ELECTRICITY----HELP

[cris]

Is there anyone here that knows anything about voltage problems?  I sure hope there is cause I need some sort of help.

Here's the problem.................we've had loads of problems with our electric company.  For 14 years the electric just goes off.  Sometimes it's been off for 8 hours.  Other times 2 or 3 hours.  And still other times 15 minutes.  Sometimes it will go off and come right back on.  Our city council finally got involved about 16 months ago but it hasn't gotten any better.  The substation is old and VERY problematic.  I've been having appliance problems lately.  The electric stove electronic panel was replaced and both elements in the oven were replaced.  I won't tell you how much that was.  If an appliance repairman had done it, it would have cost over $800.  It cost me $400.  I have an accurate oven thermometer and it's holding at wherever it's set, but my food isn't getting done.  Cookies are all gooey underneath and can't be removed from the cookie sheet because of it.

NOW LISTEN................incoming voltage is 130 and should be about 120.  The volts on my 220 line read 260 and that's not good at all.  I've been smelling an odor that smells like hot motor oil when I turn on my oven.  I did smell it in my dishwasher, too.  The dishwasher motor was just replaced and the odor went away.  Called the electric company (for about the 500th time in 14 years) tonight and they are sending someone out.  Whoopie, they've sent 499 guys out before.

I'm hoping someone might have some input because I sure am out of answers (and money).  This has been a real hassle for years, and now my appliances are being affected.


BTW---------BEP------------I'm still getting these white pages and a long wait on CU...........this is a pain too as I'm on dial-up.  I know you are on dial-up, also.  Are you getting the white pages with the long wait?  I counted a few times.  It's a 20 to 30 second wait.

Grace and peace,
cris

[Soldier4Christ]

I worked as a licensed electrician for 15 yrs. I think I can help. Your low voltage system can run as high as 125 to 130 Volts without causing much trouble. The high voltage is using two poles of your electric box thereby the voltage will be approximately double the low voltage (150 to 160 Volts).

What causes your appliances the biggest problem is inconsistant voltage, especially big spikes (a sudden but sometimes brief, large increase). It will especially affect computers that are not surge protected. Another problem is in what is called Hertz. Household electricity runs on approx. 60 Hertz. If this is not fairly constant it cause appliances to run cold or extra hot wearing the parts out prematurely. You can tell if this is the problem by looking at incandesant bulbs. If the bulb looks weak, low in light, and flickers a lot the Hertz are too slow. If they are extra bright and steady the Hertz are to high.


If the utility company has a known problem and that problem is causing your appliances to go bad then they are responsible for repairing or replacing them. Depending on the utility company that may be a big fight to get it done.

[cris]

PR,

You're right..................it is, and has been a big fight with our electric company.  City council can't even get it resolved.  In the summer, sometimes we're running on 106 volts.  Then it slowly begins creeping back up.........108, 111, 113. 116, 120, 124, 126.............125, 124, 123 and on and on and on.  

Is there any type contraption I could put on my incoming electrical box to keep the voltage steady?  I know about surge protectors for inside the house and I have them on a few things, but not all.

Grace and peace,
cris

[Soldier4Christ]

There is no device available to keep your electricity stable outside of the utility company. There are surge protectors that can be placed in the line just prior to the service box. Usually those are so expensive that most people can't afford to get them. All those do is to protect against the sudden high voltage spikes. They do nothing to stablize power or to boost low power.

If it drops low like that and slowly climbs back up then it is definitely the utility companys fault that your appliances are going out. Does the problem seem to happen more at certain times of the day/night?

[nChrist]

Brother/Sister Cris,

 I know that I'm right with one of the above.

Reference computer problem today, I haven't gotten any of the white screens or long waits today. It was a little bit slow a couple of times, but things really seemed to return almost to normal. YES, I am on the old-fashioned dial-up, and my average connect speed is about 42 Kbps or less. I don't really have any moderate options where I live, just the low end and the very high end. I can't afford the very high end, so I guess it's a good thing that I rarely ever do anything on the Internet that absolutely requires high speed.

Reference the electricity problem, I do know that wildly fluctuating voltage or on and off electricity are very destructive to appliances, computers, and anything that uses electricity. I do know that a UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) is very good for computers. All a UPS does is even out the electricity from ups and downs in voltage, and it provides battery power when the electricity goes off, at least long enough for the computer to normally shut itself down. Other than the UPS for your computer, I wouldn't have a clue about possible answers. You can get a good UPS for your computer for about $120. I do know for positive that your electricity problem you currently have will eventually kill everything that uses electricity.

I'm sure there are some real answers, but I would guess they are all VERY EXPENSIVE (i.e. your own generators and a whole house equivalent of the UPS - probably way up in the thousands of dollars). I'm sorry that I didn't have any good news for you.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Romans 6:10-14 NASB  For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

[Soldier4Christ]

I didn't think about the UPS. You are right though in it's cost. It would be cost prohibitive for most households. In fact most buisnesses cannot afford them for full service uses.

A generator sufficient to run an entire home on for anything other than emergencies would also be very expensive.

[cris]

There is no device available to keep your electricity stable outside of the utility company. There are surge protectors that can be placed in the line just prior to the service box. Usually those are so expensive that most people can't afford to get them. All those do is to protect against the sudden high voltage spikes. They do nothing to stablize power or to boost low power.

If it drops low like that and slowly climbs back up then it is definitely the utility companys fault that your appliances are going out. Does the problem seem to happen more at certain times of the day/night?

How much is expensive?  Then again, it probably wouldn't even work for this problem.

No, the problem doesn't happen at certain times.  It's all over the place.  It could be any time of the day or night.

We know it's the utility company or else city council wouldn't be involved.  There was a town meeting 16 months ago.  Approximately 70 people from our immediate neighborhood showed up.  I will tell you, that's about all the neighbors did, though (show up to complain).  I'm the one constantly calling the electric company because I keep check with my voltage meter.  I guess no one else does.  If the neighbors appliances need repair, I'm sure they aren't thinking that the electric company is the problem.  It would take ALL of us calling ALL the time.  I can't get them to do this.  I tried.  Guess what?  Nothing will get done.  We're supposed to be a COMMUNITY.  We're supposed to be together on these kinds of problems, but I can't move these people.  More later about this kind of stuff.  I do have some more things to say about it.

OK..............the US is on 60 cycles (hertz).  I didn't think cycles changed.  I thought only the volts changed.  I can't answer your questions about the light bulbs.  At 130 volts, they certainly don't look low, but they don't look too bright, either------------rather normal, I guess.

Oh, I'm really hot under the collar.................arrrrrrgh!!!!

Grace and peace,
cris

[cris]

Brother/Sister Cris,

 I know that I'm right with one of the above.

Reference computer problem today, I haven't gotten any of the white screens or long waits today. It was a little bit slow a couple of times, but things really seemed to return almost to normal. YES, I am on the old-fashioned dial-up, and my average connect speed is about 42 Kbps or less. I don't really have any moderate options where I live, just the low end and the very high end. I can't afford the very high end, so I guess it's a good thing that I rarely ever do anything on the Internet that absolutely requires high speed.

Reference the electricity problem, I do know that wildly fluctuating voltage or on and off electricity are very destructive to appliances, computers, and anything that uses electricity. I do know that a UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) is very good for computers. All a UPS does is even out the electricity from ups and downs in voltage, and it provides battery power when the electricity goes off, at least long enough for the computer to normally shut itself down. Other than the UPS for your computer, I wouldn't have a clue about possible answers. You can get a good UPS for your computer for about $120. I do know for positive that your electricity problem you currently have will eventually kill everything that uses electricity.

I'm sure there are some real answers, but I would guess they are all VERY EXPENSIVE (i.e. your own generators and a whole house equivalent of the UPS - probably way up in the thousands of dollars). I'm sorry that I didn't have any good news for you.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Romans 6:10-14 NASB  For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

BEP,

I'm very happy to hear that you KNOW you're correct with one or the other...........................

Right now, the computer is the least of my problems with reference to the UPS.  This voltage problem is killing my other appliances.

Generators......................whole house generators are close to 8-10 thousand dollars.  I have a small one that retailed for $1,000 at Sears.  I think it's 5,000 volts.  It's been used but can only power up a few things, obviously, refrigerator, freezer, couple of lights and a couple of fans.  That's it, and it's just a portable one.

Computer------ WHITE PAGES....................I'm only getting them on CU.  No place else on the net.

Grace and peace,
cris

 

[Soldier4Christ]

I just did a look on the internet for a UPS. To get one large enough for your entire house we are talking at minimum $8,600.00 and that is for the minimum appliances, using gas stove, dryer and water heater. I think it would be cheaper to go to gas appliances.

The U.S. used to operate on 50 Hertz. Lighting was poor, bulbs had a tendency to show a slight flicker all the time so they boosted it to 60 Hertz. With AC current Hertz is simply the measurement of the wave length which is the amount of time it goes from zero to 125 Volts to zero to a neg 125 then back to zero (one wave length). 60 Hertz is 60 of those per second.

Hertz can also fluctuate if there is a problem with the generating equipment. If your bulbs seem to have normal output then it probably is not a problem there.

One other point. If your local phone service is using the same utility company it will have an effect on your internet.

[cris]

I just did a look on the internet for a UPS. To get one large enough for your entire house we are talking at minimum $8,600.00 and that is for the minimum appliances, using gas stove, dryer and water heater. I think it would be cheaper to go to gas appliances.

The U.S. used to operate on 50 Hertz. Lighting was poor, bulbs had a tendency to show a slight flicker all the time so they boosted it to 60 Hertz. With AC current Hertz is simply the measurement of the wave length which is the amount of time it goes from zero to 125 Volts to zero to a neg 125 then back to zero (one wave length). 60 Hertz is 60 of those per second.

Hertz can also fluctuate if there is a problem with the generating equipment. If your bulbs seem to have normal output then it probably is not a problem there.

One other point. If your local phone service is using the same utility company it will have an effect on your internet.

Yep, then I was correct in the price, too.  We have no gas line to our house.  We are totally electric, water heater, furnace, oven, stove, etc.

Interesting about the phone co. and the internet..............very interesting.  I never thought about that.............hmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Can I measure the hertz with an occilloscope (sp?).  If so, what shoud I look for?  I have a very old one up in the attic somewhere.

The bottom line...................am I really stuck?

Grace and peace,
cris

[Soldier4Christ]

An O scope can show the hertz if you have one that works for that high a voltage and you have it on the right settings. You would just need to check to see how many cycles it does each second. I wouldn't be able to help with the settings on it as each Oscope is somewhat different in it's settings/switches, etc.

If it is an old one that was used for TV repair then it probably has the capability of reading a 115 Volt line.

[Soldier4Christ]

No gas lines, UPS is out of range, community doesn't want to help, utility company won't take responsibility, I would say the only other alternative would be a law suit. If you feel as I do then the word law suit is a dirty word but it is one that sometimes must be used especially when you are having to put out so much money unnecessarily for repairs.

I have found sometimes that just the word alone, dropped to the right person, will get tremendous results.

[cris]

An O scope can show the hertz if you have one that works for that high a voltage and you have it on the right settings. You would just need to check to see how many cycles it does each second. I wouldn't be able to help with the settings on it as each Oscope is somewhat different in it's settings/switches, etc.

If it is an old one that was used for TV repair then it probably has the capability of reading a 115 Volt line.

Everyone in this area has the same voltage supply so would the scope even make a difference?  I checked my neighbors voltage tonight.  It's the same as mine and they are ON A DIFFERENT TRANSFORMER.  There's a DEFINITE problem with the EC's substation.............that's a known.  The substation can't change the cycles per second.  They can only vary the voltage and current.  Our electric company buys their electric from ?wherever........somewhere from the grid

Again, bottom line, am I stuck?


Grace and peace,
cris

 

[cris]

No gas lines, UPS is out of range, community doesn't want to help, utility company won't take responsibility, I would say the only other alternative would be a law suit. If you feel as I do then the word law suit is a dirty word but it is one that sometimes must be used especially when you are having to put out so much money unnecessarily for repairs.

I have found sometimes that just the word alone, dropped to the right person, will get tremendous results.

Yep, it is a dirty word and something that I've never done, but maybe you're right.  Now PR, who might that "right" person be?  Any ideas?

Should I go to city hall with that word?  Who might the right person be there?  Sorry for these questions, but I've never done this before.

Grace and peace,
cris

[nChrist]

Pastor Roger and Cris,

Both of you know more about this than I do, especially after you started using all the big words.  

All of this big money talk has convinced me that it's time to go back to candles, tents, and an abacus for a computer.

Who needs a washer and dryer for wash and wear clothes? You simply jump in the creek and wash while you wear. No water bills, and you took care of the bath at the same time. You also did away with the water heater.

We can also get rid of the telephone, television, and teletype  with tell-a-woman.  

We're going to offer classes on making fire by rubbing sticks together. Sign up soon since room is limited in the tent.

After this, we are planning numerous karate classes for men so they can defend themselves from their wives.