Overvoltage on house wiring

[Bama Slamma]

Today I had a power strip short out. The load on it wasn't very heavy at all. Just a tv, bose audio system, sat receiver, and dvd player. I measured the outlet feeding it and got 142 volts. I know house voltage fluctuates a little, but 142 volts seems like a lot to me, especially when the nominal value is supposed to be 120 volts. I think Alabama Power will be receiving a service call from me.

[lineup]

+- 5% is not uncommon where I live
can vary depending on time of the day/night
and if is weekend or not

I think some mains power suppliers promise that mains voltage
according to delivery terms
should be within +- 10% of nominal

For 120 VAC this would be +- 12V
giving maximal variation within: 108-132

142V, if your meter shows correct value, is definitely too much.
It is almost 20% above nominal.

It is plain dangerous, as some household equipment may overload and cause fire.
And in best case plenty of fuses will be blown for many people.

Send in all blown fuses and require new in compensation!

[jacquesl]

I’m in South Africa – Cape Town region
Our Voltage standard is from 220v to 240v never higher than that
But in my place where I stay, it’s 230v and then all the people put on the ovens or heaters in the town it drops to 229 and lower, so it changes every time but never drops below 220 or go higher than 240, it never goes up to 240v not even if the operators is drunk.

And we have a power factor of 49.9%

[Loial]

it never goes up to 240v not even if the operators is drunk.

... Does that happen often?

[AndrewT]

Hi,
here in the UK we are 216 to 254 for a nominal 230 or 240Vac.

I often measure 246 and 238 but rarely outside these limits. But I design for 216 to 254.

Half our UK voltages and your 142V is way outside a reasonable tolerance.

COMPLAIN and ask for an explanation and if they cannot explain the event demand monitoring. There is something wrong

[jacquesl]

lol Loial, I don’t know

[gbyleveldt]

Jacques

You might get 240V if they can get that damn reactor up the road from you to work properly

[jacquesl]

You might have a point there, gbyleveldt

[Nordic]

Suppose we shouldn't moan less ours start fluctuating from 240 to 0V again...

[Bama Slamma]

I called the power company and they were very prompt about fixing the problem. I heard from the guy across the street that they had to install a new pole pig (transformer). Now the voltage is 120 right on the nose.