Moved house, MASSIVE mains power problems

[kwft]

Hi,

Need a bit of advice if possible.

Moved into rented bungalow with my flatmate just before Xmas. It was built about 10/20yrs ago.

Hooked up new telly, amp etc, flatmate wired in his PC in his room etc etc.

There seems to be a problem with the mains electricity in the house.

Everytime a heater is switched on (not thermostat, just switched on manually) the TV cuts out audio for a second, so does the amp & my flatmates PC crashes, it literally dies a death. Handy for kicking him off the torrents, but that's another story.

This happens with light switches too, switch on, audio cuts out for a sec, PC dies. Not everytime but I can replicate the problem 50% of the time just by flicking a lightswitch.

My macbook or PC doesn't die when this happens, in fact they're quite happy with it, as is my PS3, Wii etc.

My flatmate paid quite a few bucks for his PC PSU... all singing all dancing modular thing, & was fine in the previous house & it had the old style fuse wire circuit box so god knows how old the wiring was there. So we're sure it's not faulty, just a lil more sensitive to these things than say my PC or Mac.

I tried fitting a belkin surge/spike suppressor mains block to the A/V equipment...doesn't help.

I've had a look at similar postings, but these seem to be things that impact freeview reception etc. ie fridge thermostats & stuff...they don't bother the tv or PC. It's only when something is turned on initially.

I'm convinced it's something the landlord should be dealing with, as the mains supply is 'dirty' somehow but then I'm no electrician. I'm worried for my equipment & the only postings seem to refer to £500 boxes that would be useless as my A/V kit & his PC are in totally different rooms. But I'm in the dark & not going to bring it up with the landlord until I have a solution for the problem or at least a way forward.

Any ideas?

[hornydragon]

SCottish law is different to England and wales where landlords have a duty to maintain and inspect the electrical system for safety there is an issue somewhere in the system possible a ddgy nuetral or earth. Try speaking to your local citizens advice tennant help centre and also the landlord/agent.

http://www.cas.org.uk/WebOfficeDetai...id=65&letter=I

http://www.prhpscotland.gov.uk/files...or-Tenants.pdf

[marty2005]

I used to get a lot of problems where the lights would all go out if I flicked a switch or turned something on.

My council check the mains every year.
On an inspection an electrician said I had a mains leak.

Several calls by different electricians over the months the problem was not fixed and cause of that I would not sign the form to say it was ok.

One night at 1am everything went out and I couldn't reset the mains switch.
Called the council and they sent out an electrician who got to mine at 1:30am. (Good service at that time.)

This electican knew his sh*t and rewired the whole mains box, only took him 1/2 hr. and fixed the mains leak.

He said it was totally wired up wrong. He was a contract worker and not a council worker.

So sounds like your mains box has problems.

[pjclark1]

Buy a UPS, they only cost about £50 from ebuyer.com