[Boatanchors] Re: power problems?

[Eugene Hertz]

Thanks, John and list members

House has 200 amp service. Service comes into the garage. There is a large (coupla feet tall) load center (breaker panel) there for half of the house filled with breakers. Then there is another large panel in the basement (same size, coupla feet tall) which is fed from the one in the garage nearly all full. This has the other half the house on it. Service was installed around 2000 and the wiring is mostly new. Although the wiring in the shack is probably from 1962 when the old part of the house was built. Then about half the house was added in 2000 with new wire. 

I suspected the main feed from the pole was undersized for this reason... Although the well pump is connected to the panel in the basement, lights connected to the main panel in the garage still dim for a split second when the pump kicks on/off. Well pump is brand new (2 wire, not 3 wire) about 4 months old. So it makes me think that the load is causing a voltage drop at the main panel, probably due to undersized cable from the pole. 

What kind of current can your sola's handle? 

Several folks mentioned the sola ferroresonant CVT type products. Here is a link from list member W4AMW:
http://www.solaheviduty.com/products/powerconditioning/cvs.htm

Sounds like I might need to find a local electrical engineer, not just an electrician to help figure this one out (there goes the $$$ !) 

Thanks to everyone. I now have some very good avenues to explore
Eugene


>-----Original Message-----
>From: WB6BLV [mailto:wb6blv at inreach.com]
>Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 10:52 PM
>To: 'Eugene Hertz'
>Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] power problems?
>
>One solution is a SOLA constant voltage unit, which 
>is an interesting hunk of iron that holds the AC mains 
>output quite well under varying supply conditions. I 
>have a couple of these from the late 60s and though 
>heavy, they do work. SOLA company made all sorts 
>of these things but I do not know if they are still around. 
> 
>One caveat... if your lights are actually dimming when the 
>well pump starts, then there is a problem with the overall 
>electrical system there. If you have the older 100 amp main 
>service panels, perhaps your load really requires a 200 amp 
>panel. You may also have undersize onductors throughout 
>the system, depending on when it was originally installed. I 
>live in a 70 yr old house with #14 wire throughout... I have 
>replaced much of it with #12, and my 220 runs are all #8 or 
>#6. A separate circuit directly to your shack is not going to 
>help if the voltage is sagging at the main panel due to panel 
>limitaions or undersized wiring. 
> 
>Check the current rating of your main panel, and also note the 
>conductor guage to the pump and to the shack. Add up the 
>sum of the aperages of all the breakers/fuses in the main panel 
>and see how far over the panel capacity it is (remember that the 
>sum can be over the 100 amps or 200 amps rating of the panel 
>since not all circuits will draw full load all the time). 
> 
>That should be a good start... lemme know what you come up 
>with as far as these measurements. 
> 
>John 
>WB6BLV at inreach.com 
> 
>