On 4 Aug 2004 20:30:03 -0700, (harry manka) wrote:



Well...this is where I am stuck. I don't know which breaker is for the
branch circuit for the garage and bathrooms and I don't know how to
check for a defective breaker. No breaker was tripped off and they all
seem to be mechanically working.

Can someone provide tips to me as to how I should go about diagnosing
and repairing this problem short of getting an electrician? Thanks in
advance.

Harry

OK. Other people have already told you that your knowledge, as of now,
is not up to the task of electrical work. They're right. But I believe
that intelligent people can learn new things. I've been doing a lot of
that in 6 years of home ownership.

So let's start with something simple. Breakers don't generally flip
their toggle switch to the OFF position when they trip. They move a
little bit in that direction. The switch is indeed OFF, but the toggle
looks like it's still on. You need to flip it to the OFF position and
then back to ON to reset it.

Now a harder lesson.

The typical electrical work you might do as a homeowner isn't all that
difficult to learn. Get a good book, ask an electrician friend to show
you a few things and you'll probably be OK with simple jobs.

But the most important thing is to learn to avoid taking the easy way
out. You needed an outlet so you found the nearest available
electricity and daisy chained onto it. After the fact you're finding
out that maybe you'd be sawing some 5/4 oak in the yard while a couple
of 1500W hair dryers were running in your bathrooms.

My house was built in 1949. Electricity was a less integral part of
life then, at least judging by the wiring in my house. The original
wiring was all on four circuits and each one has a random assortment
of lights and outlets from all over the house on it. I can cut the
original builders a little slack though, as they probably could not
foresee the explosion of electrical device use that would happen in
the next 50 years.

But worse than the original installation are the numerous clumsy
additions put in by handymen. I went to change a light fixture last
spring and ended up with a full day's rewiring job. Someone had
decided that it was perfectly OK to daisy chain off a light fixture in
a 3" octagonal box to power two duplex outlets in TWO OTHER ROOMS.
There were 4 BX cables meeting in this box, so it was packed solid
with wire and wire nuts.

This was shortsighted and dangerous. For your sake, and for that of
future owners, do the job right. It usually doesn't even require that
much more work; just a little planning will suffice. I've added 8
circuits to the original 4, which means that pretty much all the heavy
current items are on their own new circuits. The original wiring just
handles the lights and minor items like clocks, the stereo, etc.

Greg G.