Air Conditioner making lights flicker?

Question

I have an 8000 BTU window AC unit, Kenmore brand. When the AC unit is on, sometimes it causes various lights in the house to flicker (maybe 0-2 times per hour). When the lights flicker the AC unit gets quieter for a moment and then picks back up a couple seconds later. The AC unit has it's own outlet with nothing else plugged in so the outlet is not overloaded.

The flickering issue is definitely worse when the AC is on "power saver" mode or when I tried using a plug-in timer (Brinks brand).

Is the flickering issue bad or dangerous? Could it start a fire, etc? I live in a relatively new apartment complex, built brand new only 10 years ago.

Answer 1

You're overloading that circuit.  Turn something off or switch it to another circuit. You should have circuit breakers to keep you out of trouble, but an electrician can help you. He can give you an estimate if you describe the problem properly.

Answer 2

All air conditioners do that, I dont know why, but i think it is like a short. I wish I knew if it was dangerous too.

Answer 3

First how old is the A/C? If it's an older model the motor has a lot of wear on it and that will make it pull more power which will make lights flicker. And that can happen after one season. Or it could be a weak breaker. And yes it could be dangerous if allowed to continue for a long period of time.

Answer 4

You are overloading the circuit as someone else said. It is also not a fire hazard or because of the way breakers are designed. If you are overloading the circuit, it will just switch off and will have to be reset. If you aren't looking to spend $$ just to run a new line for the A/C, you may wanna try and switch off the breaker to which the A/C is on. Once you do this, you will see everything else in the house that is connected to that same breaker. At this time, you maybe wanna see if you have any other appliances that are also on the same breaker and maybe move some things around to other plugs which are on a separate breaker. This way you can lighten your load some and help yourself sleep better at night knowing that your are safer. Like I said it's not a major hazard but if there is a way you can reduce that amount of appliances on that same breaker would be your best bet.

Answer 5

It may be plugged into an outlet with nothing else plugged in, but that outlet is probably on the same circuit as the lights.

When the compressor kicks in, the voltage drop makes the lights flicker.  If the circuit is properly fused/circuit breakered, it is not dangerous, but you may burn out light bulbs faster than normal.   I assume it's your A/C.  See if your lease allows them.  If so, you could talk to your landlord about it, but unless you have a unusual landlord, he or she will not want to spend money to solve the problem.

Answer 6

Compressors use an extra start winding to get them started. If it cycled off recently there is still pressure there they have to fight to start.

They will draw a lot of ampherage for about a second to start. This high power draw is what cause the voltage to drop elsewhere and causes the flickering or dimming.

That is why they are supposed to be on their own circuit, not just on a plug without other items on it or an outlet that has other outlets on the circuit.

For most items the brief voltage drop is not a problem but electronics don't like it much.

Good Luck

Answer 7

someone is taking alot of the apartments electricity , maybe there producing a machine and it is using up alot of voltage, nothing to worry though it will stop.

Answer 8

This is likely normal and not a problem. When the AC compressor turns on, it draws a lot more electrical current as the motor overcomes internal pressure and builds up speed. The wiring in the building has electrical resistance, and the more electrical current pulled through the wire, the more voltage will be lost in the effort to do so. The loss of voltage makes the lights flicker and the AC get quiet.

The more electrical current pulled through a wire  the hotter it gets. The limit on how much current can be pulled through a wire is how hot the wire can safely get before the insulation is damaged. Circuit breakers and fuses are designed to allow surges of current that will warm the wire only briefly and safely. If the lights stayed dim after the AC came on, that would be more of a concern as it would indicate a continued high current draw (and the resulting voltage loss and wire heating).

The reason that you see the lights dim is that they are probably on the same circuit as the outlet with the AC, so they see the same voltage loss. You can test that easily be finding which circuit breaker in the panel turns off both the AC and the lights. The circuit breaker should protect you from overloading the circuit (too much voltage loss for too long). If the circuit breaker starts tripping, make sure you turn off other items on the circuit before using the AC. You don't want to bet your life on the continued operation of a $3 device.

Answer 9

Its not dangerous and it wont cause a fire my guess you have a lot of other electronics at home also and it could be overloaded depends on how many amps service you get i heavent worked lately much on new conds but i belive that most of them should have a 100 amps of service but i know of a few people that work on new condos and o sae money end up putting only 60 amps that means that you might have to turn quite a few things off if you dont want the lites to flicker or you could always call an lectrician and make sure you didnt end up getting scamed by your builder, and if you did here in Quebec i am sure you can call the builder and they can correct it other places should have measures like this too so its something you definetly need to look into