Friday afternoon I came home for lunch. Before I reached my house I saw two trucks from the electric company parked on either side of the our road. The first thing I did when I entered my house was to check the oven clock and microwave. All was fine, the clocks were not even blinking. I thought nothing of it and went on to tidy up and Bear proof my house.
I returned to work and forgot all about the electric company trucks. Later that evening I turned on the lights over the kitchen counter and something seemed off. The light above the sink did not come on. I dismiss this thinking the light bulbs must have burnt out.
An hour later ManSon asks me to come into the guest bathroom and take a look at the lights. You can see the copper spiral wires in the middle of the bulbs glow just a bit but they were not giving off light. Ok that was weird but I did not have time to think about it as we had just learned there was to be a large party at our house this weekend. A few minutes later he comes to tell me the computer did something strange. It started turning it's self on and off. He unplugged the computer. The lamp on the other side of the room was fine so I thought maybe it was a computer problem which I would deal with later.
A few hours later I tried to turn on the light in the sunroom which is next to the kitchen. The light would not go on but the light above the kitchen sink did! I tried the switchnext to it in an attempt to turn on the ceiling light in the kitchen but that turned on the sunroom light. I turned that switch to off then tried the over the counter lights and they worked fine but still the light above the sink did not come on as it should have. I turned them off but for some reason they stayed on. They were not very bright, just barely glowing. I tried to turn on the ceiling light and that turned off the over the counter lights completely.
At this time I knew something was up so around 10:30 pm I called the electric company who said they would come out to do a check on my meter and the outside lines. About 20 minutes later the service man calls to say he is on his way but wanted to see if my service had been restored. I return to the kitchen and find all is well again. I tried out the bathroom lights and plugged the computer back in. They were both fine as well. He said he would still come out to see if there is anything wrong outside. Everything outside checked out.
Saturday night my electricity decided to revert to the same bad behavior of Friday night with a few added changes. Now when you tried to turn on the hall light or the bathroom lights they would not come on but the light over the kitchen sink would come on! I called the electric company again but this time no one showed up. There had been a sever thunder storm and I imagine they were dealing with complete outages. I am began to think my electrical issue was an internal wiring problem which I will have to deal with Monday morning.
Sunday evening the problem was still occurring and since there was nothing we could do about it until Monday we made a family game out of it. Who could find the most combinations of wrong lights going on when we flipped on the different light switches. At one point the light above the stove and the light above the kitchen sink did a little volley back and forth when one switch was flipped on.
I switched the computer and the lamp table in order for the computer to say on. The lamp does light up in it's new location but it is so dim it does not even light up what is on the little table it stands on. So far the rest of the electricity in the house has not been affected and I am thankful for that. The common factor in this room is that the computer was plugged in to a socket operated by a light switch.
Monday morning I called for an electrician. I either missed him or he had other fish to fry.
Monday night came a new issue… I also need a plumber. I just discovered a pipe from Snow White's bathtub is leaking into the basement. Lucky for me it is right above the floor drain in the laundry room.
Wednesday evening and we are still without an electrician or plumber and the problems are still occurring.
*********
Update
Apparently ManSon made a midnight visit to the bathroom. He rushed to tell me “Hey, the bathroom light is on!” I was so happy I ran to the kitchen to see if the other lights were working properly and ….THEY WERE! The sunroom, kitchen, bathroom and hall lights are all working now. The electrician never showed up but some how the lights are working again. I hope they are still working when I come home from work.
Anyone have any utilities gone wild stories?
I returned to work and forgot all about the electric company trucks. Later that evening I turned on the lights over the kitchen counter and something seemed off. The light above the sink did not come on. I dismiss this thinking the light bulbs must have burnt out.
An hour later ManSon asks me to come into the guest bathroom and take a look at the lights. You can see the copper spiral wires in the middle of the bulbs glow just a bit but they were not giving off light. Ok that was weird but I did not have time to think about it as we had just learned there was to be a large party at our house this weekend. A few minutes later he comes to tell me the computer did something strange. It started turning it's self on and off. He unplugged the computer. The lamp on the other side of the room was fine so I thought maybe it was a computer problem which I would deal with later.
A few hours later I tried to turn on the light in the sunroom which is next to the kitchen. The light would not go on but the light above the kitchen sink did! I tried the switchnext to it in an attempt to turn on the ceiling light in the kitchen but that turned on the sunroom light. I turned that switch to off then tried the over the counter lights and they worked fine but still the light above the sink did not come on as it should have. I turned them off but for some reason they stayed on. They were not very bright, just barely glowing. I tried to turn on the ceiling light and that turned off the over the counter lights completely.
At this time I knew something was up so around 10:30 pm I called the electric company who said they would come out to do a check on my meter and the outside lines. About 20 minutes later the service man calls to say he is on his way but wanted to see if my service had been restored. I return to the kitchen and find all is well again. I tried out the bathroom lights and plugged the computer back in. They were both fine as well. He said he would still come out to see if there is anything wrong outside. Everything outside checked out.
Saturday night my electricity decided to revert to the same bad behavior of Friday night with a few added changes. Now when you tried to turn on the hall light or the bathroom lights they would not come on but the light over the kitchen sink would come on! I called the electric company again but this time no one showed up. There had been a sever thunder storm and I imagine they were dealing with complete outages. I am began to think my electrical issue was an internal wiring problem which I will have to deal with Monday morning.
Sunday evening the problem was still occurring and since there was nothing we could do about it until Monday we made a family game out of it. Who could find the most combinations of wrong lights going on when we flipped on the different light switches. At one point the light above the stove and the light above the kitchen sink did a little volley back and forth when one switch was flipped on.
I switched the computer and the lamp table in order for the computer to say on. The lamp does light up in it's new location but it is so dim it does not even light up what is on the little table it stands on. So far the rest of the electricity in the house has not been affected and I am thankful for that. The common factor in this room is that the computer was plugged in to a socket operated by a light switch.
Monday morning I called for an electrician. I either missed him or he had other fish to fry.
Monday night came a new issue… I also need a plumber. I just discovered a pipe from Snow White's bathtub is leaking into the basement. Lucky for me it is right above the floor drain in the laundry room.
Wednesday evening and we are still without an electrician or plumber and the problems are still occurring.
*********
Update
Apparently ManSon made a midnight visit to the bathroom. He rushed to tell me “Hey, the bathroom light is on!” I was so happy I ran to the kitchen to see if the other lights were working properly and ….THEY WERE! The sunroom, kitchen, bathroom and hall lights are all working now. The electrician never showed up but some how the lights are working again. I hope they are still working when I come home from work.
Anyone have any utilities gone wild stories?
3 comments:
Crazy! I swear, it wasn't me!
I think the reason the lights came on is that your fridge is fixed.
Really, I have no idea what made the lights start working again. Maybe they just new I had given up on them? he.he.he
Our old house had something really wrong with the electricity. Most of the time, ALL of the lights kind of flickered. It was really bad. We never got it fixed...we sold the land to a developer.
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