My lights are flickering!

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Roscoe

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My lights are flickering in my house. It is the worst when I have a major appliance running, such as the furnace or dryer. They still do it when they are not running, but not as bad. I have been told that it is a Power Corp. problem but I am sceptical. My house is 2 story, and the lights are fine in the master bedroom and in the livingroom and the mast bedroom is directly over top of the livingroom. Just everywhere else in the house has Flickering lights and it drives me nuts. I was hoping to get some advice on what to try before calling in an electrician and facing the big bill. Any advice would sure be appreciated.
 
There are several possibilities.
A screw has loosened at a breaker.
There is a connection in a junction box where the conductors were not twisted together before the wirenut was installed.
The fun is finding the failure and the repair is quite routine.
 
"Flickering" is a very subjective word.
Are they dimming a bit and then returning to normal? Or are they actually flickering like a candle?
Dimming is typically normal, actual flickering is very bad.

It seems as if this is at least half the house. The service connections in the main panel, meter pan and connections at the weather head are key areas.
 
As already said loose connections can do it. Also make sure your house is properly grounded. I had problems with my lights flickering and blowing prematurely. What I found was the galvanized pipe my ground was hooked to was patched by a piece of black poly. The black poly was going into the ground. I drove a proper ground rod and have not had any problems since.
 
Are the lights that flicker only on one circuit or is more than one circuit affected?
If only one circuit then probably a loose wire on that circuit.
If more than one circuit then probably a loose wire on the main feed line. Could be at your main breaker, in the meter box or at the utility connections.
 
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