What Do Those Flickering or Dimming Lights Really Mean?

1. What Do Those Flickering or Dimming Lights Really Mean? If you’ve noticed flickering and dimming lights in your home or other property, it probably isn’t a ghost trying to tell you something. In fact, it may be something simple, but it may also be downright dangerous. Here’s what you should know about flickering and/or dimming lights and when to call a professional for help. If It Occurs with a Specific Appliance Running Assume for a moment that the lights in your home seem to be just fine until you add a new appliance like a refrigerator, a space heater, or a window air conditioner. Then, every time the new appliance kicks on, you notice the lights dimming or flickering in that room or other rooms. This is an indication that the circuit is not quite strong enough to handle the load or the appliance itself may be drawing more power than it needs, so for the best (and safest) results, unplug the appliance in question and contact a professional right away. It Occurs at the Neighbors’ Houses, Too If the flickering or dimming isn’t happening only at your home or building and it’s also going on next door – or even around the neighborhood – this indicates a problem with the service coming to your home or building. The issue likely exists in the electrical supply network or even in a local transformer. You and your neighbors should all report this to your local electrical service provider right away since this is a repair that will need to be made on their end. It Happens All Over the House at Once It’s pretty easy to centralize dimming lights in a single lamp or room, or even in a group of rooms on a single circuit, but it’s a little tougher to figure out what’s causing all the lights in the house to flicker or dim at once. It may be an issue with the way the electricity is being supplied to your home, but it could also be a problem at the fuse or breaker box that needs to be immediately addressed. Contact a professional for this and never attempt to repair it on your own. It Occurs on the Circuits on Half the Electrical Panel Electrical panels can have different buses that power them, and in many residential panels, there’s one bus for each half of the panel. If you notice flickering on the circuits associated with one half of the panel, this is a fairly good indicator that there’s damage to a panel bus. This is something only a licensed electrician should address, so be sure to call for service and repair as soon as possible. It Occurs in a Single Fixture or Bulb Sometimes the way a lamp is built – and sometimes even the bulb itself – can be the culprits. Certain types of bulbs just flicker or dim more than others (such as Edison-style bulbs) as the load on the associated wiring changes. Swap to a normal LED bulb to find out whether the flickering continues and rule out the possibility of the bulb. If this isn’t the issue, try a different lamp in the very same outlet to narrow the issue down further. If all the lamps flicker, and all the bulbs flicker, it’s a good time to call a professional. Flickering and dimming lights don’t always indicate a major problem, but they should always be addressed quickly to rule that possibility out. Call on a reliable residential electrical service provider right away to get to the bottom of the issue and repair it as soon as possible.