Any electricity experts here? Is my mum delusional?

[HairyWoman]

Can't think where else to post this message, I realise it is a strange subject and the chances of a reply are low but it might help to get it off my chest.

For the last couple of years my mother has been complaining about her electricity supply. It started with her fridge freezer which was too noisy which she blamed on her neighbour who she said was doing something in his bungalow that was interfering with her electricity supply. She cannot say what it is he is doing but apparently it started after he was drilling one day. She reckoned, that due to whatever it was he was doing, when he went out the fridge went quiet and when he came back it became noisy again. DH and I could not think of any way that her neighbour's elecrical use could affect hers so we suggested she buy another fridge, which she did only to start complaining immediately that this one was louder than the last one.

Jump forward to this last winter, she started complaining about the heat coming from the radiators, that they would heat up a bit and then stop even though the house was still cold. She has had people out from the housing association who told her that her boiler was fine - her response to this is that the boiler was ok when they came because the neighbour 'knows what he's doing'.

My mother is 81 but very healthy for her age though she has always been a bit of a hypochondriac and does get depressed sometimes. (She is on antidepressants). However, because she is not crazy in any other visible way and absolutely insists she is right we started by listening to her and reasoning with her. However, she will listen to us but then the next time we see her she is back to complaining about the neighbour again, to the point now that my hearts sinks everytime she brings up the subject.

She says she knows everyone thinks she is mad but she absolutely insists that she's not and one day we will all find out she is right. Any experts out there who can categorically tell me she is wrong?

I'm not an expert on electricity but what she is describing sounds very unlikely and smacks more of mental instability/paranoia than anything else, I'm afraid.

A neighbour of mine is elderly and one of the first signs of her Alzheimers was her acccusing her other neighbours of breaking into her house and stealing her electricity :(

Yes, she has always been a bit paranoid but never this kind of madness before! She is so insistent though and almost convincing, she truly believes it

It could well be paranoia about the neighbour - it's the sort of thing my late mother could have imagined.

But, brownouts can cause some equipment to work harder. Some areas are more prone to brownouts than others and it could be useful to chat to other neighbours to see if they have noticed any peculiarities with their electricity supply. (You might also pick up any vibes about your mother's neighbour.) Your mother might be putting 2 and 2 together to make 5 because she's taken a dislike to the neighbour and is turning coincidences into a conspiracy.

It's a difficult situation to deal with, though, and you have my sympathy - my mother had some strange notions at times and I never figured out how to deal with them.

Isn't the boiler gas?

A similar thing happened in a house a few miles away. The man experienced 'oddness' then began to receive shocks. His neighbour, in a mansion house, had managed somehow to put a 'black box' into the supply and was fiddling the electricity on an enormous scale.

Just saying.

Yes the boiler is gas but starts with electric (er, I think.) Thx for you stories but still not clear if it's possible or not. Will have to find someone who knows an electrician.

If the next door neighbour has installed something with a big elctric motor on it (eg a metal working lathe in a wokshop) or a lot of high voltage electric lamps and heaters it can have some effect. The other thing is if there is a big factory or commercial premises near by.

All these can disturb voltage and frequency but the electric load has to be unusually high - much more than is usual for a residential area.

Does the fridge sound noisy to you?

That is what I thought BeerTricks. We have had a few of those round where I live.

I wondered about that as well, BeerTricks and 3littlefrogs.

Yes, there will be an electricity supply to the gas boiler, but that should have been checked out by the HA people. However, they might not have checked the wall thermostat (assuming there is one - ours is in the hall) as that can be affected by an alternative heat source such as a fan heater if your mother is using one when the house feels cold.

GentleOtter's post has rung a bell. I've read on my various meanderings around the internet over the years that it is possible to bypass the electricity meter and draw down huge amounts of electricity illegally. That's usually done by people who are growing cannabis, which requires a lot of heat and light. Siphoning off huge quantities of electricity can cause brownouts in the local area. Though the heat/light needs to be continuous, not switched off whenever the neighbour goes out.

Another thought: the neighbour could be operating industrial-type equipment, some of which can require large amounts of electricity during operation, which could also have an effect on the local supply.

Getting in an electrician, including checking the voltage by using voltmeter or a multimeter set to volts, is a good idea. I think in a situation like this it would be better to go that extra mile just to clarify for your own sake what could be going on. If you've done all reasonable investigations, then you'll feel better able to go on to the next step which would be involving your mother's GP.

x-posted with everyone. Must type faster.

My mum lives in a compound of bungalows for elderly/disabled people in a residential area, I'd be surprised if someone was running a cannabis factory but you never know. The neighbour is in his 50s, his wife died last year (diabetes complications). I will suggest the idea of hugglymuggly to get in an electrician though to her, she would probably be willing to pay so that everybody stops thinking she's mad.

The pensioners today had their heydays in the 60's....

I would also try to get her to go and see her GP (and you go with her).
You say that it is as if she truly believes it, but if this was a symptom of mental illness than she would, it wouldnt be a case of making it up, IYSWIM.

My DH is a qualified electritian. He also has a DM with dementia.

A fridge is noisy when it is getting down to temperature, after the door has been opened. An interruption in supply would also cause this when the supply was reconnected.

If the heating turns off before the room is warm enough then the thermostat is set too low.

If there was a problem with her supply why would she attribute it to her neighbour and think he would make it work properly when someone was checking it.

The things she says are unlikely to be true, I am sorry to say she probably has some form of mental illness or dementia.

Hairywoman - just be careful the electrician doesnt see your Mum as an easy source of money.

The favourite con is to suggest that the entire fusebox and supply board needs changing when there is noting wrong.

I am interested to hear though about where your Mum lives though. Typically a block off flats or bungalows like that has a 3 phase supply which is then split to 3 single phase supplies so each phase supplies a cluster of bungalows.

Sometimes an imbalance betwween the load on any of the phases can cause problems. We had this on my Dads farm where large electric motors starting up would sometimes cause a phase imbalance and cause a brown out or even blackout.

I am not sufficiently knowledgable to say why.

There is also the risk that your mother wont find the electrician reassuring, and that as with the checking of the boiler, she will just find a reason to continue in her concerns.

GentleOtter I don't think my mum had a heyday (but she has said she'd quite fancy a bit of cannabis if she could get hold of it, just for her nerves, purely medicinal).

It seems to be 50/50 here on whether she is mentally ill or there is a possibility that there is electrical interference.

Caution noted BeenBeta, will try and get a recommendation. There's no way she will go to the GP about this, she is so ure she's right and it's really the only 'mad' thing she's doing at the moment (if she is mad that is)

X post stealthcat, there is definitely a possibility of that but hopefully it might put my mind at rest

Just another couple of thoughts but is your Mum on any medication that could cause tinnitus and also, is it possible that her radiators may need bled? They would only heat partially if they needed bleeding.

No tinitus but will check re bleeding radiators, though the man who checked the boiler should have checked that, thanks