Electric Question

[JB4310]

You can't reset GFI's if there is no power to them. or the fault is continuous.
Just a shot in the dark, no pun, but maybe a loose connection at the main lugs or a breaker, Probably not very likely but something that would be checked if nothing else obvious.

JB.

 

[The Dougster]

In another house a few years ago we had the same problem... needing a shower, I brought a lamp in until I could get the problem resolved. When I plugged the lamp into an outlet, the lights came on, unplug and the lights went out... Now, I'm not very smart but I knew that something wasn't right.... removed the outlet only to discover that rather than wrap the wire around the set screw, the builders electrician had simply back-plugged the wire... I wired the outlet like it should have been done in the first place and solved the problem... same house many years later, this happened again. I went to the first outlet in that circuit and began checking... the 3rd one I checked was the guilty one... I am told that electricians are no longer allowed to do this, which would be a good thing.

 

[timswi]

In another house a few years ago we had the same problem... needing a shower, I brought a lamp in until I could get the problem resolved. When I plugged the lamp into an outlet, the lights came on, unplug and the lights went out... Now, I'm not very smart but I knew that something wasn't right.... removed the outlet only to discover that rather than wrap the wire around the set screw, the builders electrician had simply back-plugged the wire... I wired the outlet like it should have been done in the first place and solved the problem... same house many years later, this happened again. I went to the first outlet in that circuit and began checking... the 3rd one I checked was the guilty one... I am told that electricians are no longer allowed to do this, which would be a good thing.

Had the same problem when half of the main breaker went bad and cut the power supply in half.

 

[studor]

I am thinking Mark in NH has it. The feeds into the panel from outside usually have a fusible link at the top of the pole. If one side is bad, basically half of the 110 volt circuits will not work while the other half will -- No 220 volt appliance will work the way it is supposed to. Easy enough to check -- the panel will not have 220 anywhere. Not sure if your electrician can fix it -- in some cases the local power folks are required because it is before the meter. Frequently wind will cause the connection to make or break -- best to get it fixed however

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

We had the fire ant problem at a rental. They kept getting into the AC unit. It was old anyway so we had it replaced finally and had the ground treated when we had the place termited so haven't had anymore issues. But they sure will get into electrical.

 

[DennisArrow]

Had a problem with a gfi motion sensor floodlight on the outside of my barn the other day. It would not reset........Ok, went and got a new gfi plug, installed it and the same thing.....Had to be something up in the light itself or the box it is installed in. Took it off. Each flood, 2, has 2 lets say 20ga wires coming out of it. From one of the lights both wires were pushed hard against the bare wire ground for the circuit and had crimped the insulation. Just crimped it, not broken insulation..........Pushed the bare ground back deep into the box and reinstalled the light.....all worked as it was supposed to. This light had been installed for perhaps 3 years and I suppose over time the pressure on the insulation finally got it thin enough for electron flow to take place.........Weird.......Dennis

 

[bp fick]

This past summer, had half the house go out. Yup, one leg of the underground supply was out. Thus, only had 1/2 the service panel powered. Simple fix. Power Company came out, foreman had his detector, found the spot immediately. (under my row of green beans!!)

They dug down 2.5 feet and spliced the line, hot gun new shrink wrap. All was well.

It doesn't take much a nick in the underground jacket to cause the ground acids (or whatever) to short out that line. It was aluminum, if memory serves.

 

[riptides]

My electrician has not shown up yet. The guy who wired the house.

 

[JB4310]

This is what my underground wire looked like in the part they cut out, was only about 3 inches like this, what I'm surprised about is I was using my 220 volt welder right up till it went out on that one leg, actually was still getting low voltage of around 30 volts.

Can't figure how the welder was running normally on that little strand that was left.

JB.

 

[riptides]

Update:

Two dead runs, got one half-way up. Cut the circuit in half to get some lights on and the GFI's back.

The problem with that run is still unknown, but I only have a few more outlets to check. Not sure if it goes into the other dead run.

The other dead run, have not gotten to yet.

May need a new wire, was the last thing heard. Resuming activity in a day or so.