social

What Causes Random Power Loss in a House?

Power in my home is lost randomly. Sometimes it happens during the day with no one at home. Sometimes it is at 2am in the morning. Sometimes, it recovers 5 minutes later by itself. Sometimes it never comes back. I need to reset the main breaker to bring power back. It happens randomly, no pattern at all. Sometimes it happens twice a week, sometimes 3 times in one day.

Advertisement


I checked the panel, but no breaker was tripped.

When it happened, I measured voltage in the panel. One leg reads 110v. The other reads zero. This explains why half of house lost power. But what is wrong?

When it happens, if I don't reset the main breaker, I have to reset one of 15A breakers, then it resolves the problem. I replaced that breaker. It didn't help. The power outage is still random.

Some forum mentioned checking the GFCI socket, how does that help?
When the problem happened, it's always the same, the feeding line read zero volt. And I confirmed, when the problem happened, no one tried to use the micro-wave oven, dryer, or any high power device.

What I am doing is swapping that breaker to a different slot in panel, which connects a different leg of feeding line.

Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!

 

Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 107 Posts
January 29, 20170 found this helpful

Are you sure this is not a problem coming from your area or service provider? The first thing I would probably do is contact my power company. They would send their guys out to make sure there wasn't a faulty power line. You might also chat with neighbors to make sure they weren't having the same experience

Advertisement

The second thing I'd personally do is consult with an actual electrician because electricity is a dangerous thing. I learned first hand when our house went on fire due to electric trouble

 
January 29, 20170 found this helpful

Thanks for your reply. This is one unit in a duplex. The other unit does not have same problem at all. But I will call utility company to check.

 

Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts
January 29, 20170 found this helpful

The wiring from the meter to your main panel could be faulty. The utility company can check and fix that. If that is not the case, the main panel may have corroded wires.

Advertisement

You will need a qualified electrician for that. It is worth the money. If it is wired wrong and you have a fire, insurance probably will not pay the claim.

 
January 29, 20170 found this helpful

Thanks for your reply. I will call utility company to make sure the wiring is ok between the meter and main panel. Then I will call electrician. The wiring didn't change either in house or in panel. It is been OK for a few years until 4 weeks ago. I forgot to mention an important factor, that we had heavy rain in last 4 weeks. And that was the time the problem began. When I opened the panel, I saw some water between breakers.

Advertisement

I think it must relate with water leak. I wiped off water between breakers last week. Two days later, the outage happened again. When I opened the panel, I noticed it is dry -- no water between breakers. This confused me that then problem even happened when breaker is dry. I know I need to fix water leak first. Then call electrician ...

 

Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts
January 29, 20170 found this helpful

The water probably damaged the main panel. If there is a place where the water got in you need to plug it up first.

 
Anonymous
January 29, 20170 found this helpful

I would be contacting the electric company

 
February 1, 20170 found this helpful

my times it is caused by a glich in the power company,, sometimes there is an accident that tips over a pole but diesnt completely sever the line... etc. happens here too. i dont thinnk it has to do withyour home

 

Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!

 
In This Page
Categories
Home and Garden Repair Home ElectricalJanuary 28, 2017
Pages
More
👔
Father's Day Ideas!
👒
Mother's Day Ideas!
🌻
Gardening
Facebook
Pinterest
YouTube
Instagram
Categories
Better LivingBudget & FinanceBusiness and LegalComputersConsumer AdviceCoronavirusCraftsEducationEntertainmentFood and RecipesHealth & BeautyHolidays and PartiesHome and GardenMake Your OwnOrganizingParentingPetsPhotosTravel and RecreationWeddings
Published by ThriftyFun.
Desktop Page | View Mobile
Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Contact Us
Generated 2024-05-10 08:23:23 in 3 secs. ⛅️️
© 1997-2024 by Cumuli, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
https://www.thriftyfun.com/What-Causes-Random-Power-Loss-in-a-House.html