Recently I and a few hundred other power customers experienced a "sustained undervoltage" event. After about 30 seconds of flickering, incoming 120VAC went to 40VAC ±0.5V, and then remained stable at that level for about 40 minutes. I measured that at outlets on both phases, anywhere in the house, except for a few circuits that I had manually turned off to protect appliances. The outage map showed about 500 customers affected.
After 40 minutes, power went out completely, presumably when a work crew started repairs at the substation, and after 20 minutes, it was fixed.

I don't know if this is worth trying to escalate with the power company, or if this is in the category of "yeah stuff goes wrong sometimes, oh well."

Going by what I've read online, that wasn't a "sag," defined as substantially-reduced voltage that lasts between 1/2-cycle and 1 minute, and should be corrected by something automatically switching around at a substation. If the equipment can't correct it, then it should cut power entirely in order to prevent overheat damage to things like motors and some power supplies. The stuff I saw made it sound like sustained undervoltage should never happen, due to that potential for downstream damage.

I called the power company the next day, and after looking into it for a few minutes, all they could say was that their records show that a work crew was dispatched, and that the problem was fixed. So the rep either didn't have, or wasn't permitted to share, any details on what the cause was, or what was done.

Where I work is a business-to-business type place, and this sort of thing would result in a demand for a Corrective Action Report, wanting root cause and a plan on what would be done to fix it. But I'm just one customer among millions here, so my options for escalation are limited anyway.

I paid a GC $65,000 and an electrician $14k and this is the work they did... What would you do? In the first photo you will note a washer and dryer infront of the panel, it's up about 8 feet off the ground, there's also a water pump below it and open water access point.

I had internet connectivity issue went to turn off the switch and had an exposed modem socket which I touched accidentally and experienced a sharp sting on my thumb, within a minute two tiny white dots appeared on my thumb probably burn marks . What do I do now ?

Was sick of having a crowded lift so I made this conduit rack. Paid by the hour btw

Circuit tripped. Went to flip back and kept tripping. Switched out breaker, this is what’s happening and game as before with old breaker. Bedroom runs off this single breaker.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of the cluster f*ck this house has become. We're going to lose the home next month and our entire $157,000 we've invested into this home. If you have any advice let me know.

Long time lurker and first time poster!

I want to seal the exposed area around an exterior electrical outlet to prevent outside moisture and air from leaking into my crawlspace.

How would I go around doing this? Duct sealing putty, foam, or something else? I want to be make sure the sealant does not cause an electrical hazard.

Any advice welcome. Thank you :)

The heated towel rail in our bathroom was only heating two thirds of the way up, plus there was a smell of oil/petrol coming from it. My Mum bled it and the air that came out was the source of the smell. We thought we'd fixed it but today the smell is back and is coming from under the shower where the towel rail pipes go. Could there be trapped air in the pipes and if so what is the best way to fix this?

Hi everyone, I ask this because I am going to be buying a new desk. My monitor (48”TV) is taking up too much space on my current desk and I want a cleaner station.

If this is something safe, I would be plugging in my PC(1000W PSU)containing a 9800x3d and 5070ti. Also my LG C6 48”, my Apple TV, and occasionally my 4K Blu-ray player.

According to the pictures, the desk has 4 12A outlets. You’d think that’s enough, but my concern is would these be safe for continuous use. Multi hour TV/gaming sessions.

I don’t know if the strip has surge protection. I can’t see it on the description so I will assume it doesn’t.

I would be plugging directly to the wall, as I hear that daisy changing outlets/strips is a fire hazard.

Any insight and previous experience is welcome.

Thank you.

So lost power to furnace and found other dead wires. Also shut off 2 breakers and nothing in house appears to be off. Panel not labeled stickers fell off looks like from age it was half assisted labeled years ago.

60 gallon air compressor. New 5hp 25amp single phase 220v motor.

Ran my old compressor off the same outlet, don't remember motor HP or amp draw but it was a 60gal and likely a 3-5hp. No issues.

Disconnected belt on compressor and motor still trips 30amp breaker. Dims the lights in my shop as well. Checked for a short in shop wiring. Nothing found.

EDIT Figure a 30amp breaker would suffice as it's a 25amp motor. However, I missed the label that says to use a 60amp breaker. Likely for start up. Will install and report back. Wiring is not undersized.

EDIT 2 ** Motor runs for about 1 sec before popping the motors thermal reset now**

Installed 60amp breaker, 50amp outlet. Tried two different compressor switches. Tried running motor cw and ccw. 8 or 10ga wiring from sub panel to outlet. 6-8 for motor cord.

Motor is a Vevor 5hp model #257202

vevor motor label pic

Not sure just lost power to furnace and wires feeding the switch found a few more nlt live also shut off 2 breakers and nothing appears to be off. Appears to be wires with no Cobbwebbs on but I been here long time and didn't pull any new wires.

Pic 1 Elinated left three wire line, the red wire was bonded to the box. Right wire is is two wire, no ground
Pic 2 Supply from box is two wire no ground
Pic 3 Line eventually goes to grounded Romex supplying my water pump

Did I eliminate some sort of ground by disconnecting the red wire from the box? I keep the circuit off for the time being. Thanks!

Dad was trying to charge a non-rechargable battery. Now the terminals are all corroded entirely... Didn't know when it happened. Is this no big deal?

(Scraped some to see if the wire inside got melted or not)

we've been having severe lightning these past few days and my ceiling fan was on during a heavy lightning shover. There was a lightning strike, the fuse went off and once it came back my ceiling fan was not working. does anyone know of a way to get it fixed without having an electrician called? TIA.

Curious how the following could happen unless it was intentional trolling? And yes, it could be entirely random chance and they didn't bother to check circuits when connecting the switches... This is mostly a "wtf" frustration than a deep dive into exactly how this functionally happens so many times within the same wiring job.

• Bathroom 1 -> 3 gang box, 3 switches. Light + Exhaust and Heat fans
  • Light is the first one nearest to the door when you enter
  • 2nd switch (middle) is the heat
  • 3rd switch (furthest) is the exhaust fan
• Bathroom 2 -> 4 gang box, 4 switches. Two separate lights and Exhaust + Heat fans
  • First two switches are lights
  • 3rd switch is exhaust fan
  • 4th switch (furthest) is heat
• Bathroom 3 -> 3 gang box, 3 switches. Same as Bathroom 1, but reversed.
  • First is light
  • 2nd is exhaust
  • 3rd is heat

Downstairs recessed lighting:

• First set of switches at bottom of stairs
  • Left switch towards laundry and garage is the ROOM light to the right
  • Right switch towards the room is the stairway lighting
• Another set of switches in middle of the room
  • Left switch turns on the RIGHT half of the lights
  • Right switch turns on the LEFT half of the lights

Kitchen switches:

• Garbage disposal and sink light, stacked switches (vertical alighment)
  • Top switch is garbage disposal
  • Bottom switch is light...

I could go on... It almost seems like it was done on purpose vs random chance which switch was connected to what circuit. Considering how many things are "wrong" or different.

I can, and will eventually fix all of this. I feel like this had to have been done to troll someone? So many switches are completely "wrong" compared to what a normal human would expect each of them to do.

Hey all,

Im hoping I don’t have to call an electrician for this simple ceiling light. A friend said there was a pop sound coming from the dimmer light switch when I turned on the circuit breaker (he wasn’t sure if there was a flash of light or not) and then the light would not turn on. It could have been a small short. After I inspected there seems to be no burn smell or black signs of burn.

I’ve attached photos of my 3 way light switch box, and the wiring in my ceiling light canopy.

In the canopy, there’s a bundle of black wires, a bundle of neutral wires, and a bundle of ground. Then there’s the hot wire bundled with the light wire, and the neutral wire bundles with the light wire. The light ground wire is connected to the ground bundle and ground screw.

Photo of the light switch box wiring is attached with the switches. Does anything look wrong? Thank you!

Hello!

I am currently trying to install a leviton timer switch into a house built in the 50s (pictures attached) this is soooooo fun.

Important info:

The switch is no neutral required

The box has a copper wire coming out of the black thing pictured in the bottom right, I assume this is a ground but cannot be sure.

Every original part in the box that is not the two wires previously attached to the switch is covered in 50 years of plaster dust I cannot seem to get cleaned out no matter what i do (tried vacuuming already)

When the ground and neutral of the switch are tied together with the ground the light switch works very well, for about a second before turning off and resetting itself.

when no neutral or ground is attached but the lead and load are the fan is always on (this seems unsafe?)

there is no neutral in the box (the 50s are still causing issues today)

one of the wires here is installed specifically for testing purposes, it is crimped to a thing attached to the screw that the ground appears to be attached to, which should (SHOULD) give me a solid ground.

Can anybody help me make this work? the lady who lives in my house wants a timer on the bathroom fan so that we can leave it on after showers to prevent mildew, but without it being on all night (this is legitimate)

If this is not safely fixable can you suggest an alternative? I would use a physical timer but none of those I have found can go over 60 minutes and they do not appear to sell the battery driven digital timers except for schedule timers, which is not what we want.