electrician needed

hello fellow members: Need some help here ASAP.. I live in an apartment with my wife and son and her brother lives upstairs from us. Our electric has been going crazy from 97.2 to over 156 volts. I am very good with Electric [school etc] but I cannot find the problem on why it spikes or drops so low. This is a major issue since I have burned my power supply on my computer, blew out our inversol etc. when the electric drops, of course our components will not function properly such as our TV and or A.C unit. and when it spikes, look out!! we start to unplug things since we blew out the power cord for our rice cooker today. The landlord could give a rats ass about any of this, but being from the states, I know all to well what would happen to this dude if we were there, but we are not!! I have had 3-4 so called electricians to my home already, and believe me, I know much more than they. I have purchased a meter to find the issue myself and again--nothing!! Not sure if its a grounding issue or my wife's brother is attached to us as well since his inversol beeps when we drop and he is having the same problems as we are. Also, our electric bill is 2-3 times more than the others that live next or close to us. Our bill comes in at 2,200 per month while her brother comes in at about 500-600 per month, not too mention the others that are in the same 500-600 range.

I need a good electrician, please, please help us! We live in the capital being Quequia close to nunez and 27, so anyone that know a great Electrician, please contact me through PM or just post here on this thread...

Thank you so much!!! Joe

mike l said:

I don't know if an electrician can help!

These spikes come from Edennorte. Our whole complex was fried last week, computers , TV's, cable boxes and refridgerators.

Edennorte came the past two days installed all new wiring with a new box and meter and tonight the spikes continue.

This is getting old!

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Thanks Mike, but we have 5 apartments all behind the main house on the same property. Its only our apartment and my wife's brother is having this issue as well. we did have the electric company come here to check our meter and wiring, and all is well as per their visit. they told us it's within our apartment, but I hear ya about these spike issues. I think its worse when it goes below the norm of 110-115, since our electronics and appliances start to fart out--I'm getting ready to move out of here because of this. making us nuts with worry. thanks for your reply! Joe.

rubio_higuey said:

it may be a short circuit (corto circuito)... in that case a good electrician can help, but he may need to re-do the wiring.

Are you prepared to spend the money for hundreds of feet of replacement wiring?

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I was thinking the same thing and yes!! I plan to take out any funds needed to fix this issue from my rent. I paid for so many repairs over the past 2 months, the buck is going to stop here This landlord is a low life! I had to pay for my pump to be fixed last week at a whopping 3,500 and get this, its his pump too!!! he shares our water and when it stopped working, we had no water for over 2 weeks. He refused to do anything about it, so I paid. I can assure you, I don't care what it takes to fix this, he is not getting any rent until its fixed. I'm just waiting for somebody to post a good electrician now--hahaha thanks again. Joe

P.S from the testing that I have done, the issue is between my bathroom where the main feed comes into the house and through 2 bedrooms. My bedroom lights will falsh on and off like a disco light when the wall switch is off, so its either a grounding issue or just a semi short which is real hard to find. I need that special volt meter that can sense voltage through a wall,the kind that beeps just like a stud finder, but all I have is a regular meter. This is why I need a good electrician, I'm sure he would have all the correct tools in his arsenal.

bigbird said:

OP, are you able to get a voltage reading from HOT to Ground (not neutral).

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yes! There is voltage at the ground wire, therefore evidence of a short via the ground wire. I have searched all outlets, fixtures etc...Just can't pinpoint where its shorted. I spiked today real bad while my wife was washing clothes. Thank God i have my machine on a breaker--POP! I checked the outlet and it was at 170!!! WTH!! so between the sort and the possible spikes from the electric company, we need a real good electrician. I appreciate all of this feed back, but does anyone know of a good person for this job? please help! We are very concerned here and if you are married..than you know that my wife is driving me nuts especially when she knows I know about this stuff--yea yea yea!!--lol thanks again!

Chirimoya said:

Unless the poster happens to be served by Edesur...

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yes chirimoya--I just asked my wife so I could reply to you. We are serviced by edesur. what can you tell me about this company? And do they have the same spike issues as the other mentioned company? Thanks!

Chirimoya said:

My comment was not so much about Edesur, the electricity distribution company that serves the capital west of the Ozama. I was just questioning a previous poster's assumption that you lived in the north.

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Gotcha! I have no idea about the area's here, but I am in the Capital living in Quesquiea close to Nunez and 27 as well as Churchill if you happen to know where this is. We are now looking for an apartment--lol..too much stress over this electric issue, but of course I still need to get this fixed since we will need to save up for a deposit. I'm hoping by Dec we will be out of here!! I have contacted Curt from DR1, so great stuff here as per this site! Very good info and lots of help from everyone. Keep up the great work mods! Loving it here! Joe

bigbird said:

Did you have 170 volts at all the outlets and at the electrical panel? If so the problem is with the utility company supply voltage. Do you have 220 volt electrical service or 110 volt service?

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I checked a couple of the outlets and they varied from 145-170. I only have 110, but with the option of 220 at the meter if I wanted to upgrade to this. I think its a combination of a spike and a faulty ground since some of the ground wires that I tested have voltage. One switch that I pulled out, had about 45 volts at the ground and the wiring was all frayed and corroded. So I Re-spliced and just removed the ground wire to prevent any interference within this circuit.. What a freakin mess here..Ug! so if this is also related to a spike, what can be done about this with my electric company? does anyone have experience with this and are we just stuck with this mess until we move? Thanks again. Joe

Fishguy said:

This isn't right. If you weren't able to get a reading between hot & ground, it would indicate that your service wasn't grounded. Having a voltage between these 2 is not indicative of a short.

I doubt you've got a true ground anyway. To see if you've got a true ground or not, open the panel and see if there's a separate wire going to ground. This will lead to a stake driven into the ground outside your house.

My guess is your problems lie with your neutrals. Your wife was using a washing machine at the time. I'm willing to bet that it's on a shared neutral circuit. If done incorrectly, this will cause major headaches. Example of what happens on a shared neutral: An appliance kicks on and everything on that same circuit receives a voltage sag. At the same time, everything on the other circuit that shares the neutral receives a voltage spike. (Think of sine waves adding and subtracting). Additionally, if you've got a lose neutral somewhere, that is going to cause more resistance and heighten the problems.

Since you've got a multimeter, I'd first go turn off all the breakers, then turn them on individually and test everything in the house. Identifying each circuit would be the first step.

Sorry, can't offer any help in finding a local electrician.

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My thoughts exactly!! I truly believe its a shared service although our service has been separated from her brothers. We get the high bill of over 2,000 per month while he gets 500...also, his inversol will beep when we drop down in voltage also indicating that he is still attached to our service in some way. We do not have any panel..the wiring comes straight into our apartment where he is upstairs from us. I have no idea where he is pulling from and it must be from outside the house since I have tried to turn of the one breaker we have for the inversolol, which controls the entire electric for our apartment. he still has electric when we shut down from within our area. So! I believe he is connected from outside directly, but is consuming our electric since we get most of the bill per month. we are on the same page for sure, too bad this apartment is not setup as it should be with separate breakers for each area. I'm outta here!! lol The time I figure out whats going on, I'm going to burn more of my appliances, or just go broke from the high electric bill. Just amazing!!! 2,200 per month, although we are home often. Thanks for all the feed back here!!! Now if I can get a real electrician..lol wow!! I can't believe the service here...I can change a light bulb! I'm an electrician--hahaha

a post just to bump--sorry mods, please feel my pain--we are going nuts here!!! Please anyone, post an electrician for us here in the capital..:tired: