Why does my home's power fade and surge when I plug things in?

Question

I live in Texas. I ran 300 ft of aluminum electric direct-bury 4-4-2 from the pole on street to my new home. The pole is metered and yes, I had my utility's blessing to do so.

Everything worked perfectly for 6 months, but now suddenly if I plug anything (lamp, heater, charger ) in my lights dim, or sometimes if I plug in elsewhere things get very bright or plug in heaters work better or worse depending.

There’s no rhyme or reason to any of it.

• I have undone and redone every receptacle to be sure.
• I installed 50 amp breakers in every slot of box on house to try to solve this problem to no avail. (I have never once tripped a breaker ever)
• I haven’t been able to put up sheetrock because I don’t want to have to remove it.

Answer 1

Call your UTILITY now on their EMERGENCY NUMBER

Your service neutral is going bad. This is a power outage even though it doesn't appear so -- the fluctuations in light and heat you see are because the 0V reference mark for all your 120V outlets is no longer acting as such, resulting in outlets getting higher and lower voltages depending on what else is plugged in. There's a good chance some things will eventually catch on fire if you keep this up

And please put properly rated breakers back in, so you aren't playing with fire for any longer than you already have been! Whoever told you to do what you did with your breakers knows nothing about electricity, and should not be treated as a reliable source of electrical advice ever again!

Answer 2

There's clearly a reluctance to ask the utility or others for local help. To convince yourself of the need to get help with the wiring, use a volt meter to check the line-to-neutral voltage on both legs of the supply coming in to the main panel during a time when this bright-and-dim phenomenon is occurring. A difference of more than 1-2 volts in the two readings suggests an imbalanced/overloaded neutral or a failing connection on the neutral, as many others have already suggested. If you find this condition then there's nothing you can safely do to resolve it without involving the utility at least. In my experience, a utility will disconnect and reconnect service at no charge to the customer to support this kind of repair. Please don't hesitate to involve the utility because of concerns about budget.

Answer 3

I'd have to guess that there is (as usual, which is why I never go direct burial) a problem with the direct-buried wire - some rodent decided to chew it, or it was damaged by careless backfilling.

Conduit provides better protection for the wire and means only having to dig the trench once.

But, before you go to digging it up, it's worth going over the connections, since aluminum wire connections are tricky, and doing them right might solve your problem. You need to use a proper anti-oxidiant joint compound, and apply it correctly, then torque the connections to the correct specified torque. Obviously power needs to be OFF when doing this, so if one end of your wire is in the meterbox, you will need the utility's cooperation in getting this done, and you might want to hire an electrician anyway for the benefit of years of experience connecting aluminum wires.

Answer 4

Clearly the connection is showing some resistance and it is intermittent.

It would be a very good idea to call a qualified electrician to take a look at it since any resistance translates directly into heat and can be a fire hazard.

It can be a loosening connection, or perhaps water intrusion causing corrosion, or even stray critters, all of which can be easily checked.

It might very well be oxidation. Aluminum is famous for it.

It is recommended that all Aluminum connections be treated to prevent oxidation.

Here is an example of the compound that can be applied to the connection:

NOALOX 4 oz. Anti-Oxidant Compound (Home Depot $6.95)

Answer 5

It's just a hunch, but the fact that it worked correctly for 6 months and is now displaying symptoms of a ground fault to me indicates corrosion.

You mention that the 300 foot of wire you buried from the utility pole was aluminum. Your house is most likely copper. Did you use bi-metal splices to join the two wires together?

You should never join dissimilar metals together directly. The two different metals will result in galvanic corrosion. Over time this will be a fire hazard, as you will get arcing across the gap created by the corrosion.

So my advice would be to have a qualified electrician inspect these wires and the unions as quickly as possible. The situation you describe is a dangerous fire hazard.