Hi there.

We moved house last March, and noticed some lights occasionally flickering.  It seemed to clear up before we looked into it, so we forgot about it over the summer.  Now we're in November, we've noticed it starting again after a very rainy day.

It's the lights in several rooms (Kitchen, Sitting Room, Bathroom, Landing, and also certainly a plug in the sitting room - possibly more we've not noticed).

The house has what looks like a very old fuse box, but seeing as the flickering is happening in several rooms, does that mean the problem is likely to be occurring prior to the fuse box?

Is my electricity supplier therefore responsible for sorting this out? (I’m in the UK).  Presumably they’d want to avoid sending someone out, so is there any advice on what to say to them?  Is there anything I can do to check where the problem might be occurring?

Any other advice?

Thanks a lot.

It only seems to be lights that are affected, so we'd assumed that this meant lights were especially sensetive to energy dips.  Is this a sensible things to assume?  Or is it more likely that it just so happens the dodgy connections happen to have lights on them?

We did ask one neighbour about it when we moved it, and he had no problems.  I was really hoping I'd be able to palm this off on the electricty supplier, but sounds like we might have to look into it ourselves.  Thanks.  

Any other adive that might be of use?

Quote:


low energy light bulbs can be quite fussy with volt drops

i said to ask several people  if your on a 3 phase area every 3rd ish house will be on the same phase so if the problem is with only one phase 30% wont work/flicker

why not phone up your power distributor and ask if there has been any problems reported in your area

Thanks for the advice.

We've not noticed any problem with PC, TV, or anything else (other than one evening last March when it seemed like we had a few brief powercuts, and so did our neighbour).  The lights are 100 watt bulbs, and the plugged in one was a halogen, with all dramatically flickering.  Strange it only seems to be lights.

Our fuse box does have an RCD.  It's an old fuse box, and all looks rather alien to me.

We're going to have a new kitchen put in after Christmas, and that will need some electrical work.  Seeing as we've only had flickering lights for one evening so far this year, we might try and delay getting someone in til then if it's going to be a big job to sort out.

Before then I'll give EDF, our power distributor a ring and see what they have to say.

Was it also windy? If you live in areas served by overhead lines like we do it's common to get flickering lights (brown outs).

Godf

It could be any of the above suggestions, it is possible for an underground joint to be affected by water,

I would spend 40 or 50quid getting a sparky out to look over your fuse board and supply,

He would then tell you if there's a problem with your supply or there might be more that one problem,
(He might recommend a full test (PIR))

He could fix any lose connections in the fuse board/supply
(which is my guess at the min, but its only a guess)
before they get any worse and cause more damage!


Now might be a good time to find a sparky ready for your new kitchen work.

Well, we've just had flickering today when it's been dry, and not the day before when it rained.  It could be the moisture's soaking through somwhere, but I'd guess it makes it more likely the problem is with us.

We're going to be having a think about when we'd be able to put a kitchen in tomorrow, so we'll think about getting an electrician in then.  Any idea how much a PIR should cost?  (We're in Brighton).

Thanks.

I am leaning more likely bad underground cable if this cable is very old it a good chance get what we called " Dry rot " which the rubber or plastic coating get cracked over the time and the mositure get inside the cable and can cause interment short or arc over.

I know most area normally use copper conductor but if that have alum cable then it will really compound the issue with cable.

For now best answer is get a hold of your local Electrician to come out and check out the connections { joints } and if the house side is good then call EDF to check the supply side.

Merci.
Marc