Help! I need an electrician!

[musicman]

Hey Guys and Gals,

I have a townhouse that I rent out (anyone wanna buy one?) and I get a call about 11:30 last night from my renters that the electricity is going nuts. The second bedroom has no juice, half of the living room is out, the lights in the kitchen are flickering, the A/C sounds weird (the unit outside), and the only thing that has power in the kitchen is the microwave. Ugh! I ask if he had checked the breaker box, and he said he did and that nothing had tripped. I asked if he reset them all and he said no, so I had him do that. No change.

Well, at this point I'm worried about their food in the fridge, so I aked if he had an extension cord of a high enough rating and length to go from the Microwave outlet to the fridge. Being the somehwat sissy guy I know him to be, he didn't. I grabbed one of mine and headed down there. It's the weirdest thing I've ever seen. I turned on the lights in the laundry room for a minute and they kind of flickered and made a funny noise, and I turned them off. I tried to turn them back on and they were dead. While I'm doing that, he tells me that the digital clock on the stove just turned on for a minute, but went back out.

I have no clue what's going on here. I tried taking light bulbs from fixtures that were on and working and putting them in the others that weren't and they were all a no-go. I can't tell if this was some kind of surge damage or what. (No storms or other irregularities in the area yesterday)

Now get this... all of last night the power in the master bedroom, master bath, and the respective closets was unaffected. This morning, in the middle of getting ready for church, the power in the master suite died, and now they've got juice in some of the downstairs area where they didn't have power last night!!! AAAUUUUGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!

I'm no electrician, mechanic, or genius, but this seems crazy to me. I reset all breakers 3x while I was there. I cannot for the life of me figure out how power is jumping from circuit to circuit there.

Do any of you guys have experience with something like this, and do you know anybody in the Rutherford area that can help? Thanks!

[Rightwinger]

Uh oh....you need a exorcist, not an electrician!

I'm not an electrician but I bet your problem is in the HVAC system as it has been worked out to death of late and they pull high amps.

Get on this quick or you'll be needing a plumber next.

[Guest RemedyCNC]

You have a main incoming power wire loose either at the meter or at your panel. Obviously, don't try to tighten anything yourself. Call an electrician. This could also start a fire as loose connections build heat. If you have one of those non-contact thermometers, you might be able to find where the problem is. Just don't kill yourself trying to tighten it, even with an insulated screwdriver. Good luck!

[musicman]

Thanks guys!! that's what I'm hearing, is that I'm losing one of my incoming lines. I call MTEMC and he told me to go to my meter and check for heat (poor connection) and if that's not the case, throw the power off and then back on, as half of it may have tripped. This is about 10 min from my house, so I'm heading out now. I'll let you all know how it goes when I get back.

Thanks!

[musicman]

*UPDATE*

All fixed!! Just throwing that main switch at the meter fixed it. I guess one of the mains had tripped, but you couldn't tell by looking at the switches (they were joined, and both in the "on" position)

Thanks again guys!

[TripleDigitRide]

*UPDATE*

All fixed!! Just throwing that main switch at the meter fixed it. I guess one of the mains had tripped, but you couldn't tell by looking at the switches (they were joined, and both in the "on" position)

Thanks again guys!

Congrats! Doesn't get much cheaper than that.

[musicman]

hahaha! No it doesn't!

I'm very thankful for that!

[Guest db99wj]

I'm jealous, when things break around me, it usually ends up being about $100 or more. Everything, here's a list in the last few months, kitchen TV, Bedroom TV, Washing machine, brake light on truck , wife's heater fan is TBD...

J/K, glad you figured it out! THat would scare the hell out me, I hate electricity...it hurts...bad....

[towerclimber37]

woot! Safe!!!

that's a bit of good news MM..we need more of it!

[Guest bkelm18]

Yeah, I was going to suggest you lost a phase or a line going into the building, good thing it was an easy fix!

[Luckyforward]

I'm just glad I didn't read about you in the paper being vaporized by the electricity! Glad you got it fixed!

[Luckyforward]

I'm jealous, when things break around me, it usually ends up being about $100 or more. Everything, here's a list in the last few months, kitchen TV, Bedroom TV, Washing machine, brake light on truck , wife's heater fan is TBD...

J/K, glad you figured it out! THat would scare the hell out me, I hate electricity...it hurts...bad....

SAME HERE! Nothing ever breaks for me that causes less than a $100 fix!

[jgrauman]

just to be on the safe side, you might want to have your power board come out and check their transformer at the pole and the lines to the house. if a phase goes out or a main trips its usually cause something happened! i used to work for an electrical service company that did nothing but rebuild services for residential homes. i went on calls all day long from customers saying "but i called the power-board and they told me to call you" 50% of the time it was a bad transformer or a tree limb fell on a line and they lost a phase. the power company would rather me go out and make sure first at the homeowners expense rather than send their guy out to check. my fiance had this happen twice, lost her heat one night and called the landlord (unit was 35 years old) he sends a hvac guy out at 730 on a friday night 10 degrees out, says the entire unit needs to be replaced, nothing he can do. she called me, i asked if the eye on her stove would get hot or not (stove is 220 good way to check if a phase is out, the light and clock will work, but the eyes won't) it wouldn't, phase was out. hvac guy didn't even check the voltage at the unit! i had her call the power company, fuse was blown on one phase. he replaced it, didn't check the lines. two weeks later, same thing happens. come back out, tree limb had fallen on the line, rubbed through and on windy days would short the line! make sure you have them check it out, so many lazy people today that don't do their jobs right the first time! (the landlord at my fiancé's apartment was grateful i saved him the $4500 the guy wanted to replace the units)

[musicman]

Ugh. It's back. I've got the breakers for the AC turned off and I'll be calling an electrician in the morning. Lights are dim, yadda yadda yadda... this is going to be a bad week.

[TripleDigitRide]

Ugh. It's back. I've got the breakers for the AC turned off and I'll be calling an electrician in the morning. Lights are dim, yadda yadda yadda... this is going to be a bad week.

That stinks! If there's anything we can do to help, don't hesitate to ask.

Hey, maybe it's a simple/cheap fix. Don't get all worked up quite yet.

[musicman]

Well, if any of you guys know an electrician in the area that wouldn't mind swinging by to look at it that would be awesome! I'm out of ideas at this point.

[Guest tnmale46]

i also lost a phase once it was at the transformer

[Guest jackdog]

I would call the power company before a private electrician. I think your problem is outside of the house.

[Fadex]

We had the exact same thing happen at my office last year. It was caused by a tree limb touching one of the 3 phase lines across the street. The wind would blow the branch into the line and pzzzzaaap...a few times and them random things would go off/on. Finally figured it out one day late and I noticed a bright flash followed by something that sounded like a rifle shot. MED had the tree cut down and reset the power. No problems since.

[musicman]

Unfortunately, it isn't the power company's resonsibility this time. Mine is a townhouse and they only provide the main service. Once it gets split up at the meters, you're on your own. If everyone was having the same problem it would be the power co, but they aren't.

Edited January 26, 2009 by musicman

[musicman]

'Nuther update:

The power co. came out and checked the meter and said everything is fine up to there. So... the problem is still not fixed. I can't believe how hard it is to get hold of an electrician! I've called at least 8 now and have only actually spoken to one who is about an hour away and can't get to me for a couple days. I have a friend who has a brother-in-law who runs a major HVAC company and he's trying to get his electrician out there, but that's slow going, too.

I sure hope my place doesn't burn down before I can get this stuff fixed!

[G27]

I sure hope my place doesn't burn down before I can get this stuff fixed!

A legitimate concern, IMO. If it were me, I'd shut off the mains power and put the renters in a motel for a night or two if necessary.

[memphismason]

Had a similar sit. earlier las year.

It wound up being at the meter. I don't know enough of the language to take intelligent about it, so I won't try, but my grandfather has some rental house and he had his electrician come out and take care of it. I wound up getting a new meter, and box that it mounts to, and new wiring from there to were the line comes to my house.

It seems that one of the receptacles on the meter box was loose and had burnt out, and caused the meter to burn up a post. So what I was getting was, I could turn one of my 220 window unit ACs on and all the power would work, but as soon as I turn the air off, half the house would go out. WEIRD:screwy:

Hope everything works out for you.

[musicman]

*FINAL UPDATE* (I hope!)

I just got back from there with an electrician... all it was was a stinkin' loose connection on the left leg of the breaker out of the meter! It sparked like a sunnuvagun when he jiggled the cables.

I'm very thankful that this is all it was, and that I had no expensive parts to buy. He's also a general handyman and is going to fix one other little thing over there and then give me the bill. I'm doubting it'll be even close to $100.

Thanks for all the input, guys!

[dralarms]

*FINAL UPDATE* (I hope!)

I just got back from there with an electrician... all it was was a stinkin' loose connection on the left leg of the breaker out of the meter! It sparked like a sunnuvagun when he jiggled the cables.

I'm very thankful that this is all it was, and that I had no expensive parts to buy. He's also a general handyman and is going to fix one other little thing over there and then give me the bill. I'm doubting it'll be even close to $100.

Thanks for all the input, guys!

Glad you got that fixed, dang a sparking connection causes heat which in turn can cause a fire.