# Is flushing my toilet crashing my PC?



## The VCR King (Jul 18, 2016)

I know this is probably the stupidest question anyone has ever asked, but I'm serious right now. My PC has still been having its sudden power loss issue, but I picked up on something a few minutes ago. Every night, I have a gaming session until midnight, then I go to use the bathroom, and when I come back to my PC, it's shut off and I have to reboot it. Checking event viewer, the KERNEL POWER 41 event has a timestamp which is the same time I was finished in the bathroom...

Is flushing my toile somehow crashing my PC??? Seriously...


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## Intel_man (Jul 18, 2016)

Toilets don't use power... 

Like... I don't even know how to even respond to you seriously anymore.


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## The VCR King (Jul 18, 2016)

Intel_man said:


> Toilets don't use power...
> 
> Like... I don't even know how to even respond to you seriously anymore.


I know but these crash times are directly corresponding with the times I use the bathroom. Its really confusing to me and I understand you're point. Could something else be causing my power issue like turning on the bathroom fan or shutting off the light? Like maybe a short or arc??


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## TrainTrackHack (Jul 18, 2016)

The VCR King said:


> I know but these crash times are directly corresponding with the times I use the bathroom. Its really confusing to me and I understand you're point. Could something else be causing my power issue like turning on the bathroom fan or shutting off the light? Like maybe a short or arc??


Play around with the bathroom lights during other times of the day. Then start having your midnight piss without turning on any lights or other electronics. Should help you isolate the cause.


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## aldan (Jul 18, 2016)

how is your water delivered?by city or do you have a pump and well.the only way this could happen (and the jury is out on that one) is for your pc and your water pump to be on the same circuit and overloading same.top that one folks.LMAO.


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## Geoff (Jul 18, 2016)

While very rare, possibly:

As aldan said, if you have a well with a pump it could kick in after flushing the toilet and cause a brownout or similar.  
You are turning on lights when going to the bathroom that may overload it


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## Laquer Head (Jul 18, 2016)

This is what I call a shitty situation...


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## beers (Jul 18, 2016)

Depending on your house it might not be as crazy as you think.

As per others, try recreating the behavior so you can isolate it down to a specific thing whether it is toilet only, lights or similar.


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## Laquer Head (Jul 18, 2016)

My uncle lives on this tiny island near New Brunswick, Canada and his bathroom toilet plugs into wall, connected to some kind of pump and tank type system. Definitely not out of the realm of possibilities that there could be interference - depending on if you have some electrical type system for your septic,.


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## Darren (Jul 19, 2016)

Laquer Head said:


> This is what I call a shitty situation...



*Infraction issued* *for.*... *giggles uncontrollably*






I noticed for several years that my computer speakers would make a distinct pop whenever that bathroom light would be switched on or off and this house was built in 2004. You're not totally off your rocker. How old is your house? Sounds like your electrical wiring is... poop.


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## The VCR King (Jul 20, 2016)

Darren said:


> *Infraction issued* *for.*... *giggles uncontrollably*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


House was built relatively recently in 1992 and my computer speakers pop when I shut off any lights on the upstairs floor.

Other electrical nightmares that plague my residence include:
NONE of the breakers are labeled properly. Seriously.

The two-car garage, basement, and my bathroom are all on the same circuit. Plugging in too many Christmas lights in the garage during the holidays pops the GFCI outlet in my bathroom so we have to use LEDs to prevent that.

Turning on the microwave causes the whole house to dim.

I have a large stereo system in my bedroom (DJ amplifier, four subwoofers, 6 speakers). Any time the bass hits the bedroom light dim.

There is a large transformer the size of a smart-car on the ground in my backyard, not fenced off or anything. Just sitting there buzzing along.

The phone jack in my office which my PC uses for internet isn't even a phone jack... In my bedroom there is a phone jack, and inside it the wires are all spliced and there is a run of Cat5 that goes under the carpet in the bedroom, down the hallway, and comes out of the baseboard in the office and into a phone wall plate. This was only discovered when I got AT&T U-Verse internet last year and they attached that beeper thing to trace the wiring. It was quite an entertaining experience for both me and the ATT guy.

One time our neighbors installed a fence without a permit and they cut into our electrical wiring and we had no electricity for a week.

My neighborhood is fed from two substations. During a power outage, sometimes one house has power, and the one next to is is blacked out. It's crazy!

We get power surges. Daily. Never fails. How my PC still works (as good as it works anyways) is a mystery to my whole family. So far we are on our 13th (yes I have kept a running count) replacement DirecTV receiver because the surges keep frying them.

None of the outlets work right. Plug something in, and itll just fall out. We have to bend the prongs outward on everything so it won't fall out.

and...

This is in the middle of a metropolitan capital city with a population of over one million people.


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## Darren (Jul 20, 2016)

The VCR King said:


> I have a large stereo system in my bedroom (DJ amplifier, four subwoofers, 6 speakers). Any time the bass hits the bedroom light dim.



Just for fun. Turn these off and unplugged for a few days. See if it makes any difference. *shrug*


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## johnb35 (Jul 20, 2016)

You definitely have an electrical wiring issue in the house and is why you are having problems with everything.  Without having a contractor come in to find out what needs to be done, you would be better off moving to a different house.  Sounds like the whole house needs to be rewired. Seriously.


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## Darren (Jul 20, 2016)

johnb35 said:


> You definitely have an electrical wiring issue in the house and is why you are having problems with everything.  Without having a contractor come in to find out what needs to be done, you would be better off moving to a different house.  Sounds like the whole house needs to be rewired. Seriously.


Yeah this is really the best and only answer to all of your threads. The house needs some serious electrical work.


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## Intel_man (Jul 20, 2016)

re-doing electrical work to current codes... is very... very... VERY expensive.


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## The VCR King (Jul 20, 2016)

Thing is with all these problems, this is all the original electrical in the house! And my house is only 25 years old!


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## johnb35 (Jul 20, 2016)

How many amps is your main breaker?  You may not have enough amps coming into the house to support everything.


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## The VCR King (Jul 20, 2016)

johnb35 said:


> How many amps is your main breaker?  You may not have enough amps coming into the house to support everything.


Honestly I have no idea. Its a two-story house though and each room has at least four outlets. 

My bedroom is the heaviest load of all though, because in my room I got that DJ setup, a flat screen TV, two old tube radios, an alarm clock, a VCR and a BD player, a CD changer, two turntables, a bigger shortwave radio,and a tape deck. I have a surge protector in there and one of the outlets has 12 things total plugged into it because of the surge strip. Also, a ceiling fan. I am currently running a huge window air conditioner along with all of that and my breaker has never tripped so I'm not overloading it, but I'm definitely coming close lol


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## The VCR King (Jul 20, 2016)

Oh yeah I almost forgot...
We have to put those curly CFLs in everything. Incandescent bulbs instantly explode when turned on in my house.


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## Laquer Head (Jul 20, 2016)

The VCR King said:


> Honestly I have no idea. Its a two-story house though and each room has at least four outlets.
> 
> My bedroom is the heaviest load of all though, because in my room I got that DJ setup, a flat screen TV, two old tube radios, an alarm clock, a VCR and a BD player, a CD changer, two turntables, a bigger shortwave radio,and a tape deck. I have a surge protector in there and one of the outlets has 12 things total plugged into it because of the surge strip. Also, a ceiling fan. I am currently running a huge window air conditioner along with all of that and my breaker has never tripped so I'm not overloading it, but I'm definitely coming close lol



Holy sweet flying crap


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## Darren (Jul 20, 2016)

The VCR King said:


> Honestly I have no idea. Its a two-story house though and each room has at least four outlets.
> 
> My bedroom is the heaviest load of all though, because in my room I got that DJ setup, a flat screen TV, two old tube radios, an alarm clock, a VCR and a BD player, a CD changer, two turntables, a bigger shortwave radio,and a tape deck. I have a surge protector in there and one of the outlets has 12 things total plugged into it because of the surge strip. Also, a ceiling fan. I am currently running a huge window air conditioner along with all of that and my breaker has never tripped so I'm not overloading it, but I'm definitely coming close lol





The VCR King said:


> Oh yeah I almost forgot...
> We have to put those curly CFLs in everything. Incandescent bulbs instantly explode when turned on in my house.


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## Laquer Head (Jul 20, 2016)

$2000/month power bill.....


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## The VCR King (Jul 20, 2016)

Laquer Head said:


> $2000/month power bill.....


Nope. It's never gone above $200


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## Darren (Jul 20, 2016)

The VCR King said:


> Nope. It's never gone above $200


Probably because all your stuff keeps turning off on its own accord.


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## The VCR King (Jul 20, 2016)

Darren said:


> Probably because all your stuff keeps turning off on its own accord.


Not that either... I turn off and unplug stuff when I don't use it, the only exception being the PC.


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## Darren (Jul 20, 2016)

The VCR King said:


> Not that either... I turn off and unplug stuff when I don't use it, the only exception being the PC.


Twas a joke since your computer keeps crapping itself.


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## The VCR King (Jul 20, 2016)

Darren said:


> Twas a joke since your computer keeps crapping itself.


LOL  Ill admit that was funny


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## johnb35 (Jul 20, 2016)

Honestly, your parents need to have someone look to see what needs to be done.  Your house could go.up.in flames if you aren't careful.  Drawing too much power in your circuits.  Either not enough amps.coming into the house or it needs a major rewire.


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## Okedokey (Jul 22, 2016)

Use a UPS for your PC to smooth the voltage.  Check the fuses in your house and see if any are hot.  That circuit will be your issue.  Try putting your pc on a different power socket.


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## killershark1978 (Oct 3, 2016)

may not be as big as a complete rewiring of the house, so happens among other talents I am qualified as a 17th edition electrician, never worked as a true sparkie before however or rewired a house, was gifted the qualification from an old employer who put me though the electrical crash course to get the paperwork for one specific reason, so I could wire up racking server cases within the Data Centre where was working, so don't claim to be a real expert on the subject of rewiring the entire house, but probably know more about it than the average computer tech or joe in the street.

But my best guess would be the fault is related to the Consumer Unit or the wiring within the consumer unit, since realy if turning on a light is causing issues with the sockets in the house the 2 circuits should not be linked between the lights and the sockets, unless they are poorly wired in a the Consumer Unit or the Unit its self is faulty and causing issues by allowing separate circuits to interfere with each other, so could just be a new Consumer Unit fitted to fix everything, these things are always been updated with new regs, am not a sparkie so don't follow the latest regs, but know that if you have a really old out dated consumer unit that would not even meet modern regs, then getting a new up to date Unit with double RCD's and that will meet the latest regs is not a bad idea all around, and you can pick up a really good one for under £100. Then you would be talking just a couple of hours work for a good sparkie to come fit it and test the socket circuits while they are there.

So I would would say £100 for the Unit, assuming your unit is out dated, then £50 per hour for a Sparkie to fit it and test the sockets circuits while they are at it, a sparkie working his guts out could realistically fit it in under an hour, but to make it worth there while there going to take a couple of hours to fit it taking it easy, then want paying for an extra hours break while they are there, so your more likely to get charged around £150 for fitting, maybe even £200 (or 4 hours at there given rate) if your guy wants to take the piss, any more than that I would send them home packing, and any sparkie saying they don't know how long its going to take them to fit the unit when looking for a quote is a straight up liar, its there job, there own business ffs, they know exactly how long its going to take them so if they say they don't know on the phone skip them and find another more competent Sparkie who does know, and is not giving you a stupid time figure to take the piss.

But calling for a complete rewire of the house over this you would have to be joking, that would cost 1000's and leave you with a second bill after they're finished when you need a plaster to come clean up there mess, then you will find after they are finished your still left with the need to redecorate to finish the job of yourself getting your house back to how it was before they started, unless you want to hire a decorator and ship out even more money.

But that's all pointless because you already know that if an action like flushing your Toilet or turning on a light is effecting your wall sockets, then you can isolate on that single circuit been effected (the sockets), could be the wiring is just fine and the Consumer unit alone fixes everything, else if there is an issue within the circuit its self, then the Sparkie will be able to go round the circuit visiting each wall socket on the way till they find the drop in the Ohms level where a single wire from one socket to the next is the problem, another couple hours at the most, another hours work even to change a Wire from one socket to the next if that's even necessary, but I doubt it would even take that, problem is more likely to be at one of the sockets with bad wiring so changing a single wall socket in your house could fix everything if its just a bad connection into the socket, again another hours work, wall sockets cost pence, so this would be best case scenario really if its just bad wiring at a single socket, you would need the entire circuit tested though because if your loosing current to one of your sockets then odds are that the fault is wireing at an earlier socket on the in the circuit, or still the Consumer Unit its self been the number 1 suspect still as in the first place.

Honestly I would not worry about having to move house just get because you think you need a complete rewire because that is just bollocks, when you have fault within a single circuit, just get that one circuit tested along with the Consumer Unit, no more is necessary.


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## Geoff (Oct 3, 2016)

killershark1978 said:


> may not be as big as a complete rewiring of the house, so happens among other talents I am qualified as a 17th edition electrician, never worked as a true sparkie before however or rewired a house, was gifted the qualification from an old employer who put me though the electrical crash course to get the paperwork for one specific reason, so I could wire up racking server cases within the Data Centre where was working, so don't claim to be a real expert on the subject of rewiring the entire house, but probably know more about it than the average computer tech or joe in the street.
> 
> But my best guess would be the fault is related to the Consumer Unit or the wiring within the consumer unit, since realy if turning on a light is causing issues with the sockets in the house the 2 circuits should not be linked between the lights and the sockets, unless they are poorly wired in a the Consumer Unit or the Unit its self is faulty and causing issues by allowing separate circuits to interfere with each other, so could just be a new Consumer Unit fitted to fix everything, these things are always been updated with new regs, am not a sparkie so don't follow the latest regs, but know that if you have a really old out dated consumer unit that would not even meet modern regs, then getting a new up to date Unit with double RCD's and that will meet the latest regs is not a bad idea all around, and you can pick up a really good one for under £100. Then you would be talking just a couple of hours work for a good sparkie to come fit it and test the socket circuits while they are there.
> 
> ...


This is a 3 month old thread.  If there is anything you need to know about the VCR King (OP), it's that a few hours after he makes a thread he already forgot about it and has moved on to his next crazy plan/idea.


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## Darren (Oct 3, 2016)

Geoff said:


> This is a 3 month old thread.  If there is anything you need to know about the VCR King (OP), it's that a few hours after he makes a thread he already forgot about it and has moved on to his next crazy plan/idea.


Seconded. Stick to recent threads @killershark1978 

Thread closed.


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