We've had several things burn out, or just fail to work over the last year. After the third low-voltage under-cabinet light went bad I spoke with our builder and said we needed to look into it from an overall house electrical perspective.
I had asked him before if there was an issue, or could possibly be an issue, but he said he didn't think there could be. He is someone who will overdo a thing instead of underdoing it. So I don't believe he was avoiding the issue. With twenty five years of building fine homes, he has a lot of experience and I have trusted his knowledge many times and we have a beautiful home that we're very happy with as a result.
After this last last issue, where a light was working, but burned out on the low setting only, I asked him to have the electrician come and verify everything was in order. After speaking with him, they decided to have the power company come first and look at the main house connections and verify we were getting both appropriate power and weren't having surges.
That appears to have been the problem all along. The main connections to the house had several spots that weren't tightened down as well as they should have been. They could have been causing arcing power which would affect low-voltage issue more commonly than high-voltage ones. The power company's contractor didn't do a good job when installing it.
So, now that that's fixed I've been thinking back on the past fifteen months. We have a new house, so everything in it is new and it's expected that some things will have an issue. But when I think through the issues we had as a whole, there was ample evidence something was amiss.
We had a low-voltage jam switch in a closet burn out twice. Three under-cabinet lights burned out in the same way. Three parts (one twice) had to be replaced in the in-house vacuum unit. The jacuzzi tub control panel malfunctioned and we had four calls to the alarm system company for faulty sensors.
In each case, we were assured by the warranty or service people that these things happened in new installations and to not worry because it was under warranty. As a whole, I think we got the overriding message a bit later than I would have liked to. But... it's fixed now. And we learned something. It's always good to learn something, even if experience is expensive.
The Big Boy Update: Is he outgrowing the nap? Some mornings I think so. I think there's no way he's going to nap because he's got so much energy. And some mornings he doesn't nap. But most days, like today, when he gets cranky and we put him in his crib, he lies down and we don't hear a sound from him for over an hour. Nap time is good time.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Sitting up on her own...sort of. She can sit up now. She balances well...for a bit. Then she falls over and investigates the floor on her stomach. Then, she gets annoyed because she wants to be sitting. Soon I predict she'll "tripod" and be able to hold herself in a sitting position for longer by using one hand to balance.
Right-size Countdown: 0.6 pounds to go
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