What do flickering lights mean? This is a sign of electrical trouble, most often because of outdated wiring or lack of proper surge protection. Although this might seem like a minor deviation, always take it seriously. It can be a sign of major problems that could manifest as safety problems soon. We offer residential inspections to help folks in Kansas City determine if they have wiring problems causing flickering lights and other performance issues.
What Do Flickering Lights Mean?
Sometimes flickering lights result from minor issues you can resolve without expensive renovations. These are the kinds of things that happen all the time and have a quick fix. They include loose light plugs, loose bulbs, incompatible dimmer switch bulbs, heavy AC usage during the peak summer heat, and so forth.
If you encounter one of those problems, you can adjust things, but if you aren’t sure, we can always help you over the phone or do a safety inspection for persistent problems.
For Even Bigger Problems: What Do Flickering Lights Mean?
Then there are the more difficult circumstances that could require significant repair work.
- Problems with your electrical service provider.
Do you live near a transformer or have neighbors that use a lot of electricity? Sometimes if your service provider gets overwhelmed, it can affect your home, leading to flickering lights. - Outdated or loose wires.
This is one of the most serious issues because most home fires start from faulty wires. Even good wiring could have had a poor installation, which accounts for them being loose most of the time. - Inconsistent electrical voltage.
Your home’s voltage should fluctuate between 115 and 125 volts. When it exceeds that upper limit, you could have a faulty electrical system. This causes overheating, burnt light bulbs, flickering lights, and other trouble. - Overloaded circuit breakers.
It’s one thing to experience intermittent flickering during a storm or some other disturbance. However, when you notice a persistent problem, it could come from an overloaded circuit breaker. - Malfunctions on your power meter or service cable connection.
Most owners do very little with their main connection, but this too could be the culprit. If you can’t identify any other possibility, consider contacting an electrician to check on this.
Get Help From a Qualified Kansas City Electrician
It’s important to address these concerns with a professional rather than resorting to DIY-style diagnostics and repairs. Wiring and equipment problems can be complex, so it helps to have expert help. Here’s a quick list of questions to ask your electrician when they arrive to check your home:
- Do I have proper grounding for my wires? Are they up to code in Kansas City?
- Are my electrical panels in line with National Electrical Code standards?
- Is my older house’s wiring up to date?
- What do I do about flickering lights, lights burning out faster, or constant circuit breaker trips?
As you might have guessed, these issues are much more prevalent in older homes. That does not, however, mean you can’t run into trouble with a new house. The national, state and local codes change often, so it pays to find out whether your home is still compliant.
Call Fusion Electric for Inspections, Repair, & Other Services
Fusion Electric can handle electrical rewiring and other services in any home or commercial business. It’s not a good idea to ignore symptoms like flickering lights or random noises. Call us if you want to get to the bottom of it and prevent greater trouble.
We’re Kansas City’s best electrical contractor, which we can verify with about 300 positive reviews and a perfect 5-star rating on Google Reviews. Fusion Electric also receives praise from business groups like Angie’s List, who awarded us the Super Service Award for 2019.
We can help answer the question of “what do flickering lights mean?” if you contact us for an inspection of your home.
