lights flickering when switch is OFF

[kimo wires]

Fire Ants usually cause a switch to short out.
Seen this a lot.
Never seen a switch close because of it but I suppose its possible.

[geochem]

quote:

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Originally posted by Mr nice guy

Fix it before it burns.

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Getting burned down isn't the least of your worries here, but no less getting electrocuted due to a bad neutral is pretty high on my list - heard a story years ago about refrigerator that would occasionally give you a shock when you touched it. Home-owner decided to test whether it was grounded but didn't have a multimeter so ran a wire from the stainless sink to the refer - dead short, blew a hole in side of the refer... oops...

[terracore]

The problem went away on it's own but I suspect that is due to the humidity lowering after sunrise. I replaced all four switches with the clackyest models they sell. I didn't see any evidence of LFA but that doesn't mean there isn't some dead ones inside the switches. We haven't had LFA around for several months but if night humidity is a trigger it is possible this has been going on for a very long time and we just didn't notice it. This issue affected two different lights on different circuits. I'm no genius on how how electricity works but it seems like 1 bad switch couldn't be the culprit, and that makes me wonder how long the rest of the switches in the house are going to last. When we lived in Alaska (colder, but also high humidity) many of our outlets started failing at about the same time. I had probably replaced about 1/3 of them by the time we sold the house. I don't know why they put the cheapest possible electrical components into new houses when the overall savings is just a couple hundred bucks but represents the highest financial risk.

[kimo wires]

I worked on an old house once that wasn't grounded. Metal flex conduit throughout the house was energized. Other metal conduits were self grounded and not carrying current. Very dangerous situation.
Also: A switch either shorted out or fused closed is not likely to catch fire. They just burn out inside the box which usually has a 2 hour burn rating.

[kimo wires]

The contacts inside the switch may be corroded and not always making good contact. Replace them

[terracore]

I replaced all four switches with the clackyest models they sell.

[terracore]

I just thought of something- these two light circuits are ones that I almost never use. One would think that frequent use of a switch would wear it out, but perhaps there is something about the electrical contact being made that slows the corrosion? Maybe I need to hit the switches more often?

[kimo wires]

Yes, I've seen corrosion build up to the point that its insulating the wire and preventing a good connection. Especially with aluminum. Copper when it disintegrates is still capable of a better connection. Copper to aluminum splices should be coated with no-alox. (grease)