Any electricians out there?

[Yaworski]

I have an odd intermittent problem and would like some guidance.

 

[Richard76]

might be able to help

 

[Taterman]

Former sparky here. More details?

 

[wproct]

You have our attention. Now the question?

 

[krw]

When we built chicken houses waaaay back, I lerned 240. 120-N, 120-N, and manditory 240 together. That will get you a loooong way on 240 single phase

 

[blume357]

I've been known to have an " odd intermittent problem" every now and then... and sometimes it even has to do with electricity, I might could help.

 

[GypsmJim]

Not formally trained, but eons ago I bought the book: "Electrical Stuff For Dummies", and as yet I have figured everything out without help.

 

[Yaworski]

Bear with me, this will take some set up.

1957 vintage "ranch house." In the late 90s, the fuse panel was replace with breakers. The circuit on breaker #3 is the issue.

Breaker #3 supplies

1. Front porch light controlled by a digital timer
2. Front hall light
3. One outlet in the living room with a lamp plugged into it
4. Hallway outlet
5. Hallway light
6. Bathroom light
7. Bedroom light.
8. Garage door opener

The bedroom light and the front port are as far away from each other as you can get in the house.

The problem started last fall. I turned on the bathroom light and it started to flicker and the lamp in the living room flickered. LED bulbs so I switched them CFLs. The problem persisted. The odd thing is that it doesn't happen consistently and the flickering stops after a minute or so. Also the porch light will flicker sometimes and things plugged into the hall outlet will flicker.

On a DIY forum I was told to look for loose neutrals. I opened the breaker panel and tightened the neutrals. I checked the light fixture and the switch.

I'm wondering if the electronic timer for the porch light could be causing a problem. It's about ten years old.

Any suggestions other than "call an electrician"?

 

[Badubet69]

How fast is it flickering? Also is there a fan or heater as part of the light in the bath ?

 

[roylt]

Not a pro but your breaker could be failing.
Have you turned the breaker off and back on? Try it to see if anything changes.

 

[TheTexasRAT]

Also try tightening the hot wire at the breaker. And perhaps the wire nuts at the first junction box.

 

[WanderLust]

I have seen this issue and found loose wires on outlets. Screws were loose so they were were touching the wires but caused flickering at times. Gradually got to the point where the breaker was kicking out. Just happened to find it in the first outlet we checked. Replaced the outlet, really snugged the wires tight and also replaced the breaker. Cheap insurance.

 

[TestEngineer]

My bet is the digital timer on #1. Anything DC supplied by an AC source REQUIRES a good ground. If the ground wire is loose or missing, expect weird and intermittent things to happen.

 

[Yaworski]

How fast is it flickering? Also is there a fan or heater as part of the light in the bath ?

Not real fast like 60 hz. Probably about as fast as a poltergeist could flip the switch. No fan or heater, separate switch.

 

[blume357]

If it's only on this one circuit then I vote for a loose connection somewhere down the line since you have messed in the box... but first I would replace the breaker....
Now if it was on more than one circuit I would suggest checking the bare neutral wire coming into the home.. I've seen squirrels eat through this.....

 

[jimbo1096]

Possibly due to bad connection on the breaker. Contact points corroded or loose. Power down the panel, pull breaker and visually inspect contact areas on both bus bar and breaker contacts. Look for burnt components, loose or spread contact points, green crusty contact areas. IMHO where I would start first

 

[Badubet69]

Not real fast like 60 hz. Probably about as fast as a poltergeist could flip the switch. No fan or heater, separate switch.

Probably a loose connection on a terminal early in the circuit

 

[Jeepnik]

Amazingly one of my breakers had almost exactly the same thing on it. 1956 house with original breaker panel. I developed the same problem in one of the baths. Check the connections to the fixture. The humidity had caused some copper corrosion that impacted the continuity. I cleaned everything up and properly taped the connections. No more issues.

 

[rcs9250]

Try swapping the breaker with another circuit and see if the problem follows the breaker.

 

[Sam Summey]

I have seen this issue and found loose wires on outlets. Screws were loose so they were were touching the wires but caused flickering at times. Gradually got to the point where the breaker was kicking out. Just happened to find it in the first outlet we checked. Replaced the outlet, really snugged the wires tight and also replaced the breaker. Cheap insurance.

Those outlets with the "plug in" wires can be a problem, nothing like full screw head contact.

 

[eveled]

Try swapping the breaker with another circuit and see if the problem follows the breaker.

Definitely try this. You need to isolate the problem. Eliminating one thing at a time until the problem stops.

 

[larry8]

I had a problem like that and could never find what caused it, till one day about 6 months later when it quit flickering, I started to smell like electrical smoke. Then I didn't find where the smoke was coming from and the flickering stopped. After another 4-6 months I was moving a cabinet in the basement when lo and behold there was a burn mark above one of the outlets. It was big too, so I took off the cover and the outlet was melted and had burn marks all over the outlet box. I replaced the outlet and discovered that the melted outlet was made in China and one that I had previously bought at Home Depot.

 

[rcs9250]

Two years ago my house was resided. When the highly skilled siding guys reconnected the outside garage lights they proved they knew nothing about electrical work. After two years one of the outside lights wasn’t working. Changed the bulb, then it started working. A day later no light. Checked voltage. Turns out the neutral at the upstream outside light was poor/intermittent. I was lucky, I just needed to fix the poor neutral connection.
Don’t assume just because there’s a wire nut, it’s a good connection.
I’ve switched over to Wago’s.

https://www.wago.com/us/discover-pcb-connection

 

[redfernclan]

All good thoughts and answers. Basically comes down to a loose or bad connection somewhere. Check the connections on everything in that circuit. And here is another tip, if you have not replaced the outlets yet, do so now. Go to home d or lowes and by a contractors pack, they are pretty cheap. Outlets wear out over time. I'm sure we have all grown up having to pinch the prongs on a cord. That's a sure sign of a worn out outlet. They start many house fires.
If problem pursits, change breaker.

 

[LGC42]

Since your house was built in the late 50's check to see if it was wired with aluminum or copper clad aluminum wire. That stuff was notorious for working loose over time and causing fires.

 

[Jeepnik]

As to outlets and wall switches. A while back I had a new breaker box installed to increase the service amperage. I decided to have the whole place rewired. In doing so they replaced all of the switches and outlets. Not to mention every inch of wire.

Was it necessary, maybe not, but the electrical system was almost 70 years old. And even though "they don't make things like they used to" stuff just wears out eventually.

Oh, and my homeowner's insurance (wait for it) went down. I won't live long enough to recover the cost in insurance savings but I am a lot less likely to die in a house fire, again.

 

[Yaworski]

but I am a lot less likely to die in a house fire, again.

Did you already die in a house fire?

 

[Yaworski]

Since your house was built in the late 50's check to see if it was wired with aluminum or copper clad aluminum wire. That stuff was notorious for working loose over time and causing fires.

Real copper.

 

[Yaworski]

And here is another tip, if you have not replaced the outlets yet, do so now.

Did that years ago. Switched out the two prong outlets for three prongs. Yes, they are properly grounded.

 

[Yaworski]

All good suggestions. It sounds like my free time won't be spent napping for a while.