Wierd Semi Power Outage: Advice Please ?

[ecodiesel]

Hi all,
Very bizarre stuff happening at my house...Yesterday we experienced a "brownout", but we lost power only to parts of the house ( downstairs office, second floor, part of kitchen.)
Power to other areas was fine and uninterrupted.
Neighbors have no issues with power.
Since yesterday, power to the beforementioned parts of the house has been intermittent and lights are dim when power is on ( we aren't using anything electrical in the affected areas. I unplugged the old fridge downstairs, as I understand the motor could burn out in these "lowered voltage" conditions )
Panel box/ switches are all proper,seemingly no issue there.
Strangely,the dishwasher will work only when the dryer is turned on first ( !?). These appliances are both in the kitchen/laundry room area.
Upstairs lights are dim, if they work at all.
Furnace fan is inop, ( pilot light is on ) so we'll keep it off till we solve this.
I'm definately not skilled re electrical issues, but I'm willing to learn.
On the "middle" floor, we can use space heaters, computers, lights,ect w/no issues, and the power seems to be perfectly normal.
I hope my description makes sense to someone out there..
I'd appreciate any advice as to how to approach figuring out what needs to be done.
Sincerely,
Bill

[HayZee518]

power problem

seems to me to be a problem with the neutrals somewhere in the house. if you had a digital or analog meter, you could measure the incoming voltage across the line terminals in the panelbox.
then you'd go and measure the individual voltages across each breaker to ground just to see if there is a faulty breaker.
what consists of your wiring? copper or aluminum wire?

[ecodiesel]

Problem ( possible neutral issue ) Solved: Thanks for your help !

seems to me to be a problem with the neutrals somewhere in the house. if you had a digital or analog meter, you could measure the incoming voltage across the line terminals in the panelbox.
then you'd go and measure the individual voltages across each breaker to ground just to see if there is a faulty breaker.
what consists of your wiring? copper or aluminum wire?

Turns out it was the wires leading into the house from the street - the local EMC replaced the broken section. Evidently recent rains had affected the broken part re continuity and that was the cause of the Haunted House Syndrome...I really appreciate your help ! BK

[HayZee518]

brown outs

sorry, I should have thought about the incoming power triplex. seldomly is there a problem with the triplex but because it is made of aluminum over a steel inner conductor, there could be problems as you found out. the crimp connectors the power company uses has an anti-oxidant inside each ferrule but sometimes this stuff leaks out. I trust bolt up connectors more than crimp lugs.
At the pole there is a number 8 solid copper ground wire that goes to a driven ground rod. this is connected to the middle connector on the transformer and the bare ground of the "crib" line. that's what they call the twisted triplex that goes to your house entrance and elsewhere to other people's houses.
at your house this bare twisted wire goes to the middle terminal in the meter trough and the neutral strip inside your panelbox. it is re-inforced to earth ground through your waterpipe ground and auxillary driven ground. if it loosens up in your panelbox or breaks off, it could cause other problems with a voltage surge and may impress 240 volts on your 120 volt appliances.
if you see a waving wire at a pole that goes up the side to a transformer, you should report it to your power company so they can fix it.