Hey, I have a few questions about some issues involving the mains electricity I've been having.
The first issue is in a storage/party barn. For some time I've been noticing some power issues. Some time ago we had an amp hooked up playing music, and after a while it stopped working. We noticed that the transformer on it had become very hot. Another time we used a microwave there and it started smoking. Another time an amp (not same as the first example) completely died on us. All of these things I originally just pinned on the units themselves going bad, since all of the aforementioned items were older (1980s through 1990s), but only recently have I started thinking some of it may be caused by the power going into them when I noticed some perfectly fine electronics behaving strangely only when powered at that barn.
Volt meter reads ~123 volts, but I had a feeling it may be "Dirty Power", though I can't say I have anything other than hobbyist knowledge when it comes to electricity. I tried checking with an oscilloscope to see issues but the fuse immediately blows when I plug it in at the barn. It otherwise works when I plug it anywhere but at the barn. Whatever the issue may be, after I started investigating the problem I noticed that there are several burnt outlets in the barn, so there is some sort of issue. There are a few high current devices plugged in at this barn as well, off the top of my head there is a refrigerator, a large freezer, a snow cone stand (though not in use and I'm not sure if it is actually drawing any power), and an ice maker for the snow cone stand (also not in active use so I'm not sure if it's actually drawing power).
The second question is an issue at my house. This just started this morning and I'm not sure if the problem will clear itself out, but I figured I'd ask while I'm asking the first question. We just had Tropical Storm Bill come through, and while we didn't get much of it, we did get some wind and a decent amount of rain. We normally have small bits of power issues after storms, and I'm not sure if this may be caused by it. Since this morning I've noticed the lights dim then brighten multiple times. Not quickly, just every few minutes the lights get a little brigther or a little dimmer. While it seems to have stopped fluctuating, it's measuring a rather low voltage, around 106 volts. What makes me worried, however, is that in at least two different rooms (on different breakers, I believe), I'm measuring a much higher voltage, around 142 to 146 volts. I do not believe it's a malfunction of the meter as I've tested this on two separate ones. Nothing plugged in seems affected, but I definitely know that anything plugged in to either of those voltages is probably going to be pretty unhappy about it if it keeps up.
As it is the summer the A/C is on more, and it has always caused a split second voltage spike downward when it kicks on. We've tried turning that off for a bit but so far the problem seems unaffected. The recent storms made me think that it's an issue with the mains power coming in but the difference in voltage between rooms it what makes me think it's something on our end causing the issue rather the mains coming in. The house does have older wiring, but I'm pretty sure it is copper at the very least (if the wires coming on to the light switches and outlets are anything to go by).
Thanks in advance help/advice.
Submitted June 19, 2015 at 07:13AM by VforVictorian http://ift.tt/1InIUiG electricians
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