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What causes lights to get brighter when furnace motor comes on?
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
A loose or disconnected neutral wire at breaker box or at the appliance. Depending on what is on when and if two or more motors are running at the same time. This can as well have the opposite effect too, lights too bright.
Although loose connection can cause a problem and you should have all the connections checked, it could also be caused by several other reasons. You distance from and the load on the transformer, the size of you service conductors or lateral, the age and maintenance of your appliances. I have found out that light dimming happens in almost every house but some people are more sensitive to it than others.
Usually dimming of lights when an appliance kicks it is caused by a voltage drop of the supply caused by a heavy demand for current when the appliance initially starts. This is usually associated with an appliance that has a motor such as a refrigerator, furnace, washing machine, vacuum cleaner etc. Motors demand about 6 times their steady running current when they first start up and this can be a significant surge of current for maybe a half second or so till the motor has started and is up to speed. This basically momentarily 'overloads' the supply and lowers the voltage available to other devices, thereby causing them to momentarily slow down (if a motor) or dim (if it is a lamp).
If you switch to the new power saving compact spiral bulbs, their internal electronic ballast compensates somewhat for line voltage, so they won't react as noticeably to heavy loads starting up elsewhere in your house. The same is true for fluorescent tube fixtures with electronic ballasts.
One more point:If the lights are on a dimmer, they are very sensitive to change in voltage and will change their brightness disproportionately to the slight changes in voltage caused by motors or other heavier loads switching off and on.Wiki User
∙ 8y ago
Wiki User
∙ 14y agoThe typical reason why the 120 volts on one side of a 240 volt, split phase residential service goes higher when a device on the opposite leg comes on is a loose neutral. The 240 volt service voltage is not affected, but the 120 volt legs may become unevenly distributed. In one exaggerated view the furnace motor turns on and causes that leg to go down to 110 volts, and cause the opposite leg to go up to 130 volts -- producing a noticeable increase in lights brightness. The serving electric utility should be made aware of this problem.
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What causes lights to dim?
i dont know maybe your lightbulb is messed up. There could be many possibilities depending on the situation. If a high wattage unit comes on (like an air conditioner), there could be a drain on the system that causes a light to dim. Sometimes during a storm, there could be a problem at the power substation including a power surge or break in the system, that could cause lights dimming. If too many strands of lights in a series are connected, you run the risk of overloading that circuit, which could cause dimmed and blown lights, and potentially dangerous situations. Consult a Master Electrician for more information.
How does a flame rod work?
The main circuit board in your furnace sends a small ac signal to the flame rod so now you have an ac potential from the body of the furnace to the flame rod, When the flame comes on between the body of the furnace and the rod it rectifies the ac in to dc, The flame actually acts like a diode. When this dc voltage is sensed by the control board it knows there is a flame present and thus keeps the gas valve on. Hope this helps
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the lights would grow dimmer if the large appliance draws so much current that the resistance of the main electrical service conductors to that current causes a service voltage drop. less voltage means less light. one reason the lights might grow brighter when the large appliance comes on is if the rest of the household electric load (other than the large appliance)is mostly connected to just one of the service conductors, with the large appliance on the other service conductor and the service neutral is marginal or undersized. the neutral carries the unbalanced current of the two service conductors so, without the large appliance on line, the neutral is carrying a large current and the resistance of the undersized neutral to that large current is causing a voltage drop all the time, so lights are dim all the time. when the large appliance comes on line, the unbalance is reduced, the neutral carries less current, the voltage drop reduces and the lights brighten.
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