If above ground, likely corrosion to main (in/under your meter outside?) which will cause partial outages and dimming. Likely a loose neutral if lights are actually flickering (bright, dim, bright or rapid on off); this can cause both low and high voltage surges. This may be caused by corrosion and should be checked very soon at least by PGE or whoever your local electric company is, to confirm the problem as the surges can cause anything from PC failure to appliance overheating/fire. Installations performed with high-dielectric silicone or other "goop" will not have this corrosion issue. If it is an underground system, I think you definately have to consider the hot. However, partial outages are usually due simply to corrosion. The fix? Call the electric company, ask them to investigate the partial outage or flickering and then call an electrician or general contractor if necessary. I would NOT suggest opening up your meter, brushing and caulking. This is not a old battery.

I know next to nothing about HVAC and am looking for some pointers. We bought this house last year in Feb/March. The house has a room above the garage which was an add on. It has one vent through which it gets both heat and AC (all the rooms in the house have the same set u, one vent which supplies both AC and heat). I am almost certain that last year everything was working fine. For the past few months though, the heat wont work, works in all the other rooms, One day we had a warm day and switched to AC and it worked Ok, we got cold air coming in. Anyone know what the issue could be? Thanks a lot!

If you must turn to strangers on the net because you dis-trust people you hire,you have a much larger problem than water in your ducts.

What do you mean by "checked the shutoffs" please? Did you disconnect the supply line, open the valve, and nothing came out?