Reqs for a surge protector

[Dubious_Beans]

One can have a poor neutral on a center tapped system, with the other side of the circuit having a constant load. This will result in a high voltage at the outlet. Also this condition can be transitory: my house in Lowell used to pop bulbs in the bath on the first floor when the washing machine on the other side of the circuit got heavily loaded.

Yes, I've seen bad neutrals in older houses several times.

The last time was here, about 3 years ago. Certain lights in the house would get a little brighter or dimmer sometimes. It was subtle at first but eventually got more noticeable.
Then one day the wife plugged in a small portable heater in her office and it affected the lights in the bathroom a lot. When the heater came on the lights got LOTS brighter and I measured >135 volts at certain outlets in the house and 109 volts at others. The unbalanced voltages persisted all the way out to the service entrance so I called PG&E and they came out right away and fixed a bad connection on the neutral up at the top of the pole.

[westom]

The last time was here, about 3 years ago. Certain lights in the house would get a little brighter or dimmer sometimes. It was subtle at first but eventually got more noticeable.

Never ignore that symptom. In most cases, it is only reporting bad workmanship. In rare cases, something severe.

They also ignored incandescent bulb variations. Fortunately no one was home when it exploded. That defect (and no earth ground) meant AC electricity used the gas meter as an electrical conductor. House exploded.

[Fern]

Sounds like a bad connection somewhere between the outlet and the breaker. Hopefully the electrician used the side lugs on the outlets instead of the stab-ins. My neighbor had a fridge plugged into a 15a circuit in their garage that was on the general lighting circuit. A poor connection in an outlet that was connected using the stab in portion of the outlet between the breaker and the fridge had caused the wires to overheat and the insulation was melted off of the wires all the way through the circuit. It's a dangerous fire hazard. Copper expands when higher loads are pulled and contracts when the load is lessened. The tension spring inside the stab-in connector part of the outlet deteriorates over time and is accelerated with increased loads causing increased resistance which in turn generates heat. To be on the safe side, you could use wire nuts and tail out to the outlets through out the entire circuit for the best connection possible. Did the electrician notice any signs of the wires insulation starting to melt in the outlet/junction boxes?

[freonr22]

10th for bad neutral