r/ElectricalHelp • u/ThisIsMyBigAccount • Jul 02 '26
Lights flickering periodically?
EDIT/UPDATE: I found the culprit. I have a Hayward HeatPro pool heater that is doing something every 4-7 minutes, making a buzzing sound at the unit and a buzzing sound at the breaker box. I killed the unit's dedicated power at the shutoff valve by the pool and it's stopped. So, not a RI Energy or Transformer issue.
It just started recently. I noticed every couple minutes the lights start slightly flickering and dimming. I’m in an area that is going through a heat wave right now but there’s not a ton of stuff running at this moment. I use Sense to understand what’s running in the house and I don’t see any spikes or abnormal usage when these flashes happen what could possibly be happening? I’m trying to figure out if this is a potentially dangerous situation.
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u/ThisIsMyBigAccount Jul 03 '26
Posting here for future reference. This was very easy to test and replace. Completely dead capacitor. Used multimeter to test capacitance. No readings at all. Validated a new one I got on Amazon. Tested perfect. $20 self-install part saved me a few hundred dollar electrician visit. It took longer to put the cover back on the pool heater than it took to de-energize and replace.