What a week. Bad wind storms earlier this week. Our power flickered more than usual, but with the wind, it really wasn't that surprising. What was surprising was when it happened when I was in the bathroom and the light went out for 3 or 4 seconds - but the bedroom light stayed on. We realized that only part of the house was going out - the rest was good.

First thought - problem with the wiring in the house. Called my dad, who used to be an electrician, described what was happening and asked if he'd ever seen this. "Yeah, that's not all that uncommon. You have a loose connection on one leg coming into the house."

Called the power company. They said they'd send someone out. They called back - at 1 AM. We said it had stopped because the wind had died down, but I asked if someone could still check it out in the next 2-3 days. The guy said he'd send someone. And he did - they showed up at 2:30 AM. I was still awake because I was off all week. Couldn't see much, so he said he'd send someone out the next day. That guy came out, said it looked to be in the tree, he'd schedule a service crew, who would probably replace my neighbor's outdated feed. I noticed yesterday that was done.

Today, the problem happened again, but with much less wind. Called back to see if they were still planning to trim the trees. The CSR said nothing was noted, but she'd send someone out. That guy came out, I told him what was up, and he said he'd investigate a few things.

That was where the good news ended. Turns out the wire where the power company's line connects to mine went bad (this is a long-term process). Not something the power company fixes. Have to get an electrician in - oh, and by the way, you have 10 days to get it done. The guy said they'd probably run a new line from the connection down to the meter, a new meter pan, and a new line into the house, and because I have fuses, they'd probably want to do a new service panel.

First call was to my dad to see if he knew anyone (he's retired). The guy he usually works with is away hunting. He didn't really know anyone else. Long story short, we got in touch with a company owned my one of my daughter's friend's dad, and they're coming out tom'w. Going to be a four-figure repair, but it has to be done - we only have half power. We've got the furnace, some of the bedroom lights, and a circuit in the kitchen. The rest is out. I'm running my cable modem, TV and fridge off an extension cord (there was only a microwave on that circuit), and we may add a lamp just for some light.

Not how I wanted to spend the last two days of vacation...

Sounds like a major hassle. I'm sorry you're having to deal with that, Alan.

Looking for a silver lining ... by fixing it, you might be averting an electrical fire in the future, and God knows what kind of damage.

WOW, sorry to here this Alan. Very scary when issues with electricity are involved. I hope they correct this ASAP so there's electric access and peace of mind.

I understand the thing about vacation as well, took a week off about a month ago to be here for a new roof and I realize as they are unpacking the tiles and loading on to the roof are the WRONG freak'in tile type. Call the owner of the company, he at least admits it's his mistake but now he's freakin because he cannot return it for a refund because of the unpacking. He offers a token discount, basically an insult on top of the delays and stress. It's a no go so now the replacement tile is delayed and I still do not have the complete installation. The new stick-em at least protect the house from water damage will await but what a screw-up. Some vacation...

Rick A.

Don't power up the PRS Archon stack and turn on the PRS Tremonti!
I kid, hope it all works out. Being a home owner can be a pain.

Invest in a generator back up. Best thing I ever did

Sound like a nightmare, Alan. Sorry, at least things will be updated.

I know - first world problems. And believe me - I am grateful that it wasn't something worse. And that it was found while the weather is good enough that it should be easy enough for the guys to fix. It's an unplanned expense, but it's part of home ownership.

It's weird though, how it's affected me mentally today. I don't have a fear of the dark, but once the sun went down, it just felt like there was something sucking the life out of the room. Even though I had the TV wired up and was watching stuff. And even though I know exactly what the problem is and what the situation is, every time I heard a truck, my brain went "power company?"

I feel kind of bad for my dad through this - if I had a dollar for every time he apologized or said he felt bad that he couldn't come out to take care of this, I might have made a profit on the deal. He and I have talked for years about replacing the fuse box, but I never found a time that was convenient for me to do it. Not that it would have helped this problem - I'd still have to have someone out to fix this.

And I do have a generator - and guess what else I've put off? Getting the wiring done to use it to power the house (instead of just running extension cords). That's something my dad and I will be doing (unless the electrician will do it for way cheap). At least it will be much easier with a breaker box.

Don't get me wrong - it sucks that this happened, but it's much better to find out this way rather than from a fire inspector. And it's not a sudden issue - this is something that developed over a long time. And it's gong to be better when it's done.

And it looks like I won't have to go in to the office an extra day...

Sorry to hear of your electrical problems. A dark house is not a fun place to be when not fully prepared for it.

My earnest hope is when you spend all that money to get it fixed, that it turns out that WAS the problem, properly identified, and it doesn't subsequently turn out to be something else, too, or something else that ALSO needs fixing.

Good luck.

Oh no - this was definitely the problem. I saw the wire myself.

Looks like the work will be done Thursday. Waiting for a callback with price info so we can decide exactly what is going to get done, but I'll likely be wired for the generator when all is finished. Unfortunately, it means I will have to go to the office on Thursday. Which kinda sucks.

I mean that even though doubtless that WAS a problem, once work begins, it often happens they find other things that need to be or should be addressed, too, while they're at it. And one really has little choice but to get it done since it does need doing and probably would only cost all the more if left for later.

Anyway, here's to hoping it all comes in under budget, whatever it all may turn out to be.

The guy this morning said it looks pretty straightforward - not a huge number of circuits, no surprises in the box. The generator may be an additional level of complexity, but nothing huge. But probably cheaper to do now rather than later.

Well, the work got done today. Had my dad (the retired electrician) come out just in case there were questions, so my son didn't have to deal with alone (I had to go into the office, what with the no power and all). At 3:00, I got a text from my son that said "POWER!" Everything went smoothly, including making my son switch one of the last two-prong outlets in the house to a grounded outlet.

When I got home, it didn't take long to realize how bad my power was and how long it had been bad - when I opened the door to my son's room, I had to squint a bit. The lights were noticeably brighter to me. Same in a couple other rooms that were on that leg. But the real test - I turned the TV on, then turned on the stereo. For about a year or so, doing it in that order caused the UPS to click and beep - not actually kick on, just the beep that says there's not enough power coming in. Not a flinch. For the first time in years, it's all solid.

Yay! So glad everything worked out.

Nothing sounds quite so good as reliable, well-grounded, up to code electrical work. Congrats

Wish I had it. I've still got a few two-prong outlets, and while I've grounded some others, some of those were done in the cheap and dirty way - stringing a wire to a nearby water pipe.

I've still got knob and tube stuff in the attic. And I've got at least one older low amp leg that'll snap the breaker if anyone dares run two heating units at once.

Nothing actaully dangerous or causing flickering, but I bet it'd be nice to have two or three grounded outlet recepticles per room instead of just one two-prong outlet. Well, what do I expect in a house that's over 120 years old? Not that the wiring is that old, but a whole house upgrade has never been done, and the fact I've got knob and tube stuff and the lights don't have more than two wires to work with has sometimes been a limitation. No idea what it would cost to rewire the whole house - too much, I'm guessing.

But it's nice to hear it when it happens for somebody else all the same.

Enjoy