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I need some help with power in my home!
This is a vulnerable question. I've been doing this hobby for way too long to not know the answer to this. I have seen lots of products marketed for power, but I've never had the need. But here we go...
The power in our house is really unstable. Lights flicker when I turn on the kettle. The space heater nearly takes us down.
Is there some sort of regulator type thing that stores power and sends it safely and consistently to my stereos? Like a block that sits between the wall and all of my components?
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Yes, any of the regenerative power units made for audio should do the job. They are pricey and look for one that has some sort of backup power, whether it be capacitive (short term) or battery (longer term). Another less expensive option is getting a basic UPS supply for computer equipment. They are less expensive than the made for audio ones. Note the price goes up as the run time without a grid increases. Less money but they work even though they are not as well suited for audio work as a dedicated audio power unit. If you do get a computer based UPS, also pick up a audio grade EMI filter unit to put between the UPS and the audio equipment. That will keep any generated noise out of your system. Your case is one of the few that desperately needs a dedicated line! Regardless of what you do, you really need to get a qualified electrician out to your place and verify the problem is your incoming power and not something on your side of the meter. This is important. If it is on the grid side you won't have to pay to have it fixed. If it is on your side, then you really need to do something about it. Seems to me this is a fire waiting for a time to happen. How old is your home? When was it built? Was any electrical upgrades done to it since it was first built? |
Hi OP, I was away and really couldn’t type more than I did. While a voltage regulator/regenerator can help your audio, they can also stress your wiring. My strong recommendation is to deal with your other issues first. In particular, all your flickering lights are potential signs of arcing which can start fires. In my relatively young (16 years) home I had several such issues which were solved by replacing light switches and outlets. Do everything in your power, especially by hiring a licensed electrician, to solve these issues first. If your home is significantly older, say 1990’s or older, you may lack an adequate number of circuits. The NEC has evolved a great deal since then and now requires a lot more independent branch circuits than it did back then. In addition if the outlets were backstabbed, they all need to go, and be replaced by at least Commercial/Residential grade outlets which are back-wired or screw-wired. Especially important if your audio power is daisy chained and several outlets away from your electrical panel. Even in my "young" home you would simply not believe the number of issues I found replacing switches and outlets. Not to mention, got rid of the ghosts in the lighting. Overloading a circuit is a bad thing and adding a power regenerator actually may make this more likely. They will draw more current to maintain the correct output voltage. When you’ve solved your basic house wiring I encourage you to look into a voltage regulator instead of a regenerator for a couple of reasons:
Sadly the modern generation of PS Audio seems to be a lot noisier than the early versions, though also more efficient. I suggest instead Furman conditioners with voltage regulation as better alternatives. However, I insist, do this after cleaning up your electrical otherwise. Doing this in the wrong order may be hazardous. If you find your house has too few circuits running a new circuit for your stereo is not a bad idea. It's not always required, like, my little 2 br/2bath home has 20 120V circuits! So I'm not running any appliances in the living room besides the stereo. If your electrical outlets are shared among say, living room, dining room and hallway you may not be so lucky and a new circuit just for the stereo is a good investment. |
As @gs5556 sayd:
And a power condition will not ameliorate those issues, if they exist. |
You really should fix the route cause of the flickering lights. A visit from an electrician isn't outrages, and could save your home, as well as fix the issue. It could be as simple as loose wiring. If you're remotely handy and have some basic electrical knowledge, you can kill the main power in your panel, remove the cover, and tighten down all the connections. |
Gosh, I forgot about aluminum wiring. If you have it, you definitely need an electrician to bring the connections up to code. The issue is AL with 120VAC circuits. The 240VAC circuits are okay for AL due to the way they terminate. I rented a house with AL wiring one time, beautiful home, but one day it almost burned down due to AL wiring. I walk away from any home for sale today if it has AL wiring. |
It is not uncommon in some copper wired homes to have aluminium or aluminum between the service tower and homes. Hence a Sparkie can figure out whether it is between the service and the house, or within the house. Aluminium is not by definition ”out of code”… and the power company is not usually prone to pulling out the wire from the service point to the house. |
Maybe it’s just me but I think the diagnosis are getting ahead of themselves. It’s hard to tell how much of the OP’s writing is hyperbole but I’ve had all of those problems without a loose incoming neutral or aluminum wiring. In my cases, the flickering lights were caused by old switches, old backstabbed outlets and bad wiring in the panel. Hard to tell which fixed which but fixing all three solved all my flickering problems. Not an aluminum wiring or main breaker wiring issue.
The light switches were old and the neutrals in the panel had too many in one screw location. I fixed it with overkill and replaced the breakers with CAFCI breakers. Not needed but compliant with the latest NEC. In the case of space heaters causing other issues, yeah, a lot of old homes have too few circuits for the appliances. As many have recommended next step for the OP is the same: Hire a licensed electrician to come fix it. |
Thanks, everybody. I did hire an electrician. He discovered that it was a gnarled incoming line to the house. Evergy came out and replaced it. I had the electrician put in dedicated circuits to both of my stereos. Everything is great now. Seriously, thank you all. I put that off for way too long. $510 to fix a real and dangerous problem is money way better spent than some expensive component to save my stereo! |
