Home electrical issue

S

sn95_311

Forum Member
For the past month or so my house has has a weird issue I cant figure out. The back half of my house and garage ( detached garage) will have a cut in power down to like 50ish %, not all the time but a few times a week. I've reset all my breakers thinking maybe 1 was partial tripped or something and that didnt do anything.

Any ideas ? Dont want to call an electrician, I'm positive I can fix it myself if I'm pointed in the right direction.
 
Do you have interruptible service? To much usage in the area and dte will dim it down. If not I would make sure all connections are tight in the meter and fuse box( make sure the meter is removed and properly insulated tools are used.
 
Not sure about the interrupted service, I'm in Dearborn if that helps... I've got a big tree in my back yard but it's not on any of the wires.
 
It could be the rolling brown out as mentioned, if they're doing that and you're signed up for it.

If not, to me it sounds like something might be a loose or weak connection making that happen.
 
What do you mean by cut down in power like 50% ish? Do you mean voltage is dropping down to 60 volts? Or do you mean half the house looses all power?

First thing I would do is figure out what circuits are having the issue. Once you have done that determine if they are all on the same side (left row vs right row) of your load center (Breaker Panel). Once you get that info We can give you more advice.
 
Siegel1719 said:
What do you mean by cut down in power like 50% ish? Do you mean voltage is dropping down to 60 volts? Or do you mean half the house looses all power?

First thing I would do is figure out what circuits are having the issue. Once you have done that determine if they are all on the same side (left row vs right row) of your load center (Breaker Panel). Once you get that info We can give you more advice.
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Half the house gets cut down to 50% power while the other half is just fine.
 
Siegel1719 said:
First thing I would do is figure out what circuits are having the issue. Once you have done that determine if they are all on the same side (left row vs right row) of your load center (Breaker Panel). Once you get that info We can give you more advice.
Click to expand...

Check to see if the brownout half is on one column of breakers in your box. That would be my guess too. I would get an actual electrician to tear up your box, though, if it is just one column.

-Geoff
 
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Call DTE. Sounds like one of the 2 hot legs coming into the house is having problems. Possibly a bad transformer on the pole.
 
Agreed, if its one side of the panel you have an issue with your service cable. I had this not too long ago and half the house would completely go out but when you turned on the electric stove the 220 would back feed the other side of the panel and turn everything back on. Call DTE and have them look at it for replacement.
 
I appreciate all the help and comments. I'm giving dte a call tomorrow, I have looked at my box and everything labeled on the right side of the box is everything that's going through these problems. Opening the box up and checking over all the connections made no difference.
 
sn95_311 said:
I appreciate all the help and comments. I'm giving dte a call tomorrow, I have looked at my box and everything labeled on the right side of the box is everything that's going through these problems. Opening the box up and checking over all the connections made no difference.
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Thats what we needed to know. If you have an IR gun pull the box cover and check the temp of the lug for that side of the load center. Compare it to the other side. If they are around the same that is not your issue. It would then be likely on DTE at the Splice, Transformer or possibly the meter box but not likely.
 
sn95_311 said:
I appreciate all the help and comments. I'm giving dte a call tomorrow, I have looked at my box and everything labeled on the right side of the box is everything that's going through these problems. Opening the box up and checking over all the connections made no difference.
Click to expand...

If true, the troubling part of that finding is that when looking at the left or right side of the box, the breakers alternate between the 2 hots as you go from top to bottom. So if it really is all, and just, the right side of the box... then I would guess it's not DTE and probably your problem somewhere between the weatherhead and breakers. If DTE was browning out of your 2 hots, then you'd see problems on every other breaker, per side, top to bottom.
 
I’d check both bars inside the box, make sure all the screws are tight. I had a loose neutral bar that was causing funky stuff to happen. They vibrate loose over time every now and then.
 
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