Flickering lights

[paul6]

If anyone can help with the problem of ceiling lights flickering/dimming I'd be very grateful.

I know this problem isn't unusual but in every other house I've lived in it might happen occasionally whereas in my present house it happens a lot. ie. when I turn on the bedroom light I know the lights will flicker within about 5 minutes and at various other times throughout the evening.

The flickering is very brief - a few seconds - as if there's a dip in supply. Our upstairs rooms both have dimmer switches but I think it also occurs with the rooms downstairs (which don't have dimmers).

We had the house 'rewired' (or so we thought) by a man with a ten-gallon hat. Since then we were fortunate enough to discover a very competent electrician who has corrected the faults of the first 'electrician'. I've asked him about this problem with the lights and he says that generally lights dimming/flickering are caused by problems with the supply outside the house (ie the grid or whatever) and not something inside the house.

But as I said I'm still worried because although an occasional flickering isn't a big deal it seems strange that it happens every night.

(When I say 'flickering' I don't mean that the light flashes on and off. It just dims - the brightness goes down for a second or two).

Thanks for any info/advice

 

[triumphman]

Your upstairs and downstairs lights should be on separate circuits, if the flickering is affecting both lighting circuits it is unlikely that you have a problem with the circuit wiring.
I have, on occasion, found that this kind of problem has been caused by loose meter tails and it may be worth having these checked by your electrician.

 

[securespark]

Does this happen when you turn anything else on? IE Hoover, shower, kette, oven etc.

 

[paul6]

Hello Securespark:

I found in the past that when I turned on something like a kettle or electric heater that the light would dim for a second and then go back to its normal brightness again. I wasn't so worried about this as I understand it's quite common. I haven't noticed it recently - it may be that I've just got used to it.

But the problem now is that the light briefly dims and then goes back to normal many times over the course of an evening. This occurs when there are no other appliances on in the house (apart from a fridge and maybe radio).