Keep losing power?
Question:We just moved into our apartment and for our electricity we have the old fuse box..anytime i use my microwave or even my coffee maker all the lights dim..tonight i put the microwave on and i lost power for the 2nd time in a couple weeks. im having the landlord come over tomorrow..does anyone know why this could be happening?
Answers:
The situation may be that the fuse box has too few circuits and all of the 'heavy' amperage units are trying to operate from the same circuit. If the apartment was wired a long time ago, which it probably was or it would have breakers instead of fuses, then they didn't plan on the modern appliances we now take for granted. Your fuse box may be rated at an amperage that would sustain your needs, but if all the outlets that you are using are fed from one fuse, it will overload, dim and finally black out (by blowing the fuse). This is a potentially deadly situation that warrants immediate service, and if a 'Liscensed Electrician' determines that the service is actually inadequate to meet the code for the area, then it will fall upon the landlord to make the needed repairs to bring it up to code. Don't let the landlords brother-in-law (who has no certification in electricity) come over to certify the panel as O.K., make sure that a reputable electrician checks the box. This can forstall a fire that would ruin your day, to say nothing of your life possibly. Take this seriously. Luck ;)
With an old fusebox they are not designed to handle the power output of new electronics. try to find out what all runs off of the line that the microwave is running off of. if you have too much running on that line try running something elsewhere to see if that will stop the problem.
Call an electrician, or you're pretty much screwed. Choose.
Your electrical panel is not sized correctly for the load it has to support. Look at the labels on all your appliances and add up the amperage each one uses. That should be less than the amperage rating of your load center. (Add up the amperage of all the fuses)
yes you have a to small of a service for what you are trying to use that's why the lights dim sounds like time for a up grade
You need a new "service center", which is a breaker type box...I just had mine total redun for the same reason...I upgraded to a 200 amp service as welll..the old fuse boxes will not handle the use of many appliances of these days , it will overload the circuits..My cost was $1100.00 for this..but we redid the whole center
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