(light problems) need info before writing notice

[BlackHaired]

my lights are dimming everytime an appliance turns on in my appartment and the shared area of the basement next to it. my fridge causes a moderate dimming, my stove (not the burners just the oven) cause a very mild (barely noticable) dimming, and my neighbors washers and dryers outside of my basement apartment cause a significant dim when started and if theres more power load while they are running the lights pulsate (very slighty, its barely noticable). the dimming itself lasts about half a second. occasionaly I hear a click near my breaker(?) box which uses the circular fuses (im not sure how old it is) when the dimming occurs. it seems to be getting worse, then better, then worse type thing but there are some factors.

so if you can help my questions are:

can stomping and jumping upstair cause this type of thing?
my neighbors are very heavy walkers, thier child is constantly running and jumping, they repeatedly drop heavy objects (sometimes it sounds like furniture is falling over), I mean it's so loud my apartment shakes sometimes and my chandaliers rattle from thier average steps.

also, can repeated over use of appliances cause problems? one of the other tenants uses her washer and dryer almost everyday (no idea why) and the other appartment uses thiers maybe twice a week but im unsure. I do not have a washer room (which is odd)

I have had left on my lights for an extended period of time because I had done that where I used to live and had no problem, was wondering if that could be something that caused it.

also, should I be getting this dimming for appliances that are not even in my appartment? it seems slightly odd, I have noticed a mild spike in my electricity bill. and honestly, it seems as though one of the tenants is using their washer and dryer more.

I would call an electrician myself to get a statment and have it later deducted from my rent but since im not working anymore I simply dont have the cash and have to go through the procedure of writing a notice. if my landlord was more reasonable I would call him sooner rather than later but he seems to want to blame instead of fix the problems that have been an issue for a while. for example there is severe water damage under my bathroom because the bathtub drain leaks pretty much all the water it's supposed to drain, and now I can't even use my tap water because the city did work on the water line and I can't drain the pipes, when I brought it up he seemed to care more about the fact that the city replaced his "not lead" line than the fact I could not drain my pipes. the toilet does't work properly as well unless I manually press down the seal. my landlord even went to the extent of blaming me for breaking a lock that he damaged while uninstalling after (probably) improperly installing it the first time.

basically dealing with my landlord is usually a nightmare, and I'd like to have my facts straight about this lighting issue before even attempting to speak to him and write a formal notice, I doubt he'll fix anything as well, but with the notice I'll be able to get an inspector and break my lease asap. all in all, this place is probably getting codemned in my opinion, good ridance

if you can help you're godsent, thanks

edit: also when the buildings furnace kicks in the lights dim in my apartment

 

[James]

Dimming of lights is often caused by volt drop.
In simple terms, it is similar to someone turning on a tap whilst you are in the shower, there is a maximum amount of water you can push down a pipe, when you open a tap, the water pressure reduces a little and less can get to the shower.

Electricity is much the same, there is a maximum amount you can “push” down a cable. When devices that use a lot of power are turned on, (washers, driers, ovens, heaters etc.) the voltage (similar to the water pressure) reduces and this is seen by lights dimming slightly.
A small amount of this is normal, however it can be that either a poor electrical joint or cables that are too small makes the problem much worse.
There are limits as to what is acceptable, however you need some test equipment to find if it is within limits or not.

You could try your electricity supplier , for voltage issues like this they will often install a recording device for a few days.
After that they will let you know if there is a problem with the supply and if so, what they will do to fix it.
Note, they are only responsible for the supply up to the meter, if your problems are between the meter and your equipment then it is your landlords responsibility to sort it out.

 

[Strima]

You say there's a click from your consumer unit? This sounds like a loose connection as this can cause the symptoms you describe.

My advice is to get a local electrician out ASAP to check the connections within your consumer unit as this can cause overheating and risk of fire.

 

[BlackHaired]

You say there's a click from your consumer unit? This sounds like a loose connection as this can cause the symptoms you describe.

My advice is to get a local electrician out ASAP to check the connections within your consumer unit as this can cause overheating and risk of fire.

I don't think it's that bad because I noticed the furnace makes a single click when it turns on which I think it's supposed to, it would explain why I hear it rarely and its approximately in the same area as the fuse box in my appartment (on the other side of the wall) nonetheless, even though I've felt around for over heating on the walls, plugs, switches and around my box and it seems normal, I suspect some wear on the system. I'm going to tidy up a bit and call my landlord. I also called my rent review board and they said even with the circumstances without the electric, I could have someone from the city come down and inspect during the process of filling a formal complaint to my land lord. ironically there was an outage in my neighborhood today (that had nothing to with my appartment did it? o.o)

 

[James]

glad you are getting things sorted,

p.s. if the outage in your neighbourhood had anything to do with your electrics, there would have been a BIG BANG in your place and some black marks to show where the noise came from.

 

[ipf]

You say there's a click from your consumer unit? This sounds like a loose connection as this can cause the symptoms you describe.

My advice is to get a local electrician out ASAP to check the connections within your consumer unit as this can cause overheating and risk of fire.

Agree S.......and the bill increase adds to the theory.
I've seen it with bad neutral connections and it could be affecting the whole property.

 

[Flanders]

As above I have found 9 times out of 20 a loose neutral is the corse of this issue have you had a new smart meter fitted resently?