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Posted by Tony Hwang on August 23, 2006, 12:13 am
cmfuld@gmail.com wrote:
> First time posting here, and this is gonna be longer than I want, so
> thanks in advance for your time.
>
> The lights in one room of my house used to flicker occassionally, which
> got to be really annoying, so we called in an electrician. He replaced
> the 15A breaker, and it seemed to work OK for a while. About two weeks
> later, the problem happened again, and he came back out to replace the
> breaker. This particular breaker controls 4 can lights in a room, a
> fan, an outside Security light, and the Garage Door Opener.
>
> About 6 months later, the lights in the same room, would just go out.
> The Garage door wouldn't open, and the fan wouldn't work. Basically,
> there was no power on the circuit, but the Breaker never tripped. If
> we Flipped the Breaker off and then back on, everything would work
> again, sometimes for days a a time, sometimes for just minutes.
>
> Last week, we called the electrician to come back out, and once again
> he replaced the breaker on Thursday. Sunday evening, the lights went
> out again, and we couldn't get them to come back on. So, the
> electrician came back out today. What we discovered is that the panel
> bus where this particular breaker is located has a little burn spot on
> it, and the breaker that he replaced on Thursday, also seemed to have a
> little debris on the area that connects to the bus.
>
> He made sure that the panel bus was cleaned, and that the new breaker
> had no debris, but by the end of the day, the lights in the room went
> out again.
>
> This particular room is an addition between the house and what used to
> be a detached garage. We are still unsure of exactly how this
> particular rooom was wired, but there are 3 separate switches that
> control the lights in the room, One switch that controls both the
> lights and fan, and another recepticle that has a switch for the fan,
> and a dimmer for the lights. The electrician and I were extemely
> confused by how this particular room was wired, but he is not sure that
> the room is wired with 4 way switches.
>
> The electrical panel for my house is actually in a pantry, and is
> extremely inconvenient to get to. My Electrician says that we will now
> need to replace the entire panel because the bus appears to be bad. He
> gave me a cost estimate of $1400, and said that he can get his guys to
> fix the wiring in the addition for $200 more. There is virtually no
> attic space above the pantry, as the entrance to the attic is on the
> other end of the house. The electrician wants to move the panel to a
> location that is more accessbile, so has suggested either outside the
> house(not a good option), or pu the panel into the living room which is
> not the most appealing, but we can work around it.
>
> None of the other outlets in the room are on this breaker, they
> actually come from a second panel in the Garage.
>
> We searched and searched for possible loose wiring, but he is convinced
> that the problem lies in the panel bus.
>
> What suggestions do you have, and are the prices that he quoted
> reasonable for the work that will need to occur. Also, is this
> something that can be done be a novice electrician, or is it imperative
> to have a certified electrian put th new box in.
>
> Thanks again for your help.
>
Hmmm.
On a whim, I'd just try another fixture.
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