shop-talk
[Top] [All Lists]

RE: Light Bulb Dilemma

To: <shop-talk@autox.team.net>
Subject: RE: Light Bulb Dilemma
From: "Randall Young" <ryoung@navcomtech.com>
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 08:33:57 -0800
Richard :

One possible cause of this is inadequate neutral wiring (or a bad connection
in the neutral).  Most homes in the US (including house trailers) are wired
for 220v single phase, which means all the 110v appliances are connected
between one of the two phases and the neutral.  If there is a heavy draw on
one phase, the apparent voltage on the other phase can go up quite high, due
to the out of phase drop in the neutral.  In my last house (wired in the
30's, very inadequate by today's standards) the light in the utility room
would flash brighter whenever the washing machine started.  My folk's house
turned out to actually have a fuse in the neutral.  When it popped one day,
it blew out half the lights in the house (that were on at the time).
They've since rewired ...

If your friend's trailer shares a transformer with another consumer, the
problem may not even be in his trailer.  They're not cheap or common, but I
believe you can rent power line monitors that will log over/under voltage
conditions.  Or, have your friend ask his electric co about having a monitor
put in his living room for a few weeks.  They should have some.

Randall

>
> Friend of mine is having a rough time with light bulbs in his living
> room.  We've gone through a few things to try and we're coming up
> dark.  His next step is to call the elctric company and see what they say.
>
> The light bulbs in his living room fry in a week or two.  The
> don't all go
> at once, but once one goes, the rest go in the next couple days.

///  unsubscribe/change address requests to majordomo@autox.team.net  or try
///  http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo
///  Archives at http://www.team.net/archive/shop-talk


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>