Dead circuit with good breaker.
etherhuffer
| Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on
In the middle of shish-kebabs and Guiness stouts, the damn fridge and microwave circuit go dead. The breaker box is ok. Tripped the breaker and reset it just to convince myself. Still no go. Tick in the circuit shows all outlets are dead. No power at all. So, where do I start? Open the first box in the circuit(fridge) or pull off the main cover and check the hot lead on the circuit? Any help appreciated.
Replies
First thing is to put all that Guiness on ice. Make a trip to the store for extra ice. Food you can eat or replace later.<G>
Just because you can trip and reset the breaker doesn't prove it's sound. Open the panel first if you know what you are doing and check the output at the screw.
If the breaker then proves good then go to the first in line outlet. Sounds like the fridge may have originally been a dedicated circuit and then later a feed to the micro was added or someone tried to save a buck on a home run during the original wiring. Wasn't you, was it?<G> They should both be dedicated.
Failure has been known to occur where wires are just stabbed into the back of oulets. If that's the case it would be a good idea to pull them out and use the screws while you have the fixture exposed. If the outlet is being used as the jumper to the micro you might also take the opportunity to pigtail the wires in that first box. A whole lot easier to stuff the outlet back in, too.
BTW, while you are in the panel box, you might also check the neutral buss for tight screws. Everything else could be A-OK from the breaker except for a bad neutral connection. Check all the screws while you are in there. Tight is right.
Well, the fridge is on a kitchen circuit and not home run or dedicated. A classic early 70's home that we refer to as the house that drugs built. I am ok with electrons. Fear informs me on the main panel to call someone if needed. I have an inductive tick for checking leads. I would think all the hot leads nearby in a breaker box would set the darn thing off. Better to use the old contact style, or just kill the adjacent breakers so the hot leads nearby are dead? If the breaker is dead, do they not default to open or make a nice death buzz?
OK, I think your reply shows that you need to have someone more qualified than yourself look into your situation. Although it may cost you a few bucks for the electrician I really can't suggest that you poke around in the box if you aren't comfortable with the task. You could kill the power to the box if you have a separate external disconnect (not the main panel breaker) but you would still need a proper VOM and know how to use it to check the breaker out of the circuit. Your tick would show the panel safe to work on IF you had the external disconnect. A bad breaker usually fails open (or you'd never know it) and if you weren't right there at the time who's to say it did or did not go quietly.
You say the fridge is on a kitchen circuit. You also said the fridge is first in line. Are you sure? The failure could be the breaker OR another upstream fixture.
Now, if you were comfortable with electrical work I would say, using a VOM, place one probe on the neutral buss and one on the screw of the questionable breaker and see if you get a reading. No reading? Try another breaker just to be sure the meter is working. Then you'll know about the breaker.
You covered this very well. I think he needs an electrician to watch.
Tim Mooney
Sage advice guys. This circuit is sans GFI's and I sorted it out during other work. The fridge is the first. I can't tell you how many T's, Y's, bad grounds, lamp wire outdoors, etc I have found here. Cleaned up most of the stuff but the kitchen remod is last so want to do this with walls open. Even found running splices with e-tape on them! Yeow! Will call a sparky for this one. Thanks for the (safe/prudent) advice.
Don't be calling no sparkies, you'll start a war. Joe H