Any Electricians

Grimster74

Okay, I've noticed for the last 2 days between the hours of 10 p.m. to midnight that the incoming power to my house has increased. Both of my HTS 5100's (upstairs & downstairs) usually display the power coming into the unit as 120-122, for the last 2 days between those hours, they have both been reading between 130-135 with the abnormal voltage light on. As far as all the gear downstairs, I've unplugged everything. My question is, should I call the power company and have them come take a look at it.

Saturday night around that time I noticed my house was hotter than normal as well. After doing some trouble shooting I noticed my outside ac unit wasn't working, no fan, no noise, just hot as hell when you touched the top of the unit. My step father owns his own ac company and is coming by today to have a look at the unit and from what I told him he said it sound like a capacitor could have blown on the unit. Could my sudden spike in electricity have been caused by the unit freezing up or could have my unit blowing a capacitor been caused by the sudden spike in electricity. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Rob

Sherardp

call electrician. Something is definitely going on. If youre worried about it you could buy a voltage stabalizer and run that between incoming power and the monster 5100. I use transformers here and they keep a constant 120 to both monster Power Conditioners. Worth a google to say the least.

ajanzalone

I am not sure why the higher voltages,
but the lower voltage under 105vac and below is a brown out condition, that the utilities do at "High Load" hours .. when most AC or Heat is being used.

Brown outs can cause a High Amp draw, especially on amp hungry equipment like an AC compressor.
This can cause damage in some older AC units.

Hope this helps
Tony

Grimster74

Well, my step dad just came by and said it WAS a blown capacitor, on his way to pick up a new one now. Figures, yesterday was the hottest damn day we've have in a month, 99 degrees with a heat index of 110 and my damn AC stopped working Saturday Night. Question now is, do I call the power company to find out whats going on?

Ricardo

I would call and let them know you are getting those high voltages.

Grimster74

Okay, called the power company to make sure they note on my account about my power issues. The gentleman I talked with explained to me that chances are when the capacitor blew, it had to discharge all the stored power it was holding so it was probaly back fed into the house. Told me to keep an eye on it and if it does it again to call them back and they will come out and place something on the box outside that keeps track of the power coming into the house so that way they can tell if it's the power companys problem or if its time to call an electrician. Anyways, AC has been fixed and power company has been called and noted so hopefully this was an isolated incident. Thanks guys!

Rob

Deadof_knight

OK blown capacitor where ? on the a/c unit . Thise capacitors are smalls and would discharge fairly quickly. Or are we talking about a capacitor on the incomming line those banks are fairly large I have no clue how long they would take but I cant imagine much more than a few hours. I use to work on the high voltage crews for the military base here. Usually its a low voltage problem not a high .... sounds fishy!

disneyjoe7

Power companies use caps on their lines in the field, to balance out voltage to loads. I had an issue 20 years ago like that high voltage, where the electric company placed a chart meter on my line. They did find high voltage and needed to remove some caps in the line to rebalance the voltage.

I'm not a electrician or lines man by trade, so my terms may not be 100% just my $.02

ben62670

If the AC cap blew there might be a sudden surge. It certainly would not cause a steady over voltage situation. I would call again, and let them know they will have to replace a lot of expensive rear if this continues. 130 is not normal.

Lowell_M

Shouldn't the HTS shut power to the HT down at that high a voltage?

A capacitor absolutely would not raise the voltage of your house for an extended period of time. Something is up.

If you have any electrician friends, or need to call an electrician... ask them if they have an IDEAL Industries Voltage Performance Monitor (61-830)

http://www.idealindustries.com/prodDetail.do?prodId=61-830

They cost around $600 ish, but are exactly what you need to track down what is going on with your power.

Marty913

ben62670 wrote: »

If the AC cap blew there might be a sudden surge. It certainly would not cause a steady over voltage situation. I would call again, and let them know they will have to replace a lot of expensive rear if this continues. 130 is not normal.

I agree BUT it would not be unusual to see a 5-10% fluctuation in voltage level at any given time. With an optimal stable input of 120 it would not be unusual to see 115 or 130 occasionally. The key word is occasional, and I might add "short duration". If you are running 130-135 for hours, something is wrong. With the associated surge when air compressors cycle on and off, it certainly could have contributed to the A/C problem. The A/C compressor would be 220-240 so it could be seeing 260-270 plus the normal on/off surge.

I'd keep a close eye on it and make sure the power company has your concerns on record. A call to your insurance guy/girl might also be a good idea.