Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

Years ago I lived in a house that would get a power drop in the morning. It was always in the morning, and it was frequent enough that we decided to nag the power company about it every time it happened, even though it only lasted a second or two. After nagging them a few times, a frustrated tech told us that it was squirrels walking the power lines. I never knew if that was true, or if he was just telling us that they wouldn't fix the problem. (Aren't squirrels active all day long?)

And for this to be the source of David's trouble, they'd have to be the world's most incredibly punctual squirrels...

Personally, I prefer to think of this as another manifestation of the Weinberger Triangle effect.

AC or heat or water heater on a timer? I lived in a place that would blow light bulbs when the AC kicked in.

Hrrm, defintely sounds like spikes in the line.

If you can convince the power company to put a real monitor on your line, they should be able to narrow it down.

With the drama you've had, I tend to think the problem is a spike instead of frequency problems. Frequency problems tend to lock stuff up, not fry them.

Perhaps something is happening in your neighborhood that is drawing significant current. A large motor starting draws a lot of current and can pull things down. Any artisans with air compressors or word wroking hardware around?

But if it's a timed event as it appears, it might be on a schedule. It may sound farfetched, but grow lights used for illicit marijuna production draw tons of power and are almost always set on on precise schedules. Any happy neighbors with rooms you aren't allowed into?

Have you considered asking the local college's electrical power class to do a research project on you? ;)

Yeah, if the evil doers were squirrels, I think we'd notice that they're wearing watches.

Nope, no AC, and nothing on timers that I can think of.

Further, no appliances go off, so apparently the voltage drop is minor; the UPS is set to kick in if it goes below 104 volts.

This may not be a bug, but rather a feature! Maybe down at your local power utility office there's a guy in overalls with a big pocket watch and a lineman's cap (hell, maybe he's wearing a bandana too!) This guy probably finishes his coffee around seven forty-five, pulls the watch from his pocket and bang on 7:49:25 he grabs the handle of a big D switch and hauls it down, thus rerouting power for your neighborhood from the Canadian grid (which was providing it on the cheap all night long) to the New England grid (which will handle the heavy loads of those thousands of Selectric typewriters still humming and clacking in the John Hancock Building.) Task completed, I'm thinking the guy takes out a powder sugared donut, pours a cup of coffee and wipes the stray crumbs and sugar dusting off his bib overalls munching contemplatively while he waits for the relief shift to come on duty in the afternoon. There may a be a crossover moment around lunch time when he shifts from donuts and coffee to a thermos of noodle soup, a baggy of Nabisco saltines and a Celray Soda, but I'd only be speculating about that.

Once I was working for a bank, and we had the same problem. It turned out to be a power surge due to the alarms being tested on a random basis. Drove us nuts trying to figure it out. I finally realized the power circuit was tied into the alarm system.

We also have squirrels and they eat through our cable every 6 months or so. They like to clean their teeth on the insulation. Any squirrels or chipmunks with hair standing on end!

Maybe one of your neighbors fires up his power saw every morning? Have any crafty neighbors? I have seen this happen too. Caused the computer systems to fry...
-dw

Large motors driving municipal water supply systems can cause voltage drop -- particularly in the morning when people are taking showers before work. The problem can be solved with "soft" motor starters. Sometimes poor ground conductance (high resistance) in a medium voltage, resistance grounded system can cause regular voltage drops. Then again, it could be something as amusing as a squirrel.

Ah the joys of fault finding in low voltage installations. After several call-outs involving all night vigil watching instrument monitors, look for large air conditioning or refrigeration plants. I mean LARGE. Are you near a hotel ? Hospital ? Office building? Your provider will have to assign somebody to track it down...

a sensetive voltage recorder connected to your panel and another one at the utilities transformer should show if its your problem or thiers . Many utilities are slow to find problems and quick to say its your problem, good luck. i agree look for large load nearby ,some where nearby there could be a very bad connection especially in nuetral or ground ,ck grd at transforme and your panel