constant flicker in lights for past few evenings

alfa beta

Hi all - for the past four nights I've noticed a regular flicker in all my house lights (especially noticeable on any circuits with dimmer switches).

Each night the pattern of the flicker seems to be different, Night one: regular split-second dip every second. Night two: four dips followed by a pause then repeat of the pattern, Night three - seven dips followed by pause then repeat and tonight a quick regular flicker (about two dips a second).

I've never noticed this before and was wondering is this lightly to be a prob with the electricity supply to the house (one-off build in the country) or something wrong with the internal wiring.

Before I go ringing an electrician or the ESB or airtricity or whoever, I wonder if anyone could offer any insights here.

Could something have happened when it was windy last week perhaps?

The oddest thing for me is the way the pattern of the flicker seems to change from day to day.

thanks
alfa.

(ps. by the way I'm near ardmore in co waterford - so if anyone else lives down around this neck of the woods it would be interesting if they have any similar probs.)

Bruthal

It sounds like a loose connection on your lighting circuit. What you could do to confirm its on your actual lighting circuit is to plug in a lamp and see does that also flicker. If it does not, then its likely a problem with your actual lighting circuit. If it does, then its either at your fuse/mcb board or outside the house.

It may be tricky to see of the plugged in lamp is actually flickering if the main light in the room is on and flickering, so maybe a hall light on that you can see out through the door, and just the plugged in one on in the room your in.

Did you try leaving lights on during the day to see of its happening all the time?

meercat

agree with robbie here
most likely a loose connection(consumer unit,light switch)
if you have old type fuseboard make sure the fuseholder is tightened fully

to help identify fault try turning all lights on (upstairs and downstairs)and listen for a buzzing(arching)sound at the fuseboard or light switch

do not remove fuseboard cover(get an electrician for this)

Bruthal

Yea if its an old fuseboard with fuses, the first thing to do would be to check the fuses are all screwed in properly as meercat said. If your very quiet when its flickering, you might hear the arcing/buzzing sound alright from a switch or the fuseboard.

paddymick

Could be a loose Neutral either and not necessarily the board or switch.Is it a bungalow and if so were you doing anything in your attic maybe you knocked one loose.

alfa beta

Hi guys thanks for the replies

Took your advice and plugged a lamp into a socket and that was flickering too.

So that presumably means something wrong at the fuseboard or with the supply coming into the house I guess.

Also, I've noticed the flicker is more pronounced depending on the type of bulb - most noticeable on standard filament and halogen bulbs and hardly noticeable at all on LED gu-10's, energy savers and anything on a low-voltage set up - is that because the transformers sorta smooth out the current or something?

Anyway - I guess the best thing to do is call the electrician in - it's a new house (only a year old) so he's the same guy who wired it up day one - so hopefully won't take long to get to the nub of the problem.

Thanks again for replies and advice offered - I'll post again sometime later next week to let you know exactly what the prob was.

Alfa

alfa beta

Hi again

was in neighbours house last night and saw that their lights were flickering too - so it must be a supply thing.

I've have my electricity with Airtricity - so just wondering now if I should get in touch with them or with ESB networks.

cheers
alfa

meercat

most likely an esb networks problem so
contact your provider
come back with an update(just to see how straightforward this will be if you dont mind)

THENORTHSIDER

ESB networks should sort it out. If ur neighbour is also experiencing the same then its the supply. Make note if possible of the times it occurs so that u can let them know.

Tazio

I noticed this in our house too around 3 years ago.. house is once off build in rural area
ESB pole on our site have high voltage supply with transformer

The output of this traffo supplies 4 houses near me..

The voltage at the fusebox would vary from 230 vac up to 240.. depending on time of day
I asumed the flickeribg was due to loading on the traffo..

Anyway 3 years ago got a postcard from ESB saying upgrades in the area.would mean power outage for one day.

I was told.by family some lad replaced the traffo on the pole on our plot... Now the very odd time there is a flicker... We now have a 245vac supply metered by calibrated equipment at the fuseboard..

alfa beta

Similar situation here tazio - house in the country - transformer about three poles away connected to a handful of houses.

Curiously the flickering was gone last night (I hadn't got around to calling anyone in ESB Networks about it - and now I guess I won't have to.)

Now I did notice a local farmer replacing the pump in his well yesterday (One which would have been connected to the same transformer as our house) I'm wondering if a faulty pump there could have caused a problem on the whole circuit if you know what I mean. Either that, or just coincidence.

THENORTHSIDER

more than likely that was the problem and probable that it is now solved.

alfa beta

yup that was the problem alright - was chatting to the farmer yesterday and he said he'd disconnected the pump a few nights back (hence no more flickering)

glad now I didn't go rushing off to call ESB or whoever.

Thanks for the replies by the way.

M cebee

might be worth getting your supply checked all the same

doesn't sound great