Electrical Gremlin at home?

it is weird here. But it creates a bit of competition you can go online and choose your electric company based on kilowatt hour I had let things slide a bit I guess because I realized I locked in at 9 cents per kilowatt hour 2 years ago but the contract expired and so they bumped it up to 14.

looks like I average around 4,000 kilowatt hours per month. I'm going to make it a personal goal to get that number down that seems really high to me
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
it is weird here. But it creates a bit of competition you can go online and choose your electric company based on kilowatt hour I had let things slide a bit I guess because I realized I locked in at 9 cents per kilowatt hour 2 years ago but the contract expired and so they bumped it up to 14.

looks like I average around 4,000 kilowatt hours per month. I'm going to make it a personal goal to get that number down that seems really high to me
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Holy crap..... We pay about 1/3 that...
 
Henning said:
Not in TX, you can buy your electricity from third party providers who do not maintain the local infrastructure.
Click to expand...

Exactly, it is indeed an asinine system. I used to have to deal with it (managed a couple hundred properties in TX) but no more, thank god.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
it is weird here. But it creates a bit of competition you can go online and choose your electric company based on kilowatt hour I had let things slide a bit I guess because I realized I locked in at 9 cents per kilowatt hour 2 years ago but the contract expired and so they bumped it up to 14.

looks like I average around 4,000 kilowatt hours per month. I'm going to make it a personal goal to get that number down that seems really high to me
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I am running around 1800-2000 KwH/Mo. All electric, two children, three hp sys totaling 5.5 Tons, 80 gal water heater, includes workshop/garage/air compressor. Bill runs $230-280/mo.

Yes, you can probably do better.
 
In Texas, here is how you choose your electric service. Similar to a cell phone.

999921621333.jpg
 
I am thinking about going with
"logo for BRILLIANT ENERGY LLC" haha
 
Call Oncor, they are responsible for the transmission lines.

1.888.313.4747
(24 hours, seven days a week)
 
"Press 1 to report a power line down" hmmm nope
"Press 2 to report a power outage in your area" hmmm nope
"Press 3 to report flickering street lights" hmmm nope
"Press 7 to repeat these options" hmmm

I pressed 0 and got transferred to service.

Sending someone out today to determine if the issue is on the outside or an issue inside.

They groom people to be politicians at Oncor I think:

Me: "When are they coming?"
Them: "I can't give you a time"

Me: "Ok, so they will call me when they are done and let me know"
Them: "No sir"

Me: "But it will be today?"
Them: "Yes sir"

Me: "How will I know when they are done?"
Them: "After they close the case, you can call us and we will let you know"

Me: "They are not going to call me and let me know if there is an issue?"
Them: "Sorry for the inconvenience in my experience it is not normal for them to call"

Me: "So I just call you then?"
Them: "Yes sir"

Me: "How do I know when to call you?"
Them: "Sorry, I can't answer that"

Me: "This is all a bit vague. You can understand why I might be confused?"
Them: "Is there anything else you needed?"

Me:"Okay, I guess I will call you around 4:50 today and you may or may not have info for me then?"
Them: "Yes sir. Have a great day"
 
Call your provider they wil in turn call Tx/ New Mex. call an electrician . You said its underground. That brings in a whole other set of possibilities . If you URD( underground) is direct bury & over 20 years old, it could be the problem. Could be connections have gotten loose in Transformer or Junction Pedestal if you share one with another house. Call the electrician & at least get a ground rod driven on your service while you're waiting.

P.S . Or it could be as simple as a lose lug in your main breaker panel. People don't realize that as your house heats & cools during the day it expands & contracts. Also it vibrates from wind . You can't see it but it's doing it .
 
They apparently went to the same customer service seminar as Comcast.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
"Press 1 to report a power line down" hmmm nope
"Press 2 to report a power outage in your area" hmmm nope
"Press 3 to report flickering street lights" hmmm nope
"Press 7 to repeat these options" hmmm

I pressed 0 and got transferred to service.

Sending someone out today to determine if the issue is on the outside or an issue inside.

They groom people to be politicians at Oncor I think:

Me: "When are they coming?"
Them: "I can't give you a time"

Me: "Ok, so they will call me when they are done and let me know"
Them: "No sir"

Me: "But it will be today?"
Them: "Yes sir"

Me: "How will I know when they are done?"
Them: "After they close the case, you can call us and we will let you know"

Me: "They are not going to call me and let me know if there is an issue?"
Them: "Sorry for the inconvenience in my experience it is not normal for them to call"

Me: "So I just call you then?"
Them: "Yes sir"

Me: "How do I know when to call you?"
Them: "Sorry, I can't answer that"

Me: "This is all a bit vague. You can understand why I might be confused?"
Them: "Is there anything else you needed?"

Me:"Okay, I guess I will call you around 4:50 today and you may or may not have info for me then?"
Them: "Yes sir. Have a great day"
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There's a 167 kVA transformer in my alley that feeds five houses. One morning a few weeks ago the primary fuse on the overhead line blew. I knew this because my CPAP machine quit and I dreamed I was underwater unable to breathe ( :D ). When I went outside and saw the fuse hanging I knew what the problem was.

Anyway I called Oncor and a service truck was in the alley in literally fifteen minutes. The guy must have been drinking coffee a block away. He pulled the fuse loop, put in a new cartridge fuse and lights were back on in twenty flat.

Amazing.
 
3393RP said:
Call Oncor, they are responsible for the transmission lines.

1.888.313.4747
(24 hours, seven days a week)
Click to expand...

dingdingdingdingdingdingdingdingdingdingdingdingding

Tell them your lights are constantly flickering, you hear buzzing sometimes, and the bulbs are burning out quickly. They should be there within hours.

<edit; I didn't read further down.>

Would be useful if you had that multimeter right now. If you get one, I can walk you through a ground loop check.
 
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SixPapaCharlie said:
I have one
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1) Locate your earth ground. It's going to be near your meter. You should see a stub of a copper rod sticking out of the ground with a green wire on it. If not, look around your pool equipment for a earth ground rod. Somewhere you have an earth ground rod sticking into the ground, and there will be a green wire.

2) Take a long extension cord, like 75-100 feet and go to the furthest outlet from your meter. Probably up stairs, far away from where the power enters the house. Plug it into an outlet there. Also plug a hair dryer, or vacuum into the same outlet.

3) Run the other end of the extension cord out where the earth ground rod is.

4) set your meter for volts, and if not autoranging, set it for 200 volt AC. Double check you have it on AC volts.

5) Clean off a spot on the earth rod(not on the green wire leading to it). Touch and hold your black meter lead to the clean spot on the earth rod.

6) CAREFULLY insert the red meter lead into all three legs of the extension cord while it's plugged in to the furthest outlet, and the hair dryer or vac is still running.

If your meter is NOT auto ranging, when you get to the ground conductor socket of the extension cord, lower the range from 200 down to 20, or 2 until you get a good reading. Report your results from all three legs of the extension cord.
 
docmirror said:
1) Locate your earth ground. It's going to be near your meter.
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If it's a normal North Texas subdivision home the service is going to be grounded to the water piping system. No ground rod. This is legal per the NEC.

Typically a bare #6 is run from the main panel ground bar through the exterior stud wall and attached via a listed clamping device to the closest copper pipe which feeds an exterior hose bibb. You would have to open up the wall to find the bond.

He should be more interested in checking the neutral/ground bond in the main panel IMO.
 
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The city guy just left and he says it is good on his side.
I am having an electrician come check the house in the morning.

I don't have the energy to mess with it and it is covered by warranty.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
The city guy just left and he says it is good on his side.
I am having an electrician come check the house in the morning.

I don't have the energy to mess with it and it is covered by warranty.
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Mention something along the lines of what I described above.
 
If your electrician finds nothing wrong inside, he'll probably tell you what I'm going to tell you. Call the power company again. Demand they come back and insist there is a serious fire hazard because of the problem between the pole and your meter. I am not kidding.

I've seen this numerous times with the fire department. The entire house will be filled with smoke and the power company will stand outside insisting there is nothing wrong. They do not want to be liable for all the damage so they will deny it until the bitter end. In the most recent case, it took three tries before they admitted it was there problem, pulled the underground wires, and replaced it.
 
3393RP said:
If it's a normal North Texas subdivision home the service is going to be grounded to the water piping system. No ground rod. This is legal per the NEC.

Typically a bare #6 is run from the main panel ground bar through the exterior stud wall and attached via a listed clamping device to the closest copper pipe which feeds an exterior hose bibb. You would have to open up the wall to find the bond.

He should be more interested in checking the neutral/ground bond in the main panel IMO.
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OK, sounds good. I'm out west in the country. We have a big rod in the ground even though we have copper water from the meter.

One step at a time on the ground loop. We can get there depending on what he found. But - he's gonna let the pros do it, which is fine too. No WAY I want him inside the main panel.
 
docmirror said:
OK, sounds good. I'm out west in the country. We have a big rod in the ground even though we have copper water from the meter.

One step at a time on the ground loop. We can get there depending on what he found. But - he's gonna let the pros do it, which is fine too. No WAY I want him inside the main panel.
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I would die so fat
 
Banjo33 said:
And she likes airplanes...double-whammy, lol
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Gah! Didn't think of that. I should have been more explicit with my instructions above:

1) Take your shoes off, and pour some water on the floor behind the dryer.

2) Get a steel fork from the kitchen, and bend two tines down.

3) Now, remove the big plug from the wall behind the dryer and while standing in the water......

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

What??????
 
docmirror said:
Gah! Didn't think of that. I should have been more explicit with my instructions above:

1) Take your shoes off, and pour some water on the floor behind the dryer.

2) Get a steel fork from the kitchen, and bend two tines down.

3) Now, remove the big plug from the wall behind the dryer and while standing in the water......

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

What??????
Click to expand...


:lol:....:lol:.....:yikes:
 
docmirror said:
Gah! Didn't think of that. I should have been more explicit with my instructions above:

1) Take your shoes off, and pour some water on the floor behind the dryer.

2) Get a steel fork from the kitchen, and bend two tines down.

3) Now, remove the big plug from the wall behind the dryer and while standing in the water......

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

What??????
Click to expand...

Ok, now what
 
Sorry, no house calls.


Uh - wait, now hold on there....:cheerswine:
 
Pedals2Paddles said:
If your electrician finds nothing wrong inside, he'll probably tell you what I'm going to tell you. Call the power company again. Demand they come back and insist there is a serious fire hazard because of the problem between the pole and your meter. I am not kidding.

I've seen this numerous times with the fire department. The entire house will be filled with smoke and the power company will stand outside insisting there is nothing wrong. They do not want to be liable for all the damage so they will deny it until the bitter end. In the most recent case, it took three tries before they admitted it was there problem, pulled the underground wires, and replaced it.
Click to expand...

And the most recent case I had , the consumer called in blinking lights. I go & check . It is a service we upgraded from transformer to new meter loop. Tell him we are good, he calls electrician. Surprise Suprise , electrician says it not on his side. I go back. FIRST thing I do is pull front off his main panel. Start moving wire of underground coming in. Neutral lug isn't even touching the wire. Tighten it up no more problem. Did electricians job & he got to charge for a service call. I've got " numerous examples""too.
 
I don't doubt it. There are lazy asses on both sides. Unfortunately the utility company has everything to lose, nothing to gain, and a management bureaucracy behind it. So when the house is full of smoke, they would go in looking for evidence it isn't their problem, and conveniently not notice the evidence that it is their problem.

Sometimes the problem was well hidden. I can see them missing it the first time. And when called back a second time, the lineman is now going in assuming he was right, that there is nothing wrong, and this is a waste of time. It's human nature. And management will totally agree because they don't want the bill.

Meanwhile, the house is still on fire.
 
Texastaildragger said:
FIRST thing I do is pull front off his main panel. Start moving wire of underground coming in. Neutral lug isn't even touching the wire. Tighten it up no more problem.
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I suspect a similar issue with the OP's service...it appears to be a floating neutral.
 
Yep, but since it's all under warranty, plus the fact that he doesn't feel comfortable working in a live box, I think his decision to let a pro handle it is the wise one.
 
This thread is really interesting, to me. At our hotel in Iowa, we went through light bulbs continuously. I mean, I had a case of light bulbs in stock at all times, and started most days replacing some, somewhere, throughout the three buildings.

Down here in Texas, even though our island's power grid is pretty rickety, by comparison (when we moved here five years ago, the power failed every time it rained. Really! It's better, now.) I NEVER replace light bulbs.

I now keep an 8-pack of curly-cues in stock, and rarely replace them. It's great.

Up in Iowa we had 3-phase power. Man, that stuff is WEIRD. Never could get anyone to explain it to me in any comprehensible way. Down here we have "regular" power, and -- even though we have 25 HVAC compressors running at any given time -- it's apparently more "steady" than in Iowa.

Electricity = Magic. :)
 
Henning said:
Yep, but since it's all under warranty, plus the fact that he doesn't feel comfortable working in a live box, I think his decision to let a pro handle it is the wise one.
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They guy that came out yesterday told me "Just take the garage panel off and look for any loose screws, wires, etc."

Maybe I could do that but a hundred bucks on one side of the scale and dorking with electricity on the other side... I'd rather part with the money in this instance.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
They guy that came out yesterday told me "Just take the garage panel off and look for any loose screws, wires, etc."

Maybe I could do that but a hundred bucks on one side of the scale and dorking with electricity on the other side... I'd rather part with the money in this instance.
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I never advise anyone who isn't comfortable working with electricity to go in their box. The reality is it's quite simple and safe to do so, but there are a couple things to avoid doing, and some properly rated tools you should have.
 
Jay Honeck said:
This thread is really interesting, to me. At our hotel in Iowa, we went through light bulbs continuously. I mean, I had a case of light bulbs in stock at all times, and started most days replacing some, somewhere, throughout the three buildings.

Down here in Texas, even though our island's power grid is pretty rickety, by comparison (when we moved here five years ago, the power failed every time it rained. Really! It's better, now.) I NEVER replace light bulbs.

I now keep an 8-pack of curly-cues in stock, and rarely replace them. It's great.

Up in Iowa we had 3-phase power. Man, that stuff is WEIRD. Never could get anyone to explain it to me in any comprehensible way. Down here we have "regular" power, and -- even though we have 25 HVAC compressors running at any given time -- it's apparently more "steady" than in Iowa.

Electricity = Magic. :)
Click to expand...

3 phase is quite simple. Rather than the electric phases being split 2 ways 180° alternate as with your 240 'regular' power, it is split 3 ways at 120° with any 2 legs being active at a time. Basically anything that is not designed for three phase power will only be connected to 2 legs and have a 120° of 360° "dead zone" for 240V or will have have 120° hot, 240° neutral for 120 power. This of course is if you don't have an inverter or converter reprocess the power into 240 split phase. 3 phase electric motors are more power efficient as well as torquier than their 2 split phase or single phase counter parts.
 
I was stuck to a computer cart that was electrocuting me in my high school shop class. Faulty power strip, metal computer cart. It was going in my hand, up my right arm, across my chest, and down my left arm to the cart. I couldn't move. I couldn't let go. Every muscle in my body was stuck in place. I couldn't speak. I couldn't breath. I could see and make some gurgling noises, that's it.

I was stuck there for almost a minute completely helpless. I'm not even sure what I was thinking about while this was going on. Probably not much. Finally a classmate looked over and thought I looked a little strange. He asked "are you ok?" and put two and two together when I couldn't respond.

He ran over and hit the E-Stop button on the wall cutting power to the whole shop. I kind dropped off it and into a chair. Let me tell you, that was the deepest, most wonderful breath I've ever taken when it stopped. This was probably 15 years ago and I can see the whole thing like it happened yesterday clear as day. That incident and seeing TWA800 explode off the beach are the only two things I remember so clearly, I could draw a picture with my eyes shut.

I'd like to not repeat that. It's unlikely I would be so lucky twice.
 
Pedals2Paddles said:
I was stuck to a computer cart that was electrocuting me in my high school shop class. Faulty power strip, metal computer cart. It was going in my hand, up my right arm, across my chest, and down my left arm to the cart. I couldn't move. I couldn't let go. Every muscle in my body was stuck in place. I couldn't speak. I couldn't breath. I could see and make some gurgling noises, that's it.

I was stuck there for almost a minute completely helpless. I'm not even sure what I was thinking about while this was going on. Probably not much. Finally a classmate looked over and thought I looked a little strange. He asked "are you ok?" and put two and two together when I couldn't respond.

He ran over and hit the E-Stop button on the wall cutting power to the whole shop. I kind dropped off it and into a chair. Let me tell you, that was the deepest, most wonderful breath I've ever taken when it stopped. This was probably 15 years ago and I can see the whole thing like it happened yesterday clear as day. That incident and seeing TWA800 explode off the beach are the only two things I remember so clearly, I could draw a picture with my eyes shut.

I'd like to not repeat that. It's unlikely I would be so lucky twice.
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120 or 240 is the worst because it won't let you go like you describe. but it's the amps that will kill you. It only takes a few milli-amps to get your heart out a whack.
If you ever suspect a device might be " energized" use the back of your hand or finger nails to test it if you don't have a voltmeter.also if your wife ever gets out of the shower and says she was getting shocked by the water, believe her. I've seen it happen 3 times. Voltage got on the system neutral and was going into the houses on two of them. Came from consumer equip. that wasn't properly grounded and had shorted against breaker panel.The other one was caused by phone company's grounded to house plumbing and had a problem.
 
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