In article , "nj_dilettante" justadiletante(at google 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.