Any electricians in here?

[BLUESPIDER]

I haven't called the PG&E but I've been having power outages like crazy. Actually litterally half my house keeps going out of power. I'm trying to edit a documentry which is due tommorrow and my power keeps going out. I keep reset the curcit breakers but every once in a while the power shuts completely off. What the hell? I know I have a lot plugged in but I've always had and now its acting up on me. Do I need like better surge protectors or something. I don't know what the problem is and I don't know if I can finish this doc when it keeps doing this.


Any ideas?

Thanks

[pookie_old]

Where do you live?

[Owen]

Maybe you actually do have too much on one circuit... can you run a few stingers to spread the load throughout the house for the night?

About once every six weeks I get woken up by an explosion outside. It's the transformer on my street, and my whole house loses power for a bit. Very strange and very annoying. It usually happens when I've set After Effects to render all night. They're out to get us!

[BLUESPIDER]

Where do you live?

I live in California.

[BLUESPIDER]

Maybe you actually do have too much on one circuit... can you run a few stingers to spread the load throughout the house for the night?
!

The power is back on but I know it might go out again. I just don't want to start a fire. The problem is that its never happened before. I usually have tons of stuff plugged in and it never went out like this. I dont know what the deal is. Thanks for the suggestion but I think I might just go to sleep and say skrew it!

[Terry_Lasater]

It sounds like you are describing an overloaded circuit. Most household circuits handle 15 or 20 Amps each. You need to do some calculating on your set up and possibly re-route your electrical load.

[pookie_old]

Sounds like either the connections going into the house from the pole might be salted up (if you're near the ocean), you lose half the circuits.

So, go outside, get the garden hose and blast at the connections at the connection at the house to try you clean them (don't use a ladder).

If that doesn't help, there's most likely a cracked line in, or a bad connector either at that connection at the house, or somewhere between the house and the power lines or transformer. Not something you want to touch needless to say.

You can fix it with the water blast, if that doesn't work, call the power company.

[Daniel_Runyon]

Perhaps there's something chewing the wires (in the wall or ceiling) causing shorts? Happened many times. Rats, or............Squirrels.......you know what they're up to, what with the takeover conspiracy and all.

[khmuse]

Get a UPS to keep from loosing you work and then call an electrician, your problem could be caused by a number of different faults.

[GenJerDan]

Haf the house? Not the whole house?

OK. Even if what you have plugged in doesn't exceed the rating of the circuit...if it's close, it could still trip the breaker. Breakers get tired and cranky (not unlike me) and will just trip when get in the mood.

Putting your system on an UPS with a line conditioner would help a lot. Even if it's close to the circuit rating, the conditioner will smooth out the draw so the breaker doesn't see little surges and variations.

And, of course, the UPS will keep you from losing your work.

LIE! If you're in the middle of a render that will take 18 hours...the UPS will not last long enough to complete it.

But at least you'd have an hour or so to try to fix the power problem. :)