# Looks like I'm gonna need someone to check out my elect. system



## FERG 06 (Oct 6, 2006)

Lights have been flickering for about 10 days now, since the storms came through the last time.
Had DTE out twice in the last 2 days, the last time (today) resulted in a new service line being run to the house because voltage was dropping. When the lineman left he said there was 119v on both lines now (was 113-115v on one & 122 on the other). Asked him if I should have my ground checked. He said no.

Lights still flicker.

What now?
Anyone need some work? sullyxlh? .....and how much is it gonna cost me?
Or should I call DTE again.


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## seabass810 (Apr 2, 2010)

If the problem is in the house and was caused by the storm then I would check with homeowners insurance and see if it is covered to get fixed.


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## FERG 06 (Oct 6, 2006)

I have a $1,000 deductable......


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## Big Frank 25 (Feb 21, 2002)

What does the drop from the meter to the box look like?


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## JimP (Feb 8, 2002)

Naive question, have all the breakers / fuses been checked and are tight?
we once had lights flicker whenever the kids slammed the back door...loose fuse.


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## Michihunter (Jan 8, 2003)

Might still be DTE's issue. Pay attention to which lights are flickering and see if it's only coming off one leg. Had a similar issue not long ago and it turned out to be one of the lines down the street between poles that kept grounding itself out on a tree when the wind was blowing.


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## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

Often flickering lights will indicate a poor neutral connection.


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## FERG 06 (Oct 6, 2006)

Big Frank 25 said:


> What does the drop from the meter to the box look like?


ONE QUESTION AT A TIME PLEASE!! :lol::lol::lol:

Don't know WHAT YOU'RE ASKING BUT DOES THIS HELP??

























jimp said:


> Naive question, have all the breakers / fuses been checked and are tight?
> we once had lights flicker whenever the kids slammed the back door...loose fuse.


Doesn't happen w/anything like that. We have breakers.



Michihunter said:


> Might still be DTE's issue. Pay attention to which lights are flickering and see if it's only coming off one leg. Had a similar issue not long ago and it turned out to be one of the lines down the street between poles that kept grounding itself out on a tree when the wind was blowing.


I mentioned that, (trees) when they 1st showed up since the lines are behind our lot and the property behind us is woods as you already know.
Our service is split into 2 boxes. 1) is fore the original house and the other feeds the family room & garage. Lights flicker in all areas. 
Normally I just notice the lights flickering but last night the TV popped off, (you know like when there is a momentary power loss) and turn right back on. Don't know if that was a seperate issue and just a coincidence.



ESOX said:


> Often flickering lights will indicate a poor neutral connection.


That's what the 1st guy said when he checked it. He sent a lineman out, said lineman redid the connections at the house and pole.
Next day 2nd person checked it, the same lineman came out again, said "I don't know what's going on so I'll replace the whole line/feed from the pole. He was done at 7:00pm or so and the first ficker happened at about 8:30 pm and continued all evening.


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## Michihunter (Jan 8, 2003)

Have the neighbors been having any issues?


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## jpollman (Jan 14, 2001)

That's weird. Not long ago (some time in the last year) I had the same problem. Lights would flicker now and then. Didn't think much of it at first because for a while now power outages have been common around here. It slowly started to get worse. It finally got to the point where like yours, the TV would shut down. One morning I happened to look out the window and noticed that the service drop was much lower than normal. Upon closer inspection I found that the strand had broken. This is basically the wire that serves as the neutral as well as supporting the two hot wires. The only thing holding the drop up was the two connections at the house where the hot lines tie to the meter 

I called DTE and was told that I'd have to hire an electrician to come out and repair the problem. That didn't sound right to me because the problem was on DTE's side of the meter. I called back, same story. What a crock! I pay them to bring service to my house and when a problem occurs with THEIR equipment on THEIR side of the meter, the tell me that *I* have to pay for the repair?! I don't think so. I called back a third time and finally got the right person on the line. They agreed that the problem was theirs to fix and that a crew would come out and repair it. This was on a Sunday morning so I didn't expect to see them until at least Monday. But in the mean time, I realized that I didn't have any ground rods installed. Normally they rely on the water service for ground but I have a plastic water service so headed on over the the Depot and picked up a couple ground rods and come conductor to hook them up. In a couple hours they were installed and hooked up. The next morning DTE showed up and repaired the break and the problem was solved. No more flickering lights. Although if you've had the service drop completely replaced, it doesn't sound like that's the problem.

Good luck!

John


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## clackercraft (Feb 19, 2009)

I work for a local electric company doing engineering work. One problem could be if you share a transformer with any of your neighbors. The transformer could be overloaded and every time a neighbors well pump, ac, or just about any appliacne kicks on it could be causing a flicker at your home. Often neighbors may get a new air compressor or something that would increase their load and that causes voltage problems for others.


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## clackercraft (Feb 19, 2009)

It seems like if you have a new svc, new connections and the connections at the meter box are tight, the next thing would be to have an engineer look at the load on the transformer and the usage of everyone connected.


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## FERG 06 (Oct 6, 2006)

Michihunter said:


> Have the neighbors been having any issues?


Don't know. I guess I'll have to go talk to them (don't talk to them much, pretty much just nods in passing or when there is an emergency or something going on in the hood).



jpollman said:


> That's weird. Not long ago (some time in the last year) I had the same problem. Lights would flicker now and then. Didn't think much of it at first because for a while now power outages have been common around here. It slowly started to get worse. It finally got to the point where like yours, the TV would shut down. One morning I happened to look out the window and noticed that the service drop was much lower than normal. Upon closer inspection I found that the strand had broken. This is basically the wire that serves as the neutral as well as supporting the two hot wires. The only thing holding the drop up was the two connections at the house where the hot lines tie to the meter
> 
> I called DTE and was told that I'd have to hire an electrician to come out and repair the problem. That didn't sound right to me because the problem was on DTE's side of the meter. I called back, same story. What a crock! I pay them to bring service to my house and when a problem occurs with THEIR equipment on THEIR side of the meter, the tell me that *I* have to pay for the repair?! I don't think so. I called back a third time and finally got the right person on the line. They agreed that the problem was theirs to fix and that a crew would come out and repair it. This was on a Sunday morning so I didn't expect to see them until at least Monday. But in the mean time, I realized that I didn't have any ground rods installed. Normally they rely on the water service for ground but I have a plastic water service so headed on over the the Depot and picked up a couple ground rods and come conductor to hook them up. In a couple hours they were installed and hooked up. The next morning DTE showed up and repaired the break and the problem was solved. No more flickering lights. Although if you've had the service drop completely replaced, it doesn't sound like that's the problem.
> 
> ...


I was going to jump all over that one cause not a year ago or so, (memory shot due to all the pain killers, :lol: at least that's what I keep telling myself :lol I had mine fixed cause I saw it was fraying at the house and they didn't give me any flack. Guess they don't like you. :lol:



clackercraft said:


> I work for a local electric company doing engineering work. One problem could be if you share a transformer with any of your neighbors. The transformer could be overloaded and every time a neighbors well pump, ac, or just about any appliacne kicks on it could be causing a flicker at your home. Often neighbors may get a new air compressor or something that would increase their load and that causes voltage problems for others.


The neighbor to the north's line runs to the same pole but no transformer there. No well, they are pretty low budget so no a/c (windows always open), nobody's home all day so if there's an air comp it's not on during the day.
Vacant lot to the south.
My fridge or a/c doesn't cause a flicker, microwave will but it always has. This is different. 
Just had a double flicker on my desk lamp.



clackercraft said:


> It seems like if you have a new svc, new connections and the connections at the meter box are tight, the next thing would be to have an engineer look at the load on the transformer and the usage of everyone connected.


From what I know from talking to workers when we had to have the pole in the back replaced one time, there is only about a 1/2 mi of houses on this section. They were anticipating a sub going in behind my house that was never built so a very low # of peeps on these lines. Which means when we have big time power outages we are low on the list to get fixed cause they can restore power to more people fast elsewhere. One time we waited 3 days and when the lineman came out he told me (cause I was the 1 to call in the problem) that all he had to do was replace a fuse or something real easy.


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## jakeo (Sep 14, 2004)

These things can be a hair loser!! I would call a contractor and check ALL your connections from the meter base to the main breaker. Then check the main breaker to make sure the connections are good.
If aluminum wire was used on YOUR SIDE (theirs is aluminum), have the contractor make sure there is inhibitor on each connection. 
Sometimes over time, the main breaker can grow weak and loose.
Good Luck


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## Big Reds (Oct 14, 2007)

It could be the socket in the meter box is rusting away. I had the problem in one of my flip homes.
Loose or bad connections there would surely cause your symptoms of flickering.


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## FERG 06 (Oct 6, 2006)

Big Reds said:


> It could be the socket in the meter box is rusting away. I had the problem in one of my flip homes.
> Loose or bad connections there would surely cause your symptoms of flickering.


I believe the line man said everything looked good in the meter box.

Called them again today. Asked what we should do now? Problem is getting worse. Flicker happens more often. Sometimes we get a double flicker, so bad that my microwave chips like it does everytime the power is restored after being out. Yesterday had a triple flicker if you know what I mean. Off, on three times in rapid succession.
They sent another person out to check it. Couldn't get anything outta the guy. He acted like someone was looking over his shoulder saying things like 'I'll just check it and turn in a report," I was with a customer so left him at the meter and a minute later walked back and asked him "so what did you find?"... "I just send in a report "
Geez, I'm only the customer. 
So here I am, no lineman shows up, I don't know if their side is good or what. I don't know what to do. I guess I'll have to call them again. Or maybe I should call my man on the inside. :16suspect
If I need to hire someone so be it but I don't want to waste the money that I could put into the house elsewhere and believe me, there's plenty elsewhere it needs to be spent.


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## Michihunter (Jan 8, 2003)

That was his way of saying he ain't got a clue.:lol::lol:


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## fishawn69 (Jan 12, 2009)

try tightning all the nutrals in the pannel sounds like one or more may be loose. If your pannels in a basement and its moist their may be some corrosion if there is multiple nutrals under one screw and they are corroded they will losen.


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## FERG 06 (Oct 6, 2006)

fishawn69 said:


> try tightning all the nutrals in the pannel sounds like one or more may be loose. If your pannels in a basement and its moist their may be some corrosion if there is multiple nutrals under one screw and they are corroded they will losen.


No basement.
2 panels. 1) in the original house. 1) in the garage that feeds it and the family room.
Flickering in all areas. I would think that it would have to be something in common w/both like if they were both grounded at the same location or neutrals at the meter box but like I said, supposedly everything is good in the meter box.
Now the flicker cuts off the cable box which has a power adapter so apparently we are losing power now long enough for the box to shut down & restart.
Call DTE this morning. The complaint is still open & when my wife was on the phone w/them she said she heard alarms on their end & the service rep said "We have a situation here we'll have to call you back"?????  Sounds like they have their own problems.


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## jakeo (Sep 14, 2004)

Any changes?


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## FERG 06 (Oct 6, 2006)

jakeo said:


> Any changes?


Nope.
4th person came out, saw the flicker happen when he walked through the garage to get to the back but it didn't flicker at all while he was testing it and he stayed here a good amout of time. :banghead3 Something like 30 mins. He pretty much said it must be on their side since we have 2 panels and it happens on both sides all throughout the house & garage and I'd be wasting my money hiring someone to check my side. He also said it will probably get worse.
At this point it's about the same, sometimes doesn't happen for awhile and other times will happen quite often in a short amount of time.


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## Burksee (Jan 15, 2003)

Just a thought and maybe an electrican can chime in on this idea. Do you have a hookup for a generator? If so maybe try running on it for the day and see if anything happens, it might just help determine which side its on.


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## jakeo (Sep 14, 2004)

Burksee said:


> Just a thought and maybe an electrican can chime in on this idea. Do you have a hookup for a generator? If so maybe try running on it for the day and see if anything happens, it might just help determine which side its on.


First off....unless the hook-up was done professionally by isolating the neutrals....It can be very dangerous to back feed it.
I would have the power company come out and cut the drops. Then I would change out the meter socket and have them re-hook it up. I am willing to bet it is in the metersocket if both units are affected.


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## Michihunter (Jan 8, 2003)

OK Ferg, I just had an experience at my sons house that may also pertain to yours. In factJakeo touched on it in the previous post. 

He called me up and says "Dad, I ain't got no power in the house" so knowing my oldest boy isn't the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to these things I go over to the house to check. Sure enough no pwer at all. I open the meter and he has the old version with service being tied to the meter with old style jumpers from lug to lug. Checked power at both sides and it's showing power to the meter. I then go to pull the meter and when I touch it, power was restored. Apparently there's a bad connection at the meter. I called DTE and they'll be replacing the meter soon.

This all happened quite randomly and could definitely be what's causing your issue.


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## FERG 06 (Oct 6, 2006)

Burksee said:


> Do you have a hookup for a generator?


Nope. When the power goes out I do it the poor man's way, w/extension cords. 



jakeo said:


> I would have the power company come out and cut the drops. Then I would change out the meter socket and have them re-hook it up. I am willing to bet it is in the metersocket if both units are affected.


All I can say is 2 or 3 of the people said it looks good inside but do they know what they're doing????? Your guess is as good as mine.



Michihunter said:


> OK Ferg, I just had an experience at my sons house that may also pertain to yours. In factJakeo touched on it in the previous post.
> 
> He called me up and says "Dad, I ain't got no power in the house" so knowing my oldest boy isn't the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to these things I go over to the house to check. Sure enough no pwer at all. I open the meter and he has the old version with service being tied to the meter with old style jumpers from lug to lug. Checked power at both sides and it's showing power to the meter. I then go to pull the meter and when I touch it, power was restored. Apparently there's a bad connection at the meter. I called DTE and they'll be replacing the meter soon.
> 
> This all happened quite randomly and could definitely be what's causing your issue.


When we moved in here almost 12 yrs ago some major work was done to the electrical. Updated and brought to code. New breaker boxes install as well as conduit run in the garage to replace extention cords that were used for the lights. I can't find the paperwork at the moment but it was a couple of thousand in 1998. I can't remember what all was done but I'm guessing that the mains were replaced also.
The last guy that was out (not a lineman) pulled the mains out, checked that everything was tight and clean, said everything looked good. He left about 7:00 or so. We thought he might have cured it as we went a long time w/no flicker but then at 10:25 the first flicker occured and all the next day it was back to the same situation.....the saga continues. :banghead3


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## ridgewalker (Jun 24, 2008)

Sorry Ferg, but I just can't help throwing this in. Remember when you were up to camp and the power was out for a couple of days! I guess it wasn't the storm after all. Your new user name will be ohmmmman.:lol::lol: Low blow to the ankles, I know but . . .

Until the power company gets serious about wanting to fix the situation, I would find a good loan to get a much larger generator. Remember the one we saw hooked to the relay station, that just needs a much larger fuel tank for your needs. Then disconnect the meter and wait to see what happens when they look to see why the meter isn't spinning. As Michihunter would say, I am the tool in the shed that couldn't cut butter but I have fun anyway. Best of luck with that headache.


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## jasonvanorder (Feb 23, 2009)

I am taking a stab in the dark but a few things cross my mind. How far is your transformer from you and how many houses are serviced by it? When we were looking to buy our house we had a home inspector come out and look it over. He said when it comes to transformers you want one no farther than 2 poles (about 150-200 yards) away and no more than 3 houses running of from one. if your transformer is a good distance away that could be part of the problem. As the distance the elec. has to travel get bigger the more risistance it has to overcome. Another thing that pops in my head is you said the wires run thru a wood lot behind your house did DTE clear the trees around all the wires? It could be possible that somewhere down the line a branch or something could be hitting the line and cause it to short out for just a sec. and that might give you the flicker. Just a few ideas might be worth looking into or just might be a waste of time.


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## ih772 (Jan 28, 2003)

Home inspectors don't know JACK about electrical power. They don't even have to be trained or licensed in this state. I can't tell you the number of customers I've had because some "home inspector" thought he knew about all things electrical. They misquote the code book so much it makes me shake my head in disgust every time I hear one of them spouting off.


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## FERG 06 (Oct 6, 2006)

jasonvanorder said:


> I am taking a stab in the dark but a few things cross my mind. How far is your transformer from you and how many houses are serviced by it? When we were looking to buy our house we had a home inspector come out and look it over. He said when it comes to transformers you want one no farther than 2 poles (about 150-200 yards) away and no more than 3 houses running of from one. if your transformer is a good distance away that could be part of the problem. As the distance the elec. has to travel get bigger the more risistance it has to overcome. Another thing that pops in my head is you said the wires run thru a wood lot behind your house did DTE clear the trees around all the wires? It could be possible that somewhere down the line a branch or something could be hitting the line and cause it to short out for just a sec. and that might give you the flicker. Just a few ideas might be worth looking into or just might be a waste of time.


Tranformer is 1 pole away, 2 houses one way and 2 poles away the other direction . Don't know how many are served by by each but I was told one time that out "system" was built, anticipating a sub going in behind us which was never built so we don't have many served on our lines....
The trees are behind us, lines run along the edge, it was cleared a little while back, 2-3 yrs I'd say. I mention trees to one of them and it would seem to me that a tree situation would be obvious to anyone that walked into my backyard. The last guy was wacking my service line w/a broom handle to see if that had any effect.
No flickering last night and so far haven't noticed any today but I've been in and out all day.


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## Mitchell Ulrich (Sep 10, 2007)

Did you change the light bulb?


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## FERG 06 (Oct 6, 2006)

Mitchell Ulrich said:


> Did you change the light bulb?


Yeah and I also rotated them.


Nothing at all today. 
And I forgot to mention when the last guy was here he went to the neighbors house, the one w/the transformer I think, and test their voltage.


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## ih772 (Jan 28, 2003)

Ferg call the power company and tell them you're having trouble and that the trees need to be trimmed. If they blow you off call them and tell them since they blew you off that you're going to do it yourself and that you'll wear some dish washing gloves so you don't get shocked. Obviously you don't trim the trees but they will be out there in a heartbeat to take care of the them.


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## FERG 06 (Oct 6, 2006)

Todays update:

It's BAaack!!!


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## Elk5012 (Mar 27, 2008)

We had the blinking lights also. I went out to the meter and twisted the glass meter back and forth a bit and would cause the lights to blink. We called the electric co and they said I could of been electrocuted, but that ended up being the trouble. Bad conection between the meter and the box.


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## FERG 06 (Oct 6, 2006)

Elk5012 said:


> We had the blinking lights also. I went out to the meter and twisted the glass meter back and forth a bit and would cause the lights to blink. We called the electric co and they said I could of been electrocuted, but that ended up being the trouble. Bad conection between the meter and the box.


Our meter is not the kind that rotates to remove. They open the box and pull it straight out & believe me, it's been removed so many times the last week I'm sure the connections are clean by now.


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## jakeo (Sep 14, 2004)

FERG 06 said:


> Our meter is not the kind that rotates to remove. They open the box and pull it straight out & believe me, it's been removed so many times the last week I'm sure the connections are clean by now.


Just trying to figure this out but ask them to replace the meter or pull it out and put some oxide inhibitor on the aluminum prongs holding in the meter. By now.....I would have replaced the meter socket as a start on my end. Im just trying to help you.


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## jakeo (Sep 14, 2004)

WELL?????

Is everything working or are you burning candles to see your computer.LOL


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## FERG 06 (Oct 6, 2006)

jakeo said:


> WELL?????
> 
> Is everything working or are you burning candles to see your computer.LOL


Well.......I was putting everything off till after my daughters wedding then on Labor day the power went out....or so I thought. I discovered that it was only out in half the house. Now don't get ahead of me. After some testing I found out I had lost a leg. You know what I mean. By the time I got my shoes on to go outside the power came back on.
It went out once more that day but same thing, by the time i got my shoes on, back on.
Since then nothing. No flickering, no outage, everything normal. until yesterday.....high wind day and I noticed a flicker once in awhile. Nothing like before but proving to me it's a branch thing or something simular. 
Guess I sit on it until something happens. I can't believe the neighbors don't have a prob. No branches touching anywhere I can see. Maybe it's still something loose but for now I've got other things to do.


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## jpollman (Jan 14, 2001)

Wow. With that info, I think I'd be taking a very close look at your service panel. Maybe the problem is in there and not at the service drop or meter.

John


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## FERG 06 (Oct 6, 2006)

Well john I was trying to be short w/my reply.
I did get into the panel and long story short, cause I wasn't thinking right & was working backwards, I found that I only had power coming in on 1 of the 2 wires from the meter. Sorry if I'm using the wrong terms. Since it was the same in the garage (half power w/a different main shutoff & panel) the common denominator is the service line or meter & box but like I said, by the time I got out there to check it was back on.


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## FERG 06 (Oct 6, 2006)

And hey, John,
If you got nothing to do today....:lol: why don't you come out & check it for me :lol: and we can talk about redoing my bathroom this winter. I gotta get it done b4 I'm to old to do this stuff anymore. I'm already half way there. The old part not the bath part. :lol:


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## bluefin75 (Dec 30, 2007)

Ferg, I had a neighbor with this same problem. Between the utility transformer and your meter is most likely the issue in the wire of the bad leg. If I remember correctly my neighbor was having the problem when it was windy. Just as you said its probably a tree that is causing it. The wire is worn and you need to have the utility check that if you already havent(I didn't read all of the posts). Good luck.


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## FERG 06 (Oct 6, 2006)

bluefin75 said:


> Ferg, I had a neighbor with this same problem. Between the utility transformer and your meter is most likely the issue in the wire of the bad leg. If I remember correctly my neighbor was having the problem when it was windy. Just as you said its probably a tree that is causing it. The wire is worn and you need to have the utility check that if you already havent(I didn't read all of the posts). Good luck.


You might want to read the rest of the posts. 
New service line installed, no trees touching between the transformer & my house & it's been checked 3 or 4 times.
At this point it seems to have fixed itself.  So until it screws up again I have other worries to concern myself with. Anybody wanna fix my leaky roof???


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