That one day I spent 8 hours chasing a dead short that wasn't even there

Last Tuesday I got called to a house in Oakville where the basement lights kept tripping the breaker. Old couple, real nice folks, said it started after a heavy rain. I spent like 4 hours pulling out switches and receptacles, checking junction boxes, even cut open a few sections of romex in the ceiling. Nothing. No moisture, no chewed wires, nothing touching ground. I was about to tell them they needed a whole rewire when I decided to check the panel one more time. Turns out the breaker itself was just bad, swaped it out for a new one and everything fired right up. Has anyone else ever chased a ghost for half a day only to find the problem was right at the source?

2 comments

2 Comments

oscarh1627d ago

Did you read that article about how 30% of electrical problems end up being the breaker itself?

mary_schmidt27d ago

30% sounds suspiciously low if you ask me. Every time I've had an outlet go dead in my house it's always been a tripped breaker or a loose wire inside the panel, not the actual device itself. My buddy swears the breaker fairy visits him at least once a month just to spite him. Maybe the other 70% is just people who haven't looked hard enough yet.