On Sun, 21 Mar 2021 16:33:14 -0400, J. Clarke
wrote:

Please forgive me--this is a bit of a rant.

I went to put a new fixture at the top of the stairs--the old one is
physically too small to hold anything bigger than a 60w incandescent
(by physically I mean you can't put the globe on if anything bigger is
in it, and that includes CF and LED that are larger than 60W
equivalent and in that location a 60 just isn't enough light.

Well, went to kill the power to the circuit and discovered chaos.

First:
Turned the switch off
Checked socket with a voltage sensor
Still voltage on the circuit
Par for the course in this house
Switch is in the neutral leg
Add to list of stuff to fix.

Next:
Screwed adapter into socket and plugged in tracer
Traced signal in breaker panel
Not one, but _two_ breakers showed signal
Turned both off
Went back upstairs
Checked for voltage again
No voltage--good
Flipped switch--checked again
Voltage--not good
Back to the panel
Identify third breaker, turn off
Now no voltage

Replaced fixture, turned breakers back on, everything works, I didn't
die.

But now I have the real mystery--how is this effing light managing to
be connected to not one, but _three_ separate branch circuits?

Every time someone tells me that wiring should be done by a
"professional" I run into another example of egregiously bad wiring
installed by a "professional".

Well, I know now how I'm going spend some part of my vacation. And I
hate to admit it but I'm getting too _old_ to be rolling around in
fiberglass pulling wires for fun and no profit. I know, I should hire
an electrician but then I'll have to watch him.


Been there; done that - we're living in a house that once belonged to
a mechanical engineer who thought he could do everything - no surprise
that the ceramic tile isn't level (the easy swing of the trowel from
side to side and failure to use a level on each tile that leaves a
valley down the middle of the hall) plus some "How did he do that?"
electrical wiring.