Latest / Lipps Electric Podcast / Why Do My Lights Dim When My A/C Turns On?

Transcript

Why Do My Lights Dim When My A/C Turns On? · Lipps Electric Podcast

• 0:02
  Hello Kevin Lipps how are you i am awesome Jim
• 0:05
  how are you i am living the dream thank you so much
• 0:08
  for joining me and being the professional and electric today here on Check A Pro
• 0:13
  radio lips electric love you guys questions come into the radio program
• 0:18
  are you ready to answer it for us i sure am yes okay this happens a lot and
• 0:24
  i'll tell you when i was a kid this happened all the time.
• 0:28
  The lights would dim in the house when an appliance came on.
• 0:31
  So someone has sent in an email, why do my lights dim when my air conditioner turns on?
• 0:37
  And I think the reason is, is because there's a big draw, but that's not normal,
• 0:40
  right? It shouldn't do that.
• 0:42
  Yeah, you're correct. You're correct. There's several answers to this,
• 0:46
  but it really does start with that high startup current draw.
• 0:49
  So when your AC kicks on, especially the compressor, the demand is large from
• 0:56
  the electricity side, so it creates a short burst, which is known as inrush current.
• 1:01
  And this sudden load can cause a temporary voltage drop, which will cause your lights to temp. Yeah.
• 1:10
  In general, is that dangerous?
• 1:14
  It's, it kind of depends. I mean, not normally.
• 1:17
  I mean, it, we haven't really experienced people having many issues from a,
• 1:22
  from a safety hazard perspective.
• 1:24
  It's more of a nuisance, but it depends. You know, if, if you have a brief three
• 1:29
  to 5% dimming, that's pretty normal. Yeah.
• 1:33
  But if the lights are flickering dramatically or stay dimmed,
• 1:38
  there's a signal of a deeper issue, like a failing component or the circuit
• 1:43
  could be overloaded. Mm-hmm.
• 1:46
  Years ago, the electrical systems in homes weren't designed the way they are
• 1:54
  today. I mean, let's be fair.
• 1:56
  A home that's 80 years old, I mean, electricity was just coming in,
• 2:00
  you know, 20, 30 years before that into homes. I've lived in homes where there
• 2:05
  weren't electricity when it was built.
• 2:09
  One of the first homes I owned was built in 1775. There was no plumbing or electricity to bring it in.
• 2:14
  And even then, I think they brought it into the home in the 1950s.
• 2:21
  And that was getting old. And there were the old fuses, the glass fuses and
• 2:27
  so forth. So speaking of dimming, oh my gosh, you know, you turn a toaster on
• 2:32
  and the lights would dim.
• 2:33
  So when you have something like an element or an air conditioning system,
• 2:39
  even a window unit can draw a lot.
• 2:45
  It's something that's certainly inconvenient.
• 2:51
  I guess one way to temporarily fix it would be to make sure that when you're
• 2:58
  running your air conditioning system, you have less things on,
• 3:00
  but that's really not...
• 3:03
  The optimal way to fix this. Can you guys come out to the home and diagnose
• 3:10
  it and either do something on the air conditioning side or on the system side itself?
• 3:16
  Yeah, no, yes. The answer is yes. Um, so if you're lighting an AC,
• 3:21
  they could be on the same circuit.
• 3:23
  Um, that can cause an issue.
• 3:26
  They're not supposed to be, by the way. They're not supposed to be.
• 3:29
  The other thing that's less common that uh you you
• 3:32
  got to really think through is is if you look at inside of a
• 3:35
  panel and the way that the breakers work they go one two three four five six
• 3:38
  seven eight nine ten and down the other side is all the odds are on one leg
• 3:43
  within the panel and all the evens are on um oh my gosh odds then evens are
• 3:49
  on separate legs so you get your first you know it's a 240.
• 3:52
  Amp or a bolt system get your first 120 on the first set and then you get your
• 3:58
  second on the second set so sometimes if that light happens to be on the same
• 4:03
  handle like you can flip the breakers around and you can get clever with solutions
• 4:08
  in that and that's typically where
• 4:12
  we'll find it the other issue is there can be wire resistance or loose connections
• 4:17
  you know if you have shared wiring especially but even if it's loose wiring
• 4:23
  somewhere else near um it can cause that as well.
• 4:26
  And the other thing that happens is you could have corroded wiring,
• 4:30
  especially in the older homes that you spoke to.
• 4:33
  And that can also amplify voltage drops. And it's something that our team would
• 4:38
  troubleshoot during service calls on this topic and really would,
• 4:41
  it can take quite a while to diagnose and find the exact fault,
• 4:47
  but our guys are patient and skilled and able to find those faults. Many older homes.
• 4:56
  We're not designed for air conditioning systems, yet we bring them into our homes.
• 5:02
  You can upgrade a panel and upgrade the service from maybe 100 amp to 200 amp,
• 5:10
  which will make a huge difference in a home.
• 5:12
  And if you really love your home and you want to be safe and not have dimming
• 5:17
  lights, not have breakers trip, you may want to consider upgrading your service. A hundred percent.
• 5:23
  And we also are very respectful to budgets and understand that,
• 5:29
  you know, we're not going to ever recommend anything to you that isn't like the best option.
• 5:35
  We will give you the best option, the top tier solution, but we're also going
• 5:40
  to give you that repair break fix option as well, depending on what you want to do.
• 5:45
  Because if, I don't know, I'm not going to go into the reasons why people would
• 5:48
  choose to go all in or not. It's budget specific. Are you going to live here?
• 5:53
  Are you going to live here for a short period of time or long period of time?
• 5:56
  But that's the customer's choice. So we always position things as options,
• 6:01
  but always a great solution is to upgrade that panel, which would also come
• 6:07
  with the upgraded meter base.
• 6:09
  And we always make sure we reconnect or really make sure the utility connections
• 6:14
  are to code and proper and all the way through.
• 6:18
  So, you know, Duke Energy is real big out here, but whoever your utility provider
• 6:23
  is, you would want to work with them.
• 6:26
  And that's kind of what our main focus is.
• 6:29
  And sometimes it comes down to that panel is 40 years old and it really should
• 6:34
  be replaced. And once it gets over 15, 20 years, it's something to really consider.
• 6:40
  Yeah. Even though it's not a moving part, um, things, things get old and well,
• 6:48
  and there's the parts don't move, but, but I would argue the current is continuously moving.
• 6:54
  There's always power. There's always flow. And, and you have a whole current
• 6:57
  going in and out and in and out constantly.
• 7:00
  Um, you know, those, those breakers have a, they have a lifeline and,
• 7:05
  you know, it's just like anything in, you got your bell curve,
• 7:08
  you know, and it could be.
• 7:10
  A newer one, and it becomes faulty faster.
• 7:14
  You know, you hit the top of the bell curve. Its life is kind of where it needs
• 7:18
  to be, but then some live real long, you know, and I think a lot of common issues
• 7:24
  with electrical systems is, again, the neglect.
• 7:27
  It's the number one neglected system in a home, and it's so important that it
• 7:31
  gets looked at, and it has a preventative maintenance program,
• 7:35
  and it's something that you let a professional come in and make sure things
• 7:39
  are operating as they should.
• 7:41
  I would bet if there are four people living in the home above the age of 15,
• 7:47
  only one of them knows where the panel is anyway.
• 7:50
  That's right. I mean, think about it, right? Because, you know,
• 7:52
  maybe the husband knows where it is, but maybe the wife doesn't,
• 7:55
  or maybe the wife knows where it is and the husband doesn't.
• 7:58
  And the kids are clueless.
• 8:00
  They're like, I don't, you know, how come the TV went off?
• 8:03
  100%. You know, so it's one of those things you don't think much about.
• 8:08
  It's supposed to be there. It's like oxygen, right? It's supposed to be there.
• 8:13
  And no, it is kind of put there by man and it needs to be maintained by man.
• 8:17
  And I suggest you call Kevin and his team at LIPS to come on out and take a look at it.
• 8:23
  As always, Kevin, thank you so much for being the expert on the show.
• 8:26
  Thanks, Jim. Thanks for letting me be here.