×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Power Conditioning

Power Conditioning

Power Conditioning

(OP)
I have an application for residential contractor (higher end $$ homes), who has 'soft' powerline issues. Specifically, the inrush power requirements for the  air-conditioners (feeding off a 120/240V 40 amp breaker)  are causing visible power dips (ie brownouts) to all circuits in the house. Do you have any solutions for this. Is a line conditioner a possiblity.

Is this just a case of elevated line impedances that should be addressed by the utility company.

RE: Power Conditioning


Check voltage variation during starting at the building service entrance before contacting the utility.  Many US utilities usually adopt ANSI Std C84.1 as a baseline.  Thread238-91010  Note C84 limits are defined in terms of service voltage and utilization voltage.
  

RE: Power Conditioning

Busbar hit the nail on the head. Check the voltage at the service entrance at start-up. If it is present there as well, then the utility can generally just change the tap on the transformer. If this is a new development with more houses going up, there could be issues with equipment sizing.

RE: Power Conditioning

What you are describing sounds like lamp flicker, not really addressed by C84.1. Flicker is categorized by frequency and depth. Borderline visible flicker is not usually considered to be a problem. Irritating levels of flicker are a problem. Try searching on "lamp flicker"

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources