Calling all Electrical Experts!

[Moho81]

I woke up this morning to a tripped breaker in our family room, daughters room and basement. I went downstairs to reset it and it will flip on make a buzzing sound then trip off again.

 

So far all I have done is make sure everything I know is on the circuit is either turned off or unplugged completely. The circuit does the same buzzing then turning off.

 

I figured I’m going to switch that breaker with another one on the panel to see if it’s the breaker or not. My hope is it’s a bad breaker and an easy fix.

 

If not what else could it be? For what it’s worth we have a whole home generator and the breaker that’s tripping is on the generator panel but that’s how the breakers normally trip. The main panel is unaffected and the generator panel trips and I reset from there.

 

Couple of pictures for reference.

 

 

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[G-Man]

Is there an outdoor outlet on that line? That's usual cause water gets into it when windy

[helmut in the bush]

Hire a union trained electrician 

[Moho81]

4 minutes ago, G-Man said:

Is there an outdoor outlet on that line? That's usual cause water gets into it when windy

It's possible. I have three outdoor outlets around the house that I can think of. 

 

Something else I just thought of now that you mentioned outside. I came home late last night and the one garage door opener did not work the other one did. I didn't think anything of it parked the truck came inside and went to bed. I never tried to turn any of the affected lights on inside the house so the circuit could have been tripped last night by something outside.  

[Moho81]

5 minutes ago, helmut in the bush said:

Hire a union trained electrician 

I absolutely could but that's not my style. I like to get to know why and how things work and how to fix them myself. I like to get advise from people I know that have the experience and learn from them. It just so happens that I don't have any electricians as friends so I turn to the internet to see what if anything I can learn. 

[philoshop]

I don't ever remember hearing a breaker 'buzz' before tripping. They're generally instantaneous. If that was my call from a homeowner I'd start by trying another breaker, like you suggested. A breaker 'going bad' is pretty rare, but not unheard of.

[Moho81]

Problem solved in record breaking time thanks to G-man's Suggestion!!! The outlet by the small koi pond is toast. Water must have gotten in with yesterday rain and heavy winds. Even though nothing is plugged into it because its winter I have power still going to it because it also controls an outside light and apparently my garage door.

 

Ill swing into home depot pick up a new water proof outlet and cover and get it all fixed up. Right not I just have the switch in the house that controls it off. The breaker works just fine now. 

[helmut in the bush]

27 minutes ago, Moho81 said:

I absolutely could but that's not my style. I like to get to know why and how things work and how to fix them myself. I like to get advise from people I know that have the experience and learn from them. It just so happens that I don't have any electricians as friends so I turn to the internet to see what if anything I can learn. 

I get it, when I have something crazy going on I want to make sure the problem is solved correctly 

[fasteddie]

Congrats on your accomplishment . I am stubborn and try to do things myself and can usually get it done with electrical and plumbing . I am also thrifty aka cheap and hate to pay some guy $80 for a  10 minute job that I am capable of doing . 

[The_Real_TCIII]

1 hour ago, Moho81 said:

Problem solved in record breaking time thanks to G-man's Suggestion!!! The outlet by the small koi pond is toast. Water must have gotten in with yesterday rain and heavy winds. Even though nothing is plugged into it because its winter I have power still going to it because it also controls an outside light and apparently my garage door.

 

Ill swing into home depot pick up a new water proof outlet and cover and get it all fixed up. Right not I just have the switch in the house that controls it off. The breaker works just fine now. 

Exact same thing happened to me last year and @Sodfather got me fixed up. Now the guy is shooting up my best crow spot!

[Bionic]

2 hours ago, G-Man said:

Is there an outdoor outlet on that line? That's usual cause water gets into it when windy

I have to say,  you are always a big help on so many topics.  Probably all seems like common sense to you though.

[Moho81]

Exact same thing happened to me last year and@Sodfather got me fixed up. Now the guy is shooting up my best crow spot!

Good thing I don’t have a crow spot for G-man to shoot up!


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[ny hunter]

I would still change that breaker as well as the outlet...

[landtracdeerhunter]

3 hours ago, helmut in the bush said:

Hire a union trained electrician 

LOL.

[ronc80]

Just make sure everything is still hot when you change it out. Makes it more exciting!!!!!!
Just kidding don't do that unless you want to cut back on your coffee intake for the day. Because it will wake you up

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[Moho81]

Did that once when I figured I could just do a fast switch of an outlet. Won’t do that again. Nothing bad happened but was kinda scary thinking about what could have happened.


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[G-Man]

15 hours ago, Bionic said:

I have to say,  you are always a big help on so many topics.  Probably all seems like common sense to you though.

I just have run into a lot of problems in my.life. did construction for 10 years and grew up on farm. Parents owned rentals.. Lerand to fix stuff  there ang biy scouts.. i like to think im well rounded but im still learning..wish grow was on here still she was very good food plotter..

[landtracdeerhunter]

20 hours ago, ny hunter said:

I would still change that breaker as well as the outlet...

The breaker preformed as it built to do. Nice to live by the rule, better safe then sorry though.  

[landtracdeerhunter]

14 hours ago, ronc80 said:

Just make sure everything is still hot when you change it out. Makes it more exciting!!!!!!
Just kidding don't do that unless you want to cut back on your coffee intake for the day. Because it will wake you up

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I know your joking but, electric current is something to take very seriously.  Only 5.2mA can electrocute. If you have gotten shocked,  you've dodged a bullet.

[reeltime]

just a question about the issue you had to quell my curiosity......... 

 you had 1 breaker trip and how many devices (outlets, lights, gfi's ) were affected?

how many rooms , outside outlets, out buildings were affected on that one circuit? 

 

Just asking because I have seen some pretty insane wiring jobs. It amazes me that one of if not the #1 cause of fires in buildings is electrical related and people will go the cheaper route and combine rooms and devices to save money on breakers and wire. This is by no means a jab at you moho81 its just a general statement from years of experience. 

BTW nice neat panel work in your picture,   This is one of my biggest pet peeves doing panels, make it look neat! nothing more aggravating than taking off a panel cover and seeing spaghetti wiring.

 

[Moho81]

just a question about the issue you had to quell my curiosity......... 
 you had 1 breaker trip and how many devices (outlets, lights, gfi's ) were affected?
how many rooms , outside outlets, out buildings were affected on that one circuit? 
 
Just asking because I have seen some pretty insane wiring jobs. It amazes me that one of if not the #1 cause of fires in buildings is electrical related and people will go the cheaper route and combine rooms and devices to save money on breakers and wire. This is by no means a jab at you moho81 its just a general statement from years of experience. 
BTW nice neat panel work in your picture,   This is one of my biggest pet peeves doing panels, make it look neat! nothing more aggravating than taking off a panel cover and seeing spaghetti wiring.
 

My last house was ridiculous. Every single appliance was on the same breaker. Washer, dryer in the basement, the entire kitchen so that dishwasher, microwave, toaster, coffee maker etc. drove me nuts because you could make coffee and do laundry for example. Just to save a few bucks.

My current home(purchased in 2014)is an old mid to late 1800’s farm house with a couple of additions to it. One for a larger kitchen and another one for a larger living room. It’s a pretty unique house and might be the reason behind the strangeness in hows it’s wired but it still makes no sense other than saving money.

So that breaker controls the kids play room, one bedroom, the basement and half the garage. Without taking inventory that about 8 outlets and 5 lights. One of those outlets being outside and the trouble maker in the group. And really the only thing plugged in is a tv an alarm clock and the modem and router for the WiFi. Over all not bad except that the garage is a part of it. The garage should be all on its own with maybe 2 breakers. There is plenty of room on the panel.

The generator was installed before I bought the house but I agree the person that installed it at least cared about what he did. The only thing that annoys me and I don’t know enough to really say it’s wrong but the upstairs bedrooms are not on it which is where the master bedroom is. The generator seems to be large enough to handle the entire house yet the entire house is not on it. I know I know that’s a third world problem complaining that 2 rooms in your house won’t have power when the power goes out. Lol.


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