Electricial question: power surge?

poshspice

Live in a 4 story rental bldg in the nabe for the past 3.5 years. The past two days, Ive been experiencing some sort of power surge on one wall (can hear it happening) that's keeping knocking out the power on the entire wall, impacting 2 outlets - and of course this is where all my electronics are. The 1st time it happened the super showed me how to reset the circuit breakers in my unit, which is the only way they will come back on, and then it's fine, but occurs again a few hours later. Then I run around resetting clocks and waiting for cable to reset. Obvs that's a huge pain in the ass.

I'm trying to figure out what could be causing it - that area in my house has virtually been untouched - meaning the exact same electronics have been plugged in since I've moved in, no upgrades or new equipment. I also noticed 2/3 times it's happened that it cuts off after I've turned everything off and gone to bed, not while I'm using power there. Also, this has never been an issue before, ever since I've been in the bldg.

Have no idea how to isolate the issue and resolve. Is something I'm doing, or perhaps something external going on? My 1st thought is to go out and replace my power strips with something stronger with surge protection, but I don't know if this will help. If that doesn't work I'll have to call the super again, but wouldn't know what I'd be asking them to look into/fix.

If anyone has any advice or tips on this I'd really appreciate it - thanks!

stacey

Don't have any electrical experience but we had something similar happen to us and it turned out we had to have the "grounding" wire replaced.

Recently we had our lights flicker a bit. I decided I would call Con Edison if it was still doing it the next morning. That morning before I could call there was a manhole fire right on the corner and because it was starting to go before then, that was causing our lights to flicker.

I tend to be very, very nervous with any electrical issues. I would get the landlord and super to turn to this ASAP.

jml

I agree with stacey - if it's a short circuit, it might lead to a dangerous situation.

ben

you can get a simple little device that has a few lights on it that you plug into each outlet to check for shorts or improper wiring. Depending on which of the 3 lights is on will tell you if there is any problem and what the problem is.

If the outlets are OK then there's a good chance it is something with the feed from the street. There are often 2 lines that come into a building and feed different parts of it so if there's a problem with one line it can knock out power to half of your apartment while the other half is fine. These types of problems usually occur around that time that lots of salt and water get into the manhole covers as it leads to corrosion of the old wiring.

d_luxx

All of the above is true, but it is your landlords responsibility to diagnose and fix any electrical problems.
I would go around the super, call the landlord directly, and tell him / her you need an electrician ASAP. You have the right to the safety and convenience of modern wiring.

modsquad

do you know what size the breaker is? It's possible that over time resistance has increased thus pulling more amps leading to a blown breaker with no additional devices added. A breaker working near capacity will fail at some point.
the other possibility: have you been using an AC unit the last couple days that might be hooked to the same line?
A simple test would be to put an amp meter clamp on the line at the breaker box.

This would tell you what the amperage of everthing is and if the circuit breaker is big enough. This is not an exotic instrument. Most supers or handymen would have one of these.

What d_luxx says above is true also. Not really your problem unless you are exceeding the amperage on the breaker. Anything less than a 15 or 20 amp breaker is not practical for the 21st Century.

http://www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/faq/quality.html#legal

Your landlord is required to provide sufficient electricity for all items or services listed in your lease and to maintain a safe and habitable apartment. For example, if your lease states that the apartment is provided with an air conditioner, your landlord must provide enough power to run it.

If there is an exposed plate or wiring, constant blowing of fuses or evidence of electrical fires or a DECREASE in the amount of power provided to your apartment, you may wish to call HPD Code Enforcement for an inspection.

For more information or to request an inspection, call HPD Code Enforcement via the City's Citizen Service Center by dialing 311. Regarding electrical wiring, you can also contact the Department of Buildings complaints unit by contacting the City's Citizen Service Center by dialing 311.

Regarding what Ben says about 2 lines: likely at least 3 but that would feed the whole building . If that was the problem then others would be suffering too.

One other question. When the circuit blows do you experience a "brown out" elsewhere in the apartment?

poshspice

nope it's not happening anywhere else in the house. At this point they've had to call in an electrician anyway, bc the thing won't even respond to me resetting the circuit breakers anymore. Hopefully will be resolved no later than tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone for the advice!