Posted: 11/1/2008 8:59:30 AM EDT
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We stopped by the MIL's house last night with the kids for Halloween.
One of my nephews was goofing around and knocked a lamp over. The light went out and we all assumed it was the bulb. Problem is that several other outlets also went out. Next assumption was the breaker was thrown. So We go to the breaker box and none of them are tripped. Not only that but none are labeled....anyway we reset the breakers (all of them including the house main) and these outlets did not come back on. furthermore several lights that are on the same circuit are also out. So I start tracing the wires. This is an old house and most of the wiring is visible on the basement ceiling. All of the wires coming out of the breaker box are hot (tested with voltage tester) but the wires leading to this dead circuit are all completely dead. I don't know if somewhere in the wire it's broken or what. And of course this circuit the wires do run up into the ceiling somewhere making it impossible to follow at one point (where it goes back to breaker box). So I'm at a loss and my MIL is concerned her house is going to burn down. I told her to call an electrician but I'm looking to see if I can troubleshoot it myself first. ETA: I could in theory pull a new wire to the circuit breaker box to feed this circuit but I would be concerned about backfeeding it. This circuit is a cluster running some lights in the basement and an outlet, running to the other side of the house to power an outlet in the kitchen, and then powering two outlets in the living room. I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm pretty sure I know which line is actually feeding it but not 100% sure. |
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OK figured it out.
I tore down a couple of roof panels and found the feeder wire from the breaker panel. It ran to a light and then fed everything else in the circuit. This is old wiring and there were no wire nuts or anything in use; the wires were twisted together with electrical tape around them. Seems that they came loose from the feeder and light wires leaving the circuit dead. Once I wire nutted it all back everything was fine. Thanks for the help. |