Power Dips

Over the past couple weeks we've been having increasing power dips in our electricity.  I would think it would be one appliance or another if it weren't going on throughout the entire house!  As our electricity is we've got electric for ground floor & first floor each on their own fuse and lights for ground floor & first floor each on their own fuses (4 fuses total).  These power dips like I said dip the lights & the TV...  It was like once every few days that we'd have 1 power dip.  Now its turning into a daily occurence with anywhere from 2-7 dips/ night.  DH nor I know who we should contact in regards to this.     Our energy supplier (E.on) or National Grid or elsewhere?  This is seriously annoying me.

What's tipped me over the edge was this evening we had one power dip that turned the baby monitor off, then back on again while I was feeding DD!  That just kind of freaked me out a bit. 

Has anyone else been experiencing power dips or know what we should do in regards to this?

It could be a problem on the network outside, or it could be a connection which is going faulty somewhere on the feed to just your house, either on the power company's equipment or in that part of your apparatus which is common to the whole house. 

As a starting point, are you able to check with neighbors to see if they've been experiencing similar problems?  You would need to ask around several either side/opposite if possible, since with the 3-phase distribution systems used in most built-up areas certain faults can affect only about one-third of the homes in a given area.

I was hoping you'd chime in Paul - thank you!

I'll try and ask some of my neighbors tomorrow about the dips.  The adjoining semi is stood empty & we don't know who the owner is at present (its been bought & sold that many times), but I know a few of the neighbors on our cul de sac.  Would you think asking people on the opposit cul de sac would be prudent?  (My street has 100+ houses on it and I do Avon for my street.  I can ask a few of my customers if you think that would be the right direction to go in.)

Who would I need to repair it if the fault laid with our equipment?  (Where is this stuff supposed to be located?)   

Yes, as you have easy contact with a lot of people in the immediate neighborhood, I would certainly ask around your own cul-de-sac and the adjoining/opposite ones, as you're likey to be fed from the same transformer.    If several other neighbors have been experiencing similar problems, it's most likely a problem on the network (cable splice going bad or something similar) and a call to the local supplier would be in order to report it.

As the dips are affecting all the circuits in your house, if the fault is on your own equipment it will be on that part which is common to the entire installation.  That pretty much narrows it down to somewhere between the meter and your main distribution board.   It's fairly easy to check for loose connections etc. in the latter, but I would be reticent to suggest doing it yourself as some points inside that box are still energized even when the main switch is turned off.   A local electrician should be able to check it for you, and put a meter on and test under load to see if there appears to be a problem on the incoming supply. 

Everything from the cable which runs from the street, through the main fuse cut-out, up to and including the meter belongs to the supply company, so if your own equipment appears to be all right and you are still having problems, I'd suggest calling your supplier and get them to check out their equipment.

Any developments yet?

I've not actually seen any of my neighbors oddly enough and I'm not about to walk around knocking on doors just to ask about power dips.     However, they do seem to have stopped - DH is now thinking that it was probably a byproduct of the extra-cold weather and people coming home from work.  If they start up again I'll definitely look into it further, but for now I'll still ask neighbors if I see them soon!

Thank you again for your invaluable help Paul!   

I've not actually seen any of my neighbors oddly enough and I'm not about to walk around knocking on doors just to ask about power dips.     However, they do seem to have stopped - DH is now thinking that it was probably a byproduct of the extra-cold weather and people coming home from work.  If they start up again I'll definitely look into it further, but for now I'll still ask neighbors if I see them soon!

Thank you again for your invaluable help Paul!   

It could have been the odd weather we were having.  I know a few houses had power cuts and problems over the snow / cold periods.

It's a distinct possibility-  I'd almost forgotten about the snow at the time you posted, as we had very little around here.  Snow and stormy weather can certainly result in brown-outs (dips) and similar problems where it affects overhead distribution lines and equipment.