DIYbanter - View Single Post - Strange electric situation

Kevin Ricks

wrote:
Okay, all breakers appear to function correctly - Power when ON, no
power when OFF. So I looked at the switch, and it looks like all
there might be two circuits connected together right then and there.
The box actually has two switches, which are on different circuits,
but the hots, neutrals, and grounds are bound together. I
disconnected them, took the switch out that controls my lights of
interest, and put it back together as it was, just with one switch
missing. now the lights have no power, nor is there voltage between
the hot and neutral of the wire that goes from the last light to the
switch that was removed. I see nowhere else where power might be
coming in from, as all there is now is the 4 lights with wires
connecting them. I'm guessing therefore that power came from the
switch and I've successfully disconnected it. Do you guys think I
should continue my search for what was going on here, or just be happy
that I accomplished my mission. E.g., is it truly a danger or fire-
hazard to leave as-is? Hasn't been an issue for the 10 years the
house has been standing. Thanks again.

Should be OK if you are sure that the switch box with the 2 circuits did
not have other wires going to other outlets and such.

You should now have 1 black hot wire going to a switch and a black wire
from the same switch going to a light.

The black hot wire from the 2nd circuit should be capped off with a
wirenut.
I would remove the 2nd switch and wire from the box but up to you.

IF you have any other wires tied to the hots in that switch box then you
could be EITHER overloading the one circuit while leaving nothing on the
other circuit.
OR you could still have a problem with 2 circuits tied together.

It seems that if that was original wiring then there would have been
more than 4 lights on a circuit. Maybe thats what confused the person
who did the switch box in the 1st place.
If it were me I would have just added the 4 lights to the 1st circuit.

I would separate the white neutral wires as well.
I've been shocked when working on a circuit where just the neutrals from
2 circuits were tied together.

Grounds are OK to be tied.

Also if it were my house I would go and map out every single circuit in
the house - one breaker on at a time.

Kevin