Me personally, I think I would kill that breaker, remove it, see what things look like where it snaps onto the buss bar, see what the wire connection looks like, then pull the receptacle and look at the connections there too...for a start. I would be surprised if the commercial electrician that wired things up has the load on the (2) 120V legs unbalanced so bad as to cause this...plus, if that were the case I'd think that it would do it sometimes, and not others, due to the loads in your house being constantly variable.
It's not...although I have thought that before, if I built a new house...all wiring in EMT would be a PITA to install, but would be safer, and much easier to swap out/upgrade/add circuits in the future, especially if the walls were spray foamed...I wonder how many people that have their places foamed have thought of the issues with that in the future....
I am not trained and I have gotten in over my head in these things in the past- not afraid to get there again! I will do some of the trouble shooting and depending on what I find, I may call someone. I was going to call someone for a whole house filter before you guys enlightened me on all of the various potential issues. Now at least I have an idea of what i am looking at.
This started happening to us after we installed a newer Samsung washer. The motor doesn’t just turn in these, it moves in bursts about 3-4 at a time. And when it does, the bathroom lights flicker with its movements. No loose connections, just a drop of voltage that’s seen in the lights. Being I have an extensive background in 12v car electrical, this reminds me of why guys/gals (me included) add large 1+ farad capacitors in car audio systems. When the bass drum “hits”, it dims the dash/headlights because the alternator can’t keep up. The capacitor smooths out the voltage by storing and very quickly releasing “power” when the amps need it. Since this circuit can’t keep up, are there any similar ways to deal with this uneven demand of power in home electronics?
When it comes to wiring, basically anything that doesn't look "new condition" could/should be suspect.
Some of the fancier UPS units provide constant stabilized voltage...might be a bit spendy for this issue though...
That was what I was thinking when I added the in-line power supply/conditioner. I remember the old Monster Cable ads from a few years ago where they show a noisy line and then a clean line. Do they make a plug in capacitor?
That was funny, I don't care who you are. Well, unless you aren't familiar with that particular thread
How close to the panel is the washer? I’m thinking a little bit loose connection that shows up with the physical vibration caused by the running washer. Lights used to flicker for no apparent reason in my old house. Had an electrician check it out, but couldn’t find anything. He suggested to contact the power company, turns out it was a poor connection in the over head line from the pole to the meter which is mounted on the side of the house.
If there is a bad connection in the outlet box the wire for the washer might be getting warm. Unless you have an awful tiny water tank on your well pump it shouldn't be cycling on and off that often. Unless. The bladder in the tank is shot. You could test this by turning a faucet on and off in the house simulating the washer relays and see if the same thing happens with the lights flickering. Is this a new problem ? New washer ? Related to Global Warming and you need to be hand washing in the local river and line drying your clothes ?
This is a very likely possibility... ! I haven't been able to test all this stuff yet but it seems like the flicker has been getting worse since maybe Feb. It was there, but not very noticible. Today, I had the shop vac running, a reciprocating multi-tool, and a 50w led shop light and that was causing a lot of dimming. The fridge would kick on and everything dims... maybe I am just noticing everything now. I am thinking it is a bigger issue with the panel and less to do with the well, or even the washer for that matter.
First thing I'd do is have your electric utility check things from the road to their meter, make sure there is no issue on their side of things...
Hmm.... ok, so I got an infra red heat gun on the panels. The main panel looks fine. The sub panel has all of the flickering stuff including lights, washer, electric range, etc. The sump pump breaker is 6° hotter than everything else. I have a dehumidifier and a sump pump on that breaker- they have been running all day today because it has been raining. Is that a problem? As I mentioned, the panel is new, professionally installed about 2 years ago. Edit- the sub panel has 2 "100" breakers from the main panel.
If everything on the sub panel is dimming, it sounds like it may not have enough juice. Could this be the case?
Several years ago had a bad connection at the pole that fed our house. Till one day it didn’t and we had lost one leg to the house. The old connection had seen it’s better days...
Certainly possible...might check out the wires that feed the sub from the main panel too...and compare voltage on the main panel vs the sub when this flickering is happening...
