Your problem is definitely a bad main breaker or bad connection at the main
breaker. Call the utility company and find out who's responsible for it and
have it fixed immediately. If it's left to sit and arc, the entire panel
will probably need replacing


"tysteel" wrote in message
...
Hi everyone,

The other night the electricity suddenly blacked out on one side of
the house, after turning on a 1500 watt space heater. I then checked
out the main breaker box to see what had tripped. But after checking
the breakers, none of them looked like they had tripped.

So I then went outside to where the electric meter is at, and
underneath the meter is another box, which contains only one big
circuit breaker rated for 100 amps or so. As I lifted off the lid
of the box to check out the breaker, I noticed some kind of arcing,
or sparks, going on behind the panel. However, this breaker hadn't
tripped either, but when I placed my fingers on it, it did have a
somewhat warm or hot feel.

So while it hadn't visually tripped, I decided to switch the breaker
off, and then switch it back on. I then looked over at the house,
and noticed that all lights were back on in the side that had blacked
out. Switching this breaker on and off had a reset effect.

As I was walking back to the house, the electricity flickered out
again. I turned around and walked back to the electric meter and then
switched the breaker on and off again. When I switched it on, I could
hear a sort of sizzling noise. The electricity was back on.. But
the electricity only stayed on for about an hour or so and then the
ENTIRE house blacked out. It was like that for the rest of the
cold night.

The next morning, I went back outside to the main meter, and switched
the breaker off, and then on. It had a reset effect and the
electricity was back on throughout the entire house and thankfully it
has stayed that way the rest of the day. I made sure to avoid
plugging in the space heater that triggered all of this mess.

I was just wondering....does anyone have any idea as to what could be
going wrong? None of the circuit breakers look like they have tripped
after visually inspecting them. I know this isn't a problem on the
electric company's end because they sent a crew to check it out with
their gauges.

Could this most likely a problem with the main breakers, in particular
the one under the electric meter, and they'll need replacement? I
think that if I do need to replace the breaker under the meter, I'll
have to hire an electrician to do that work. But before calling
anyone, I'm trying to see if there is a way I could trouble-shoot on
my own and maybe solve the problem before spending any money.

In the breaker box inside of the house, there is also a main switch
breaker (about 100 amps rated) as well.....should I replace this with
a new one and see if that hopefully helps things before calling out
the electrician, or that most likely isn't the culprit?

thanks,
tysteel

email:
tysteel5000 aol dot com