In article , "John A. Weeks III" wrote:
In article ,
KLS wrote:

One day I was running the washer, the dryer, and the dishwasher all at
the same time, with no ill effects. The hairdryer up in the bathroom
blew the circuit, no surprise. The surprise was that even though the
breaker was off, the washer and dryer were still running (the
dishwasher I'm not sure about, but the light was off, and so was the
hairdryer, after the breaker blew). What should I look for to solve
this problem? I plan to run a new line just for the laundry room, but
I also want to disconnect what's there now so no one uses this old
circuit in that room. I don't want to accidentally disconnect the
upstairs bathroom.

The dryer is a 220V item, to it needs both legs of the 220 circuit.

Unsupported assumption. Gas dryers, and some small electric dryers, are only
120V. Given that the OP's service is only 60A, an electric dryer seems
rather unlikely.

A hair dryer is a 110V item, so it only needs one leg of a 220
circuit. What is probably going on is that you have a 220 circuit
that feeds the dryer. The washer (normally a 110V item) is
piggybacked on one side of that circuit, and the bathroom is
piggybacked on the other side of that circuit.

More unsupported assumptions.

When the hair
dryer came on, it blew one side of the 220. That left the other
side running, so the washer was OK, and the clothes driver was
running on half power.

Alternative explanation: the laundry room light and the laundry room outlet
are on two different 120V circuits.

The only way this can happen is if the dryer is wired to 2
independent breakers.

The existence of any breakers at all is another unsupported assumption. Since
the OP's service is only 60A, it's obviously been there a looooong
time, and there's a good chance he has fuses instead of breakers.

Normally, a circuit like this has a
pair of breakers that is ganged together, so when one side
blows, the other side is tripped off.

If he has fuses, though...

This is a pretty easy thing to fix, but that is only one
of your problems. Your wiring system is a fire waiting to
happen, and you need a rewire. If I am wrong, then something
even worse is going on, and my statement on being a fire
hazzard goes double.

I think you're jumping to conclusions here.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.