[john70t]

slight tangent..

Had some strange things happening with house electrical:
Some lights would work and then not work. LED bulbs. Some are ballast-bypass. I thought it was just the switches or bulbs. Occasional artifacts on the gaming computer screen must be the old GPU. The kitchen lights started occasionally dimming or flashing briefly with the microwave. Then an event happened with the microwave + hot water pot running at the same time, where both seemed to be running on half power. Not happy electronics. Yikes.

They were all on separate circuits so it had to be the fuse box, right?
I guessed it was a situation of the breaker screws loosening or the ground.
Some pipes had started getting green...which serve as house grounds I believe.

Called an electrician. He checked the breakers. Also checked voltage at the meter box.
With the microwave running he was getting 107V from PhaseA and 143V from PhaseB side. Whatever that means.
-Told me there should should only be 10% max difference.
-Told me it was a utility neutral open problem from the pole.

I called the utilities and said lights flashing and furnace might not be working right.
Also, I hoped nothing expensive breaks in the meantime..yeah..
They actually showed up within a few hours. TY utilities!
First guy used a small handheld load tester I think on the meter for a few minutes. Said everything was normal to him. Yawn. It's cold. Gave me a look.
Second guy went up the pole and found an open connection.

All fixed now. Microwave hums nice. Lights work. Pipes are still green.