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?

128x128nickrobotron

Showing 4 responses by erik_squires

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.

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:

  • Less expensive
  • Less noise

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.