Smart Meters?

[Rumpshot]

The power company (APS) installed smart meters in our area starting last summer.

We have some folks that are absolutely opposed to the possibility that .gov is spying on them and recording serial numbers of appliances in the home. There are a lot of other concerns, but they appear to be NIMBY in nature.

My concern is the quality of power it is running into the house. We seem to have A LOT more light flikering than I remember. Light bulbs seem to be burning out faster, though that could be bulb quality.

Your thoughts.

[Rumpshot]

Microwave oven "died" yesterday. Cooking along, then dimmed down and sounded not normal.

Mrs. was heating quiche for my breakfast this morning in the microwave, hoping it would work. It seemed to start okay, then "died" again.

Aha moment. Grabbed VOM, plugged it into the outlet across the kitchen. 124 volts indicated. Mrs. started microwave, it powered up then "died" again. VOM reading went from 124v to 144v as the microwave died. Repeated from a different circuit across the house. Repeatable results.

What is going on?

[Fivetoes]

Call your power company, or qualified electrician and have them check it out. You could have a loose connection which is a fire waiting to happen.
When voltage drops, current must rise, which will burn out appliances, lights and electric motors.

[rightisright]

Are the problems just in the kitchen or is the whole house affected? If it's whole-house, you probably have an issue in your main panel. Check it for shorts or loose breakers.

If the problem isn't immediately evident, do what Fivetoes advised and call the power co. immediately.

[Kommander]

I recently had a smart meter installed but I get my power from SRP.

[FelixEstrella]

In general, I like SmartMeters.

PROS: Allows remote monitoring of power usage, allowing one to spot anomalies, tipping one off to the illicit use of property.
CONS: Security concerns; hackers gaining access to usage data can spot deviation from established usage patterns thus concluding that property is unoccupied and hence prime targets for burglary.

[308Mike]

A lot of people in CA are opposing them, mostly based on the amount of EMR/EMF they're putting out, as there are no standards for exposure to their radio waves. Take a look here: http://www.electrosmogprevention.org/ and here http://www.radiationresearch.org/

Personally, I don't like the idea of the power company being able to remotely regulate the amount of power going to my house by wireless controls simply because they weren't watching their distribution closely enough. Thankfully, our meter is attached near the front of our garage and not near any living spaces. YMMV

[Rich]

I feel there are two separate things here. Smart meters (third party remote control of appliances and radiation emissions, and what appears to be excessive voltage showing up in households)

Anecdote; When I lived in the Maryvale suburb of Phoenix (late 70's) we had flickering lights and appliances and radios that died well before warranty expiration. SRP was the power company, and the Palo Verde nuke plant was under construction (with people filing lawsuits on a weekly basis claiming irradiated tools were being discovered (anything to delay construction and drive up costs to make the plant un-economical). The voltage spikes were pretty serious, and once I measured over 150 volts rms for a few minutes.

The cause of course was the length of the power line from the local transformer and the length of line from the power substation feeding that transformer, and so on up the line. Every time something drawing a major amount of current is turned on or shut off, it reflects back up the line. The power companies are getting better at it but it's a work in progress.

The quick cure is probably increased use of surge protectors unless specifically warned against using one. Perhaps someone has a chart handy about using surge protectors they could post or point to. Meanwhile HERE is a Wikipedia article about surge protectors.

[Rich Jordan]

I remember reading about a municipality 10 or more years ago that would have the local rag publish 'water hog' notices, posting name (not sure about address) of people using 'too much' water based on their own determinants. I fully expect the same will start to happen with these meters because the data will become more accessible and more detailed. Some bureaucrat, or worse some private 'green' organization getting FOI equivalent access will try to demonize folks who like their air conditioning, or run incandescent lights, or leave their PCs (or servers like me) running all the time.

[arctictom]

Check your ground, asap, 144 v is high sometimes 'wandering voltage' is a sign of a bad ground, also check your box for corrosion , call a pro if you can't do this your self, you have a problem with, your box,ground or supply.