how to find the blown circuit in my stupid house

N801BH said:
Hmmmmm..

I "thought" they used the white/ neutral......... for a NEUTRAL..:idea::idea::idea:
Click to expand...

They did. But it was also the "ground" for the frame & case. Or there was no ground. (Bad juju! I've had a dryer case shock me enough to make me sit down. Ouch!)

At the first panel (often out by the meter) ground and neutral are tied together. In the rest of the house they are supposed to be separate. And believe me when I say there can be enough potential between the two to get your attention!

John
 
Maid??

Contracting must pay pretty well.
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
So....why do you have a stupid house? :D:rofl:
Click to expand...

It has more gremlins than my prior much older house.
Moving up seems to not have meant better cared for.
Or something to that effect. Lots of electrical gremlins.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
It has more gremlins than my prior much older house.
Moving up seems to not have meant better cared for.
Or something to that effect. Lots of electrical gremlins.
Click to expand...

with your kinda bling....I figured you'd easily have a "smart" house....:goofy:
 
Maybe is a smart house.
My house is probably a forum complaining about its stupid owner
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
The maid came yesterday and did the upstairs. We don't ever have them clean that one (the sex dungeon) because is the only room upstairs and stays pretty clean.

So I guess FiFi did some vacuuming there and blew a circuit.

The lights work and a few outlets work but there are 5 or 6 outlets that are now dead along with the attic lights.

None of the breakers are flipped in the main box. And I have gone to every room in my house looking for those little outlets with the test reset button and I can't find any that are flipped.

There has to be one somewhere correct?
Click to expand...

Reset all the breakers yet? How about the GFCIs in the house? Often times an entire end of a leg is protected by a single GFCI outlet, and when it pops, they all go dead.
 
Henning said:
Reset all the breakers yet? How about the GFCIs in the house? Often times an entire end of a leg is protected by a single GFCI outlet, and when it pops, they all go dead.
Click to expand...

All the breakers yes.
All the GFCI, I'm not sure. I feel like i haven't found them all yet. Checked every one in a room w water supply and none tripped
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
All the breakers yes.
All the GFCI, I'm not sure. I feel like i haven't found them all yet. Checked every one in a room w water supply and none tripped
Click to expand...

Are you resetting everything anyway, or looking to see what's tripped?
 
Henning said:
Are you resetting everything anyway, or looking to see what's tripped?
Click to expand...

I am resetting them anyway.
Only thing I haven't done is kill the house master.
I reset all of the individual ones.

It is an outside outlet w/ no reset switch,
one hallway plug, and 5 plugs in the upstairs room that are all dead.
er.. and the lighting in the attic.

something has to be tripped somewhere.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I am resetting them anyway.
Only thing I haven't done is kill the house master.
I reset all of the individual ones.

It is an outside outlet w/ no reset switch,
one hallway plug, and 5 plugs in the upstairs room that are all dead.
er.. and the lighting in the attic.

something has to be tripped somewhere.
Click to expand...

I mentioned earlier, somewhere above, that we have on in a closet. My wife and I know it's there, but if we ever move and it trips the circuit it's on...well, I hope the new owners read this forum.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I am resetting them anyway.
Only thing I haven't done is kill the house master.
I reset all of the individual ones.

It is an outside outlet w/ no reset switch,
one hallway plug, and 5 plugs in the upstairs room that are all dead.
er.. and the lighting in the attic.

something has to be tripped somewhere.
Click to expand...

Yep, most likely you are missing finding a GFCI somewhere. I go through this on boats all the time.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I am resetting them anyway.
Only thing I haven't done is kill the house master.
I reset all of the individual ones.

It is an outside outlet w/ no reset switch,
one hallway plug, and 5 plugs in the upstairs room that are all dead.
er.. and the lighting in the attic.

something has to be tripped somewhere.
Click to expand...


Check again in the garage - is there an outlet hidden behind a shelf full of stuff? An outlet in the ceiling?

In our area, code says there has to be a light in the attic, but some might also have an outlet for installing an attic fan. Maybe there's an outlet up there?
 
Geico266 said:
The second dumbest thing was to go from a 3 prong outlet to a 4 prong outlet for dryers & stoves. How many grounds do they need? :mad2:
Click to expand...


Face palm.

SixPapaCharlie said:
We are out of the rice and beans phase of our lives it seems.
We keep some stockpiled just in case ;)
Click to expand...


Maids? ;)

Worst case you can always tone out every circuit.
 
Took the breaker panel cover off, located the fuse, Used the multi meter.
1 prong against the metal case, and one on the wire to the fuse and it appears to be live.

However, I expected there to be 2 wires to the fuse. It has only 1 so I don't know if that wire is incoming current or outgoing (flowing through the fuse) If it is incoming, then naturally I am going to get a read on the multimeter.

On the 2 wire fuses, you test one side and then the other and if 1 side is dead, you know the fuse has blown.

ideas?
 
Generally on breaker panel breakers the power comes from the bus bars the breaker attaches to and there is only one wire connected. Easy check, turn it off and see if you no longer see voltage on the wire. (Yes, I know this is a simplification...)
 
That 1 wire from the breaker likely goes to a GFCI outlet somewhere in the house circuit.

That's the one you need to find now -- and then remember where it is for the next time this happens!
 
There may not be a GFCI in the circuit. I had a receptacle that broke breaking the circuit. The electrician had used the quick terminal where you push the wire into the hole, no screw. The plastic failed and broke the connection for about 3 or 4 plugs. I replaced the receptacle, I used the screws. If you don't find a GFCI start opening the receptacles up and checking for the discontinuity. Don't hurt yourself.
 
PaulS said:
There may not be a GFCI in the circuit. I had a receptacle that broke breaking the circuit. The electrician had used the quick terminal where you push the wire into the hole, no screw. The plastic failed and broke the connection for about 3 or 4 plugs. I replaced the receptacle, I used the screws. If you don't find a GFCI start opening the receptacles up and checking for the discontinuity. Don't hurt yourself.
Click to expand...

The outdoor outlet where I had the extension cord plugged in is very wobbly.
I may crack it open tomorrow and look.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Took the breaker panel cover off, located the fuse, Used the multi meter.
1 prong against the metal case, and one on the wire to the fuse and it appears to be live.

However, I expected there to be 2 wires to the fuse. It has only 1 so I don't know if that wire is incoming current or outgoing (flowing through the fuse) If it is incoming, then naturally I am going to get a read on the multimeter.

On the 2 wire fuses, you test one side and then the other and if 1 side is dead, you know the fuse has blown.

ideas?
Click to expand...

You are going to kill yourself.....:yikes::yikes::redface:
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
The outdoor outlet where I had the extension cord plugged in is very wobbly.
I may crack it open tomorrow and look.
Click to expand...

check all the connections in the box. I generally give the wires a good tug, they should not come out or be loose. This includes wire nuts. Be careful you may need to turn off more than one breaker to deenergize the box.
 
You also might want to take this opportunity to map the circuits. My father had me do it one summer and it saved us a lot of headaches when ever we had to plug into the generators. The breakers might be labeled, but often the breakers might serve other random outlets/lights.

We had a GFCI in the basement that would blow every few months. Come to find out it had a broken spring.
 
Ya know, Bryan is still posting but this thread stopped, so maybe he got zapped and Mrs 6PC replaced him with his body double.
 
denverpilot said:
Ya know, Bryan is still posting but this thread stopped, so maybe he got zapped and Mrs 6PC replaced him with his body double.
Click to expand...

Y'know, she's cute and smart. Maybe we should watch to see what happens next...
 
nah we're hitched for the moment.
Electrician will be here at 9:30

But honestly I have a whole line of things I need to do in the upcoming weeks that will likely shock, drown, crush, or boil me to death so stay in line.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
nah we're hitched for the moment.
Electrician will be here at 9:30

But honestly I have a whole line of things I need to do in the upcoming weeks that will likely shock, drown, crush, or boil me to death so stay in line.
Click to expand...
Could you hurry? I have errands I need to run!
 
Hopefully he called that "electrician" I recommended and his pocket book doesn't take too big of a hit, man.
 
He's here
"Charlie Brown Electric"

within 2 minutes of being in the house he found it.
One of the outlets had a short.

My media room is alive again.
$100 well spent IMO.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top