It feels like I'm buying light bulbs every time I turn around...I've had two laptops and a video camera whose batteries won't charge anymore; to use them, I need to have them plugged up. What's going on? How expensive is the solution?
p.s. I'm about to walk out the door, but I WILL choose a best answer, probably in the morning.
2007-10-18 09:54:53 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Home & Garden ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
I had the same problem for years in my house before we remodeled it (near complete rebuild) last year. And, after replacing all of the house wiring, it hasn't happened since.
The problem was that the house was originally built in 1946 and, while some of the wiring had been replaced with copper romex cable, a lot of the wiring in the walls and attic were the original cloth-insulated wires that were installed when the house was built. So, we had this electrical system where some new shiny copper wires were connected to old partially corroded wires. And, this caused excessive voltage drops - especially under high load - that would make the lamps draw excessive current (wattage = current x voltage x a constant power factor for AC - reduce the voltage and it takes more current to power the load).
When we had the house remodeled, we also had the power drop from the pole to our house replaced. The connections to the house looked kind of corroded before we had it done. So, that probably contributed to the problem as well.
If you have a bad power drop, the electric company will fix that for free (they own everything from the power meter out to the street). If you have old wiring that's faulty, it will have to be replaced. And that can be expensive, especially if they have to fish the wires through the walls or cut out drywall to route the new wiring. Our wiring was installed when the house was down to bare studs, so it wasn't as bad as if we weren't remodeling at the time. But figure at least several thousand dollars to rewire your whole house, anyway.
2007-10-18 10:14:56 · answer #1 · answered by Paul in San Diego 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Buy better light bulbs, cheap ones burn out quicker. Replace the batteries, they only charge so many times before dying and not taking a charge.
2007-10-18 20:33:36 · answer #2 · answered by John himself 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Call your local energy company explain the problem to them and have them come out and test the power coming into your home if the voltage is to high or less it will cause problems to all your appliances as well as electronic you have pluged in. have them come out it is free of charge if it is something on there end they will fix it no charge. But if not you will need to call and electrician to come out. You should have this taking care of ASAP. GOOD LUCK
2007-10-18 17:44:46 · answer #3 · answered by John T 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Contact your power company and ask the to place a recorder on your power. They will be able to tell if you are getting low voltage or voltage spikes. Should be no charge.
2007-10-18 17:14:06 · answer #4 · answered by united9198 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
You need to have some one come in and run a voltage test on your outlets and look at your breaker panel.
2007-10-18 17:08:16 · answer #5 · answered by cfb193 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋