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Electrical ground fault

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Electrical ground fault nj_dilettante 05-25-2006
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Posted by PipeDown on May 25, 2006, 8:06 pm
>
> The circuit breaker is on, but there is no current anywhere on the line.
> One wing of the house was made into an apartment in the '40's, and this
> was also on the bad line. We had that rewired to a separate panel about
> 10 years ago - this on/off problem only happened about 2 years ago. So
> load shouldn't be a problem since we have considerably LESS drain on the
> circuit now than in the past.
>

Then measure the voltage at the breaker itself (output screw to neutral
bus). if the breaker is on and there is no voltage, the breaker is bad if
there is voltage, you have an open in the first J box it goes to (unless
someone put a splice in a concieled location, now we would know why not to
do that).

Check that the wire nuts in the first J box on that branch are all in good
tight condition. May need to open them (splice at a nut) to inspect wires
for damage or corrosion. If there is no voltage from hot to neutral or
ground at the first J box then you have the unlikely failure of a wire along
its length (possible Nail intrusion)

If you cannot deduce the location of the cable or first J box on the branch,
you will need to use a signal tracer to follow it inside the wall from the
source at the breaker panel.

Here is one reasonably priced tracer that can be used for LAN, phone and AC
(with hot disconnected at the panel). Others are available optimized for AC
if you look around
http://www.stayonline.com/detail.aspx?ID=5241





Posted by RayV on May 25, 2006, 8:39 pm
Try Opal Electric (908-245-3577) in Hillsborough. Never had them do
any work but the guy came out the day after I called them to give me an
estimate.

http://www.usfreeads.com/477297-cls.html


Posted by Doug Miller on May 26, 2006, 7:16 am
mail).com> wrote:

>
>It's not one outlet, it's an entire circuit which (unfortunately) services
>PARTS of 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, the den, the upstairs hall, a couple of
>basement lights and all of the finished attic. No GFCI on the circuit. My
>house is a 200-year old monster which was re-wired - not by us - in the
>1970's.

Oh, s**t. Please tell us they did *not* use aluminum wire. Please.

> I have 28 circuit breakers in the box, but almost half the house is
>on this one damn line!

Not evidence of a good job, I'm afraid.
>
>I really would like to know if "ground fault" is a reasonable diagnosis,

Not in my opinion. I think it's much more likely that there's an intermittent
connection somewhere. And if you have aluminum wiring, that is _very_
dangerous.

>and
>if so, how one would go about finding the problem. I've found it difficult
>to get an electrician in for this - all of them here in central NJ are too
>busy with new construction to want to be bothered with a nasty problem in a
>old house.

Got any friends who know their way around residential wiring? The solution to
the problem may be nothing more than opening up every junction, switch, and
receptacle box on the circuit, one at a time -- with the circuit OFF -- and
checking manually for loose connections.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

Posted by RayV on May 26, 2006, 8:19 am
>...And if you have aluminum wiring, that is _very_ dangerous.

I agree completely.

http://www.inspect-ny.com/aluminum/aluminum.htm
Very informative site.


Posted by Jeff Wisnia on May 25, 2006, 5:27 pm
nj_dilettante wrote:

> I have a circuit which has no power even though the breaker is on. The
> power stays off for several months, then suddenly goes back on. Several
> months later, it suddenly goes off. I haven't noticed any triggering
> events.
>
> The electrician I've been using tells me its a ground fault and can only be
> checked when the power is on. He goes from outlet to outlet, fixture to
> fixture, testing but never seems to find anything. I'm not even sure what
> he's testing! I've forked over a ton of money to this guy and still have a
> problem.
>
> Does this sound reasonable, or should I be looking for another electrician?
> I wish I could re-wire, but it just isn't in the budget right now!
>

Has your electrician pointed out to you where there are GFCI devices
"protecting" that circuit, such as a GFCI breaker in your home's breaker
panel or a GFCI receptical fed by that circuit, which in turn feeds
other devices "downstream" of it?

If he says it is a "ground fault", then he ought to show you how to try
and reset the breaker or receptical when the power "dissappears".

HTH,

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
"Life is like a sewer -- what you get out of it depends on what you put
into it."

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