# Came home to a tripped breaker and



## RonnieB (Oct 23, 2020)

No grow lights. Most, 90%, of the house is without power. I may have not reset the breaker, i may have just flipped it. Anyway,  Assuming I did, reset it. I still do not have power. The breaker will stay on, but nothing comes on. Does this mean its a bad breaker probably? Contractors just installed this box too. I got the necessary stuff in working outlets, but it seems the entire circuit is dead. Every outlet, light. Etc. In every room is dead. I flipped the breaker back off incase its a fire hazard, but im in need of an electrician i guess. Grow lights arent pulling any amps hardly and less than 500 watts. But something is going on. And i dont know what


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## zem (Oct 24, 2020)

It could be a bad breaker or maybe a contact between wires that caused it to flip and the wires are toast, so the entire line would be damaged. Having installed the box recently makes it more suspect, good luck.


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## WeedHopper (Oct 24, 2020)

If you flipped it and nothing happened Zem is right,,you either have a short that wont let it trip,, or the breaker is toast.


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 24, 2020)

Did you turn breaker to off postion manually and then click it into the on position sometimes they stick in the middle off?
If not I agree bad breaker, or main serive could have lost one of the legs giving only half power to house.
That could be a bad main or bad wire, I hope the guy who installed new service did it correctly.


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## bigsur51 (Oct 24, 2020)

just stick your finger in one of the sockets to see if there is current


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 24, 2020)




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## pute (Oct 24, 2020)

Sorry Ronnie. I would be freaking out.  Time to call the guy!!!


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## Chad.Westport (Oct 24, 2020)

Electrical stuff scares me. I can build the whole house, but I'm calling the electrician. Definitely worth paying the money to have it done right. I hope it works out for you, that is an odd one.


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

Chad.Westport said:


> Electrical stuff scares me. I can build the whole house, but I'm calling the electrician. Definitely worth paying the money to have it done right. I hope it works out for you, that is an odd one.


Bingo. Im scared to death of electricity. I have lights back, refrigerator, well pump,  tv and computer


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

RosterTheCog said:


> Did you turn breaker to off postion manually and then click it into the on position sometimes they stick in the middle off?
> If not I agree bad breaker, or main serive could have lost one of the legs giving only half power to house.
> That could be a bad main or bad wire, I hope the guy who installed new service did it correctly.


I read you're supposed to press down really hard to actually reset a breaker


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## Chad.Westport (Oct 24, 2020)

Whatever you do, don't lick it


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

Chad.Westport said:


> Whatever you do, don't lick it


Hahahaha dont u worry


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 24, 2020)

Is it a GFI or GFCI breaker they go bad often


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

What is gfi


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## boo (Oct 24, 2020)

look at your main breaker feeding this panel...most likely tripped it


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 24, 2020)

Ground fault interupt , circuit breakers *protect the entire circuit*. GFCI circuit breakers are simple: By installing one in the service panel (breaker box), it adds GFCI protection to an entire circuit, including the wiring and all devices and appliances connected to the circuit.
Any small amount of water will trip them,
Does yours look like this does it have the reset button?


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 24, 2020)

boo said:


> look at your main breaker feeding this panel...most likely tripped it


Or lost a leg


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 24, 2020)

RonnieB said:


> I read you're supposed to press down really hard to actually reset a breaker


On a reg breaker that does not have the test button you click it fully to off it should reset and then fully back the other way to On. 
It should stay in on position and not blow or float in middle frreely.


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

Nope its not one of those unless the reset is behind the panel


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

The power company just put this box in two months ago too


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 24, 2020)

!st place to start is have electrician check that breaker
Are there a crap load of electronic on one breaker?


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 24, 2020)

RonnieB said:


> Nope its not one of those unless the reset is behind the panel


OK so it is not a GFIC or GFI No worries the kind you have is cheaper to replace


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

I dont know but its a 30 amp. And im no pro but seems like the entire pole is bad on that side. Entire house. Accept the front room is dead


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

Bedrooms x3, hall. Bathrooms,  outlets washer nothing


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 24, 2020)

RonnieB said:


> The power company just put this box in two months ago too


So it looks like this






just the lil pull handle (we'll call it )sticks out correct


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 24, 2020)

RonnieB said:


> I dont know but its a 30 amp. And im no pro but seems like the entire pole is bad on that side. Entire house. Accept the front room is dead


How many amp service did they upgrade you to


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

It seems like its more than 1 single breaker to me


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

RosterTheCog said:


> So it looks like this
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes but a double


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 24, 2020)

That is an awful amount of things to have on a 30 amp breaker
doe that breaker feed out to a sub panel anywhere with more breakers?


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

RosterTheCog said:


> How many amp service did they upgrade you to


Damn if i know. I live alone and aren't pulling any amps hardly


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 24, 2020)

RonnieB said:


> Yes but a double


Yes 30amp is doubled


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

RosterTheCog said:


> That is an awful amount of things to have on a 30 amp breaker
> doe that breaker feed out to a sub panel anywhere with more breakers?


Not thst i know of. No fuses were blown either. I think the entire side of the box is dead


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 24, 2020)

RonnieB said:


> Damn if i know. I live alone and aren't pulling any amps hardly


OK because you have no clue
Please call the company who did the work and maybe they can fix it for you
It is not worth the risk of you dying . Being electrocuted suckks Bigtime


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

3 beds, two bath, lots of outlets, bathroom lights. Hall lights, etc cant all be on that one


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

Oh im calling someone for sure lol


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 24, 2020)

RonnieB said:


> Not thst i know of. No fuses were blown either. I think the entire side of the box is dead


Sounds more like the main power breaker is bad 
and no novice should be playing with that 
That is the big one, have you tried shutting the main down and back on?


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

RosterTheCog said:


> Sounds more like the main power breaker is bad
> and no novice should be playing with that
> That is the big one, have you tried shutting the main down and back on?


Yes, twice. Even checked the connections to each breaker. Nothing on the left pole is working


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 24, 2020)

RonnieB said:


> Oh im calling someone for sure lol


Did you post on another site?
This sounds very very familar, to somone who just had same problem


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

Nope just here. As far as i know. Heres my plan. Calling the power company to find out who did the work, then call them


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 24, 2020)

RonnieB said:


> Yes, twice. Even checked the connections to each breaker. Nothing on the left pole is working


So you have already removed the cover


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 24, 2020)

Did you get anything wet anywhere?
Or overload any circuits with to much draw?
You need someone to help you and test it out


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

RosterTheCog said:


> So you have already removed the cover


Yes. With the main breaker in the off position


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

Everything looked fine. God. I hope its just a bad breaker or something under warranty


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

RosterTheCog said:


> Did you get anything wet anywhere?
> Or overload any circuits with to much draw?
> You need someone to help you and test it out


Nothing wet or anything that i know of. I left home and came home to a tripped breaker. Tripped it back and still no power


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 24, 2020)

Well if you are lucky it will be a bad breaker
Sorry without being there to run some test I can not in good faith explain any further.
Don't want anything bad to happen to you
There are a few things it can be but they will test that breaker and the main power coming in 1st, or should.
Could even be the lines coming to house .


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

Power company is coming


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 24, 2020)

RonnieB said:


> Power company is coming


OK cool Im am glad
Not worth playing with fire,
Do me a favor, when they fix it ask what the problem was and post back
I would like to see what they find
Thanks


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

RosterTheCog said:


> OK cool Im am glad
> Not worth playing with fire,
> Do me a favor, when they fix it ask what the problem was and post back
> I would like to see what they find
> Thanks


Roger that. The old meter boxes were the power co responsibility. The put in new ones for free but everything below the meter is now my responsibility but since its only been a few weeks since it was installed im hoping there's a warranty


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

RosterTheCog said:


> Well if you are lucky it will be a bad breaker
> Sorry without being there to run some test I can not in good faith explain any further.
> Don't want anything bad to happen to you
> There are a few things it can be but they will test that breaker and the main power coming in 1st, or should.
> Could even be the lines coming to house .


But the other part of the house has power. Just 1 room


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

I cant afford a major repair. Are things like this covered under HO insurance since its a fire hazard?


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

Hey if its a catastrophic failure i have 4 9week olds ill let go cheap. Lmao!!!


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

I did power down the grow room. Waiting on the power guy.


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

Power guy tested breakers. They are fine. 248. Something on each. These old screw in fuses are next. They look okay, but he said test the resistance of each fuse with the ohms setting with my meter and work my way out from there


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 24, 2020)

So he was able to reset the breaker and tested it good?
Shoot, you may have a short in something downline from the Panel
Any old appliances ie frig freezer that is hardly working or was 
ceiling fan any old ones?
Any of the things could have shorted out and cause a direct short.
You won't be able to do this yourself.
Any of your friends know a sparky (electrician) that can give you a break on the charges.  Yes it could be expensive depending what it is
simple as a 2 dollars fuse or as expensive as a few 1000 dollars.
Old wires , wall outlets could be anything at this point
Power guy said you had 240volts at the panel right?


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

RosterTheCog said:


> So he was able to reset the breaker and tested it good?
> Shoot, you may have a short in something downline from the Panel
> Any old appliances ie frig freezer that is hardly working or was
> ceiling fan any old ones?
> ...


238.9 volts on all


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

RosterTheCog said:


> So he was able to reset the breaker and tested it good?
> Shoot, you may have a short in something downline from the Panel
> Any old appliances ie frig freezer that is hardly working or was
> ceiling fan any old ones?
> ...


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

Power company just left. All breakers are fine. Next step is check the resistance on each fuse. If the fuses are good i will call an electrician to test that fuse box unless someone can tell me how. I have a meter


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 24, 2020)

RonnieB said:


> Power company just left. All breakers are fine. Next step is check the resistance on each fuse. If the fuses are good i will call an electrician to test that fuse box unless someone can tell me how. I have a meter


If you never did it before I would say call someone


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## 2broke2smoke (Oct 24, 2020)

Does half the house have power?   If so lost leg power company have to fix that

2b2s


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

2broke2smoke said:


> Does half the house have power?   If so lost leg power company have to fix that
> 
> 2b2s


He check every leg. Something is going on in the panels. I rented this house out and i just noticed 20 amp fuses in the wrong place. Game plan. Test each fuse and replace it with the proper rated one


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

RonnieB said:


> He check every leg. Something is going on in the panels. I rented this house out and i just noticed 20 amp fuses in the wrong place. Game plan. Test each fuse and replace it with the proper rated one


Bingo!!! We have a winner. I noticed this exact thing when I looked at the panel


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

I called an electrician to hopefully diagnose it. Do they do that for free?


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## DoingMyBest (Oct 24, 2020)

RonnieB said:


> I called an electrician to hopefully diagnose it. Do they do that for free?


I hope you can get this resolved in a timely and inexpensive manner!


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

DoingMyBest said:


> I hope you can get this resolved in a timely and inexpensive manner!


Me too. Im just nervous having a guy over here with weed growing in the back room


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## DoingMyBest (Oct 24, 2020)

RonnieB said:


> Me too. Im just nervous having a guy over here with weed growing in the back room


Yeah, that crossed my mind. Lock that door and put caution tape on it! I had a client over during my grow and the pool flooded my backyard. I ran out back and she followed me. It’s legal here, but the look on her face. Full of disgust and disapproval. It was a bummer. Jail is a bigger bummer, though.


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

DoingMyBest said:


> Yeah, that crossed my mind. Lock that door and put caution tape on it! I had a client over during my grow and the pool flooded my backyard. I ran out back and she followed me. It’s legal here, but the look on her face. Full of disgust and disapproval. It was a bummer. Jail is a bigger bummer, though.


Its in the master bedroom. No panels in there. Lol


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## DoingMyBest (Oct 24, 2020)

RonnieB said:


> Its in the master bedroom. No panels in there. Lol


Oh good! What about the smell?


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## RonnieB (Oct 24, 2020)

They're still mild. Just turned 9 weeks tomorrow


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## DoingMyBest (Oct 24, 2020)

RonnieB said:


> They're still mild. Just turned 9 weeks tomorrow


Then you’re good. Just keep the guy focused on the task at hand. Then get him out, lol.


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 25, 2020)

RonnieB said:


> He check every leg. Something is going on in the panels. I rented this house out and i just noticed 20 amp fuses in the wrong place. Game plan. Test each fuse and replace it with the proper rated one


Move plants into safe storage and have Landlord fix it.


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## ROSTERMAN (Oct 25, 2020)

Or did you rent the house to someone who may have switched the breakers (fuses) to the wrong ones. Should be 15amp and 20amp breakers for lights and and most appliances, Electric stove and dryer, also water heater require more amps so 30amps too.
15amp fuses require 14 ga wire and 20amps require 12ga wires to avoid overload, some people do put 12ga onto 15amp no problem
But other way 14 ga onto 20amps no good, wire can not handle full load 
Very Bad  Overheat and fire.


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