Electrician Advice for Light Flicker

[Danny Tanner]

Friday night while brushing my teeth I noticed the light flickering from above the sink. Since it's a fixture that has 6 vanity incandescent bulbs that were there when we bought the place almost 5 years ago, I figured one of them was finally burning out. Yesterday, while taking a shower, I realize the light above the shower is flickering as well. I tested the light above the toilet, it's also flickering. I tested the lights in the closet (which is attached to the bathroom) and noticed the same flicker.

It's just a subtle, inconsistent flicker. You can't see it by looking directly at a bulb, because it's not a blatant flicker like the "No Vacancy" sign you see on TV, but you can notice the light in the room flickering a bit just like a florescent bulb that's coming to an end of its life. The closet has two brand new CFL bulbs and the bulbs above the toilet and shower are CFL as well, remaining from the previous owners. All 3 bathroom light fixtures feed off of the same light switch panel. The closet lights are connected to one switch on the opposite side of the same wall as the bathroom light switches. So, perhaps not a light switch, fixture, or bulb issue, but more of a circuit issue.

Is there anything I can safely check before having an electrician out? Luckily, the bathroom has a huge window which allows in quite a bit of light, so these lights get minimal use, but I still worry about the potential for being a fire hazard.

Any tips on what could be the cause? No other place in the house does this.

 

[Spata]

I don't know, but I have a couple fixtures that do this.

 

[Powerman620]

I would start by calling your local utility and have them check the service entrance. Once your elementate that go for there.

 

[BReeves]

Not an electrician but spent my life playing with electricity. You have every right to be worried about fire, if the flickering is being caused by a poor connection thats arcing it's just going to get worse. Find the breaker that circuit is on and kill it until you can get an electrician to look at it.

 

[dennishoddy]

Flickering in a lighting circuit can cause a fire.

Like has been said, if its isolated to one or two rooms, turn the breaker off. Just turning the lights off won't help the real issue. It sounds like you have a loose connection in a junction box somewhere in the attic, or the wire coming out if the breaker to feed that circuit might be loose.
If the whole house has that flicker, call your utility company like power man said.

If your comfortable around electric, you can remove the breaker box cover, turn off the breaker, and check the tightness of the lug that clamps the wire.
If its beyond that, leave the breaker and call in an electrician.

 

[338Shooter]

Try unscrewing one of those lights at a time.

 

[Danny Tanner]

Flickering in a lighting circuit can cause a fire.

Like has been said, if its isolated to one or two rooms, turn the breaker off. Just turning the lights off won't help the real issue. It sounds like you have a loose connection in a junction box somewhere in the attic, or the wire coming out if the breaker to feed that circuit might be loose.
If the whole house has that flicker, call your utility company like power man said.

If your comfortable around electric, you can remove the breaker box cover, turn off the breaker, and check the tightness of the lug that clamps the wire.
If its beyond that, leave the breaker and call in an electrician.

I was what we casually referred to as a "low-voltage electrician" several years ago, doing fire systems, alarms, audio/video/home automation, but the science experiment panels I'm used to aren't anything like circuit breaker boxes, but I'm still comfortable enough doing this and will try this evening.

 

[mksmth]

Does your service come overhead or underground. when I service a home flickering I always start on the top side of the meter and make sure the incoming is not the problem. With the winds we are having it could be utility.
Next step is what everyone has mentioned. I start at the breaker and watch the voltage. Next I'll find the first box where the home run is and start checking connections. Remember a loose neutral will cause flickering also.

Mike

 

[Defnestor]

Get one of those plug in testers to determine which wire is bad.

 

[travisstorma]

I've seen this a few times. All but once was a poor connection in the breaker panel. (The breaker was making a poor connection to the bus bar.) The other was a poor connection in the ceiling box that the room wiring branched out from.