Power Conditioning

[Jasonarc]

I have an application for residential contractor (higher end $$ homes), who has 'soft' powerline issues. Specifically, the inrush power requirements for the air-conditioners (feeding off a 120/240V 40 amp breaker) are causing visible power dips (ie brownouts) to all circuits in the house. Do you have any solutions for this. Is a line conditioner a possiblity.

Is this just a case of elevated line impedances that should be addressed by the utility company.

 

[busbar]

Check voltage variation during starting at the building service entrance before contacting the utility. Many US utilities usually adopt ANSI Std C84.1 as a baseline. thread238-91010 Note C84 limits are defined in terms of service voltage and utilization voltage.

 

[buzzp]

Busbar hit the nail on the head. Check the voltage at the service entrance at start-up. If it is present there as well, then the utility can generally just change the tap on the transformer. If this is a new development with more houses going up, there could be issues with equipment sizing.

 

[stevenal]

What you are describing sounds like lamp flicker, not really addressed by C84.1. Flicker is categorized by frequency and depth. Borderline visible flicker is not usually considered to be a problem. Irritating levels of flicker are a problem. Try searching on "lamp flicker"