can lights. I've noticed they seem burn out pretty quickly (and I've only lived here a few months). There is also a two-bulb fixture up by a skylight that had a bulb replaced before I moved in an now one is out (don't remember if it is the same bulb though).

The previous owner did most of the wiring himself (there are actually about twice as many outlets in the basement as needed), but the home inspector checked the work and only found one overfused wire which he replaced. I was wondering if this is just some sort of coincidence, with so many lights perhaps aging at the same time, or if there is potentially something more.

Similarly, I have a space heater upstaris that when in 1,500 watt mode would dim the lights momentarily in the romm when it kicked on. I think this is probably natural given the drain. Any feedback would be helpful.

Thanks,

Charon

Ripsnort · « **Reply #1 on:** March 13, 2002, 09:28:41 AM »

Sorry, the only thing I know about electricity is how to get the shorts outta the crack of my ass.

mrsid2 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 13, 2002, 09:45:20 AM »

Charon if the roof (upstairs floor) is flimsy enough to give vibrations to the lamps they may wear off quickly..

More likely reason would be parasitic powerconsumption and phaseshift in the powerline. If your house is inadequately wired to the mains, heavy loading of the electric network can cause pretty odd behaviour. Especially many fluorescent lights mess up the electricity. Is your house the last one in the grid?

If your house is far away from the high voltage grid its possible that the voltages drop on the way, and that causes fast wear in electric appliances - mainly because it's often associated with voltage spikes.

Third and more unlikely option (at least where I live) is that your AC is fluctuating in frequency. If your AC frequency variates even a little bit it will kill tv's etc. very quickly. I became familiar with this prob in the army where we constantly used a diesel powered generator that produced voltage spikes and fluctuation in frequency.

And no, I'm not and electrician so judge my text accordingly. However I have had to deal with similar problems before.

Charon · « **Reply #3 on:** March 13, 2002, 10:10:50 AM »

Thanks mrsid. I don't know where my house is on the grid, is there a visual clue (distance from transformer, etc.?) The lights are under a low travel area, but I'll pay attention to that. Fortunately, I spent the big$ on high-end surge protectors for all major appliacnce so hopefully I'm preventing major problems. I was mainly worried I might be "over amped" somewhere withing the system leading to a potential fire or something.

Charon

Charon · « **Reply #4 on:** March 13, 2002, 10:12:41 AM »

Yeah Rip, I know enough about electricity to kill myself some day. I'll actually have to do some new wiring soon, but I have a buddy that can give me a hand.

Charon

Wotan · « **Reply #5 on:** March 13, 2002, 12:27:54 PM »

I dont do house work. I work at a generating station but get a meter and see what voltage you got and see if it fluctuates. Also if you have an amp meter check in your panel to see if your load is balanced. You can get a decent Amp/volt meter from 80 to 100 bucks. Its good to have around anyway. You can put your hand on the breakers to feel if they are hot (DONT TOUCH THE WIRES

) leave panel cover on and just touch each breaker.

Also if nothing else fails check all the joints from the can lights back to the load center make sure the wire nuts are tight.

What all is on the circuit with the lights? you need to do an amp reading on this circuit as well.

I wouldn't get in there messin around if you dont know what you're doing and to save me a law suit I would advise hiring a licensed electrician to check it out.

More then likely excess heat is trapped in the "can" of the the lights........

are they halogen? if so the burn real hot......

either way try getting lamps with lower watts.......

What size service do you have coming in? Is the load center overloaded.

All kinds of things I could speculate......

Now if you need a 3 phase 480 electric motor trouble shot send me an email

Charon · « **Reply #6 on:** March 13, 2002, 03:15:25 PM »

Thanks Wotan, you've given me a lot to work through. The bulbs are standard 60w incandescent. As far as I know, the lights are all that are on that circuit, though I imagine flipping the breaker would tell me for sure.

I was thinking about replacing the bulbs with low-watt compact fluorescents to save $$ anyway (my wife works for an electronic distributor so they are cheap for me). I'll check the breakers for heat (I do know enough not to be too stupid I hope) and I might look into the amp meter if the switch to the floros doesn't produce results. I hate to call an electrician just yet, though a little money up front can pay off compared to screwing around for weeks fiddling with the whole thing.

Thanks again

Charon

mrsid2 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 13, 2002, 03:22:47 PM »

You can order the electric company to come and install a measuring device.. They connect it to your switchbox where it sits for a week measuring the quality of the electricity.

It draws lines much like a seismogram and it shows immediately if there are problems with the quality. If there are any, the electric company is obliged to fix the problem.

midnight Target · « **Reply #8 on:** March 13, 2002, 03:33:59 PM »

Simple....bulbs that install screw side up wear out faster than bulbs with screw side down. Lower the voltage and the heat, or go to flourescent bulbs.

eskimo2 · « **Reply #9 on:** March 13, 2002, 03:50:42 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by midnight Target
Simple....bulbs that install screw side up wear out faster than bulbs with screw side down. Lower the voltage and the heat, or go to flourescent bulbs.

Ditto

Charon · « **Reply #10 on:** March 13, 2002, 04:29:27 PM »

Cool, thanks.

I'll go with the floros and see what happens. That will hopefully solve the problem.

Charon

capt. apathy · « **Reply #11 on:** March 13, 2002, 10:19:29 PM »

If you notice that certain fixtures continually burn out bulbs faster than others, it could be as simple as a loose wire connection on the fixture or even the bulbs not screwed in tightly.

Also check the threads where the bulb screws in (turn off the breaker first). They should be set firmly in place and not much room to wiggle around.

Loose connections or anything that causes power to vary are the main reason for bulbs to burn out early.

Mighty1 · « **Reply #12 on:** March 14, 2002, 07:22:12 AM »

If you check the voltage and amps be sure to watch for LOW readings.

We had almost all of our electrical appliances burn up because we were not getting enough power to our house. It took some time for the electric company to admit to it but they finally did and replaced everything.

Charon · « **Reply #13 on:** March 14, 2002, 08:58:59 AM »

Interesting Might1. In addition to the floros I may do what Mrsid suggested and have the electric company come out and install that measuring device. And, when replacing the floros I will now check the sockets.

Once again, thanks all. I knew I could rely on this community for some good advice.

Charon