On Mon, 03 Sep 2007 14:48:27 GMT, (Doug Miller)
wrote:

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.

OP he The service *WAS* 60A when we moved in, and we immediately
upgraded to 200A. The dryer is gas, not electric.

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.

This is possible, but from what I can see of the wiring (which is
visible as it's attached to the joists in the basement), it LOOKS LIKE
they're all on the same circuit. I haven't taken anything apart to
actually check yet; I'm waiting for my electrician to get back to me
on when he can get over here and check this out since he installed the
200A box, and I'm asking him to double check that there's not a
mistake in the wiring somewhere.

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.

The original 60A box was breakers; the current 200A is breakers.

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.

I agree, and I live here. We have slowly been moving areas of the
house off of existing circuits onto their own independent circuits,
such as getting the garage off of this very circuit now under
discussion and onto its own 30A line.