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so what is actually happening to my home electrics at the moment in this power outage?

Andy From Sligo

so we are without proper electrics at the moment at home in south county Sligo after storm Eowyn - the ESB said they 'fixed' the fault but we have partial electricity in the house. OK so we have , white fairy lights around the fireplace left over from christmas and they are lit , but every now and again they flash erratically and go dim. then we have the Microwave LED clock working , but if you try pressing start nothing happens , the alexa echo works, the dishwasher panel lights up but wont work. the heating, well the lit LCD thermostat lights up and works but the kerosene boiler will not start us so we are bloody freezing the house is 12'c and have no other form of heating (no open fire /electric cooker

So, I would call it a Brownout - when I phoned up ESB to report it she called it partial supply . I have a 13a plug in energy meter that normally gives me the voltage of the socket supply on the LCD screen but the screen is blank , I was was wondering like as if it was half power at 110v Ac pr something , but blank screen as I say . The rest of the village is back at full power, restored earlier on today but we are back with just this partial power for however how long , no ceiling lights work and nothing else electric works … oh apart from managed to charge a couple of mobile phones and a laptop on the 13a downstairs sockets.

So what actually goes on when you have power like this , enough to start some low power things but no other electric things working like lights and heating?

EDIT: neighbour about 9 houses down the road acting the same way , the digital clock on her microwave is lit but no other electrics working in the house

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Comments

10-10-20

OK, that's a brownout of some type. Protect your appliances as it can damage them. Drop all breakers for the socket circuits but leave your light circuits on.

10-10-20

Then give it an hour to see if it improves and if not then I'd log the fault with the ESB again as it could be a dangerous situation.

Andy From Sligo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123099343#Comment_123099343

yes thanks I will do that now.

Andy From Sligo

so at infrastructure level what causes them brownouts like that and how do the ESB networks fit them ? - is it an overhead cable fault. shorting out or something somewhere?

Andy From Sligo

LED public streetlights on the path outside are out too ……

But down the road where people have their electricity fully restored the streetlights outside their lights are lit

mikewest

It's possibly a broken neutral on the supply into your house. In other words the neutral of the two overhead cables into your house is broken/damaged between the transformer and your house if others near you are all ok.

10-10-20

A low voltage reading due to a line fault or a transformer fault, but it can be a situation where there is a neutral fault (floating neutral) which can be dangerous for a whole host of reasons. Did you try re-test the power recently?

Better safe than sorry Andy, I know its a difficult situation for you. I hope its fully resolved soon.

Andy From Sligo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123099665#Comment_123099665

thanks , just turned all the socket breakers off like you said and left ceiling light on . there is a thin flourescent light under the cupboards over the kitchen counter - if i turn that on it just flashes erratically

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123099713#Comment_123099713

You might have a coincidentally failed starter on that! Do another test on a circuit with an incandescent bulb or similar.

Andy From Sligo

the tungsten 60w shaverlight in the bathroom is looking like an old style sodium sox style light when turned on!

Andy From Sligo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123099721#Comment_123099721

i dont think so. just not enough voltage to work it. worked fine before the storm and power cut. its got electronic starters in them thin tube fittings not the old bi metalic and ballast starters . only tungsten bulb left in the house is the bathroom shaverlight in pic above glowing red like a sox lamp or infrared heater

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123099816#Comment_123099816

Ok! That's not right! Log it in the AM and tell them all of this.

Lenar3556

A broken or damaged neutral is possible, or more likely a missing phase to the supplying transformer In certain circumstances this will give you very low voltage between an individual phase and neutral.

10-10-20

Here's another similar one:

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058391851/electric-showers-not-working-after-power-outage-low-voltage

10-10-20

Any update @Andy From Sligo ?

Andy From Sligo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123107029#Comment_123107029

thank you for that - so the day after storm eowin which would be friday we were without power (thats in the house and in the LED public streetlights on the paths) - I came home from take-away that had electric and as I pulled up to the next door neighbour we was having a chat on the drive then all of a sudden our whole house lit up and so did the street lights - I went in and we was all in full power and that lasted a good 10minutes on like that and I praised god and in my mind the ESB crew (in my head because there was no ESB crew around) - so after 10minutes of being on full power and me thinking they had fixed the fault (and I thought that was so quick after the storm) the power went off and its still off even now. Its been dim lights/ no lights / only microwave oven clock working / smoke alarm led power light on / christmas fairy lights on fireplace on steady some times and other times flashing erratically.

So wahat would the ESB crew would have done at that time to the poles/overhead wires / transformers when we was connected full power for 10minutes and why can they cannot do that again to get us connected again and keep pushing the estimated restore time and date back on esb powercheck site?
Any ideas?

Andy From Sligo

sorry - been getting sketchy internet , still without no power / half power / reduced power .

If I plug into my digital energy meter and put it on voltage there is nothing even registering . in a minute i am going to open up the earth shutter on a 13a socket and put it to AC and then check voltage with my normal digital multimeter and see what ac voltage it measures on the digital multimeter

10-10-20

Definitely a secondary fault. Are others affected by the low voltage near you too? You did report it subsequently I expect?

Andy From Sligo

so, testing with my digital multimeter its hovering around this AC voltage from a 13a socket in kitchen 30-40v AC:

https://youtube.com/shorts/tXSxMDaadHA?feature=share

and I tried a socket tester and that tests out OK with live neutral and earth present and working as it should:

https://youtube.com/shorts/yYMEl1wBeOQ?feature=share

Andy From Sligo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123108397#Comment_123108397

yep, nearby on the estate people have got full power back for days now and then you have the neibours with dim power exactly same as me with just the clock working on the microwave or tungsten bulb glowing dimly - there is someone on the estate where lets say they are number 5 house fully restored for days - but they are number 6 their house has no power still/dim power. ESB power check site says 91 premises affected. primary school closed no power and no heating since storm , same with church .

I have phoned up before to report it and esb lady said "no I am getting here its fully restored in the area" I said no its not , I am getting reduced power / dim lughts and so is a few neighbours so she logged the fault again . then someone else phoned up ESB emergency helpline and was told the same thing that its been logged as fixed so had to then yet again log the fault.

If its any connection the houses on the estate havefull power in their house but their LED streetlights on the pavements outside that are normally lit at night are not lit now at night

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123108609#Comment_123108609

Ok, annoying that they think it was resolved. It may help if all affected users log the fault online, that might get it logged higher up.

Lenar3556

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123108378#Comment_123108378

They probably resolved an issue and restored power upstream but then a secondary fault occurred which brought down one of the MV phases to the supplying transformer.

Andy From Sligo

Electricity Power restored yesterday evening - boy that felt a long 6 days without electrical supply , I felt like I was going crazy .

as far as I can tell they replaced wooden poles in the field and possibly transformer (why the hell are they still using wooden poles in this day and age and not metal galvanised Pylons to deliver electricity to the area, wood rots and fall down) - the ESB crew were helped by British crew from Norn Ireland to replace it .

we are back now, full power thats the main thing and from what I can tell all my electrical and electronic stuff hasnt been damaged by the partial power .

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123116454#Comment_123116454

Good news! Long may it last.

Andy From Sligo

I still cannot get my head around that if it was a big problem in the area while we were out for 6 days without power how they managed to connect us fully for 10minutes with full power in the house the next day in the evening after Storm Éowyn - would they have even been able to do that if it was a massive fault involving poles/overhead wires and transformers?

beachhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123116454#Comment_123116454

Replacing the wooden poles was probably a convenience for them.