Rserp1
newbie
Reged: 01/23/10
Posts: 4
Loc: Wisconsin, United States
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I am having one weird day. I been living in this house for the past 6 years and have never had this happen before.
I lose half my power in my house. In some places lights and TV's will work fine and other places nothing will work, and goes on and off.
I went down to my basement and checked the fuse pannel Breaker switches. They were all on. I flipped the Main Breaker that feeds all the breakers on and off and the power came back on. A little while later the same thing happened.
Flickering on and off untill it just shut off. I did the same to the main and the power came back on.
It is a real windy day and my power line does come through a wooded area. I walked the line and seen small branches from over growth touching the lines barely. I walked back to the house was not about to try and cut down or touch anything now. The real problem is what ever it is the power keeps tripping and is also tripping the power to my furnace. I have 6 kids to keep warm. Any ideas??? Is it a faulty or going out main breaker? The Wind and twigs on the line? Or maybe it is time to call in the pro's? 
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pennypicher
Super Handyman
Reged: 01/15/05
Posts: 1619
Loc: New England
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Sounds like you are loosing 1 leg of your power coming into the house.Whether it be from the branches wiggling the loose connection on the line or maybe something where the line comes into your panel. I'm no pro but that might be a start. HOWEVER those lines will kill you becarefull.
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code_ceis
Handyman
Reged: 04/29/09
Posts: 631
Loc: Western NY (just snuck across ...
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Call someone ASAP. It is a broken or loose wire or a bad breaker / buss bar by reseting the breaker and it fixes for short time is a clue.
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Rserp1
newbie
Reged: 01/23/10
Posts: 4
Loc: Wisconsin, United States
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Thanks guys I wouldn't mess with main power coming into the house myself or the main breaker. In the time I posted this and read the responses it has flickered on and off twice rebooting my computer twice also. But the power didn't quit and I have not had to go back down to flip the main. Seems like it is grounding out somewhere. Everytime the furnace wants to run it acts like it is drawing to much power and would cause it to stop. I have turned down the heat way down to eliminate that problem but the flickering keeps going on. Nasty winds out there may be a tree somewhere out there on the line?
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bozodog
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/19/07
Posts: 9938
Loc: SW Michigan
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Did you call the Power Company yet? That would be my first step...
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Governments don’t bear the cost of anything; their citizens do.
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Rserp1
newbie
Reged: 01/23/10
Posts: 4
Loc: Wisconsin, United States
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No I didn't call the Power company yet. I wanted to make sure it was a line problem first or a House problem. Considering it is only effecting half the house. I could be in a room where the lights work but the plug in's don't.
It is like the man said before it is like I lost half a line or something? Really weird.
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CabinConnection
Big Foot
Reged: 01/20/04
Posts: 20932
Loc: The Indianhead's Left Nostril....
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If you understand how your feed coming to the house works, it's not "wierd" at all. You've likely lost one of the two legs coming in.
In the most basic terms...
You have two wires coming into the house service panel from the power company. One feeds the right side breakers, the other feeds the left side breakers. If you're saying that all circuits on either the right OR the left are out, this means you've lost one of those feeds.
While it could be in your home wiring, the odds are that it's a power company problem.
Call the power company. 
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jdevlin
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 09/09/02
Posts: 6147
Loc: Welland Ont. Canada
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You have a loose connection on one of hot legs feeding your house. It could be anywhere from your main breaker connection to inside the meter base, the weather head connections or the POCO connections at the transformer. If it's worse on windy days then most likely an exposed connection from the weatherhead out to transformer.
Call POCO now.
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Please do not Private Message with questions that can be answered in a Forum. I will not respond.
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Rserp1
newbie
Reged: 01/23/10
Posts: 4
Loc: Wisconsin, United States
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Follow Up: Thanks guys for all the help. I contacted the electric company and they came out this morning and found the problem. It was in the Meter Box. It seems that The Box was put up when the house was built back in the 70's. And Back in the 70's power coming through the lines is not the same as now, there is more juice I guess now than then?
Anyway it burnt up on one side were the meter connects and was welding it self togther by arcing and seperating again. Causing the Power to be on and off on some things and constant on others. I guess that it being a real windy crappy weather day was just a coincidence??? Even though it never happened before then. But as luck would have it the Box on the house was a double Meter with one not in use so it was an easy fix and switching the wires and meter to the other box. Otherwise I would have had to go purchase a New Box have an electrican put it in and have the electric company come back out and turn the power off at the pole and replace it all. As of Now he said it should last for a long long period of time. But eventually will happen again. I said at least till summer when it is more hospitial outside and we can do this switch of boxes in comfort. He said it would last longer than that. But I want it done on my terms and not on a failure term in the middle of winter again. So Summer it will get done with a new updated style Meter Box coming into the house.
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Summer is Fine.
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You don't need a new Box they are making excusses for something that happened on their end.
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Gizmologist09
enthusiast
Reged: 02/08/09
Posts: 265
Loc: Palmdale, California USA
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You are being fed a line of BS. The only problem was a loose connection that was arcing. If the loose connection was on the POCO side of the meter it is 100% their responsibility and simply moving the wires to another side of the box to utilize an unused meter base was a thoroughly incorrect and unprofessional "fix".
There is no such issue as "too much power" etc.
The drop lines from the POCO are the same to your neighbors homes and your problem was simply a loose connection that was allowed to exist for too long. The wires should have probably been replaced or at least cut back to clean conductors about 6 inches as there can be oxidation and residue from burned insulation up inside the jacket.
This situation should NEVER recur if the replacement meter is installed and the wires are replaced with undamaged wire.
Any POCO employee who tells you this WILL occur again is not doing a proper job and does not understand HOW to do a proper job. Get an electrician out to closely examine the box AND the wire.
Edited by Gizmologist09 (01/25/10 11:43 AM)
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