Lighting flickers when switching on other lights in house

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Howardini

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Please can someone help me, I have an intermittent problem with my lighting circuit in so far as when I switch a light on in the kitchen for instance, the ceiling lights in the living room flicker for a split second. This has only come about in the last 2 days when one of the bulbs blew in my living room which tripped the downstairs light circuit on my consumer unit. After flicking the switch back on this problem has become apparent. The house was totally rewired five months ago so everything is new.

Also, by amazing co-incidence, my house alarm mains supply failed last night for the first time ever, maybe an internal fuse, and we had to endure the agony of the outside bell sounding for over an hour until the back-up batteries drained.

Any ideas would be much appreciated??

:_|

 
This sounds like a bad connection....

(The wiring may have been disturbed by the bulb change?)

Check the connections at the light fittings in both rooms, it may also be worth checking the connections at the switches..

As for the latter, could be unrelated.

:D

 
Sounds like a loose connection somewhere, possibly in looped feed from one room to another. Check terminals in ceiling roses /light fittings etc.

 
Sounds like a loose connection somewhere, possibly in looped feed from one room to another. Check terminals in ceiling roses /light fittings etc.
great minds think alike..

B)

 
Also, by amazing co-incidence, my house alarm mains supply failed last night for the first time ever, maybe an internal fuse, and we had to endure the agony of the outside bell sounding for over an hour until the back-up batteries drained.

Any ideas would be much appreciated??

:_|
however...

The bulb blowing in the lounge may have made a contribution here..

(And I say, may have)

Time will tell.

:|

 
Welcome to the forum mate

previous answers are spot on

just as thought is your alarm on the same circuit as the lighting ??

i hope not ,a look at your comsumer unit should say

if your house has been rewired only 5 months back then i would call the sparky back to have a look it should be under guarantee

well mine are

and i think the Niceic require a warranty of sorts

 
Good Morning Howardini - Welcome to the forum.

 
Yes there is a loose connection. The bulb blowing caused a surge large enough to trip the breaker ( quite normal), this also exasperated the loose connection to the level that you now notice the flicker.

The alarm, by regulation should only sound for 15 min max. The time limit was previously 20min max which had been like that for 20 years +. The alarm could indeed be connected to the lighting circuit i question. The surge could of upset the electronics, especially in an older panel. This loose connection could be anywhere, even the main neutral connection.

 
It could also be within the main CU - either breaker to busbar, or to cable. We`ve seen MCB`s that have "missed" the connections. The MCB tripping could have exascerbated the situation.

 
Thanks for your help chaps, I managed to get the sparky back and he's checked everything over and tightened all the connections in the consumer unit, everything appears to be working fine. I will keep an eye on the light fitting that seemed to cause the issue, it may need it's connections sorting in the future, but for now I'll see how it goes.

It may be a co-incidence but a colleague of mine who lives in the same town had a strange blip round about the same time as when my alarm's fuse went, his lights dimmed and his computer flickered for a split second. He reliably informs me that it hasn't happened before!

P.S. Thanks for the swiftness of your responses, it's good to know that there is immediate help out there.... :D

 

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