I bought a new house7 months ago, and everytime my A/C comes on my lights blink. What is causing this???

I have had the electrician look at it and he said the blinking was either the A/C guys fault or I am not getting enough power from the pole. Electric Co. ran a test and it was pulling enough power to my house. The fuses for A/C are two 30's ? Someone please tell how to fix this before my warranty is up.....Thanks

I bought a new house7 months ago, and everytime my A/C comes on my lights blink. What is causing this???
I THINK YOU MEAN THAT YOUR LIGHTS DIM FOR 1 OR 2 SECONDS WHEN THE AC UNIT STARTS. I DON'T THINK YOU SHOULD NOTICE THE LIGHTS DIMMING AT AC START. IF AN ELECTRICIAN LOOKED AT YOUR INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS THAT CAME WITH THE UNIT, IT TELLS THE WIRE SIZE NECESSARY FOR SUPPLYING THE UNIT FROM THE BREAKER BOX. YOU SHOULD HAVE THAT PAPERWORK LEFT FOR YOU AFTER INSTALLATION. THE WIRE SIZE FROM THE TRANSFORMER TO THE BREAKER BOX IS DETERMINED BY THE NATIONAL ELECTRIC CODE/POWER COMPANY. THESE WIRE SIZES COULD BE TOO SMALL AND CAUSE THE EFFECT YOU ARE DESCRIBING AS COULD A TOO LOW A POWER TRANSFORMER. (YOU COULD BE AT THE END OF A LINE AND OUT IN THE COUNTRY, TOO) THAT IS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW. IF THE WIRES ARE CORRECT SIZE, THE COMPRESSOR MAY NEED A HARD START KIT(BUT I DOUBT IT, GIVEN THE AGE OF THE UNIT). NEXT YOU MAY NEED TO GET THE AC INSTALLATION COMPANY TO LOOK AT THINGS AND SEE IF THEY CAN SHED ANY LIGHT ON THE CAUSE.---BEFORE THE YEAR IS UP.
Reply:Your A/C needs quite a bit of loading to start up. To do this it has to draw power from your existing supply. When this happens, the very temporary power surge to the A/C reduces the power to your lights and will cause dimming for a fraction of a second until the motor has started running.


Equate this to trying to start your car with the headlights on. As soon as the starter motor engages, your lights dim. It's the same principle. If your A/C is working normally otherwise I don't think you have anything to worry about. I'm surprised the electrician didn't tell you this. If you are still unhappy, get someone to check the A/C motor to ensure there is no power leakage to earth.
Reply:In reponse to the first answer, the principle is actually not quite the same. The headlights remain dimmed the whole time the starter motor is running.





In response to the original question, the electric company test might use a different definition of how much power is enough. What were the actual test results in numbers? They might be using an old standard test for a house that doesn't use much electricity, and it might not even take the A/C into account.
Reply:Besides the A/C do you have any high power appliances like a hot tub or pool that might be drawing extra power? The power companies tests might not reflect more than one high power consumption device being used at the same time. A spare fridge or freezer in the garage will have a large affect on power consumption. If you have something like that, try to turn it off before turning on the A/C and see what happens. Often the simple solutions work the best.