That's a pretty big draw, I'm still trying to understand our issue after having our main panel replaced (new) and a new separate subpanel on our 55 yr. old home (to add a 2-story garage). Even though we had the house AC removed to a dedicated line/breaker at that time; it can still dim lights in the house, when the compressor kicks in[/B][/QUOTE]

Lena, we were having the same problem. My father-in-law is a custom home builder, he had us upgrade the line from the power pole to the house and problem was solved. Since, we did this with a two year old house I'm sure this would be the place to look in a fifty year old house. The cost of the 100 feet of HUGE copper was $300-400 the electrician worked for him so I never saw that bill, but it took three of us two hours to pull/push it thru an underground conduit. That wire was extremely heavy.

His reasoning about why is that building practices haven't really caught up with the modern house's energy draw. Things like two zoned a/c, multiple TVs, whole house sound, computers, jacuzzi's, kitchens that are commercial grade, etc. running all at once outstrip the standard utility hook up line's ability to delivery enough power for the intial surge of compressors and such starting up. That is why you get a momentary brown out.


[This message has been edited by Q-man (edited September 27, 2002).]