I had a new circuit breaker box installed 3 years ago by a licensed
electrician, the old one was a Federal Pacific "fire starter".
Everything was fine until a few days ago. When I turn on the TV, the
power for that entire circuit goes off WITHOUT tripping the circuit
breaker. The rest of the house has power.
If I wait for a few minutes the power for the circuit (not just the
socket that the TV is plugged in to) that shut down COMES BACK ON BY
ITSELF and I can turn on the TV with no problem (until the next time).
The problem does not happen all the time, probably every other time I
turn on the TV.. We have been having record temperatures here for the
past 10 days or so with no rain (105-110).
If there was a short in the TV you would think the circuit breaker
would trip.

Anyone have an idea what's going on?

I'll bet a dollar to twelve donuts, your outlets are "backstabbed" . I'll
also bet that one of them in the series is where your problem is. Find out
which outlets are on that circuit, kill it at the breaker panel and start
taking them apart. If they are backstabbed, put the wires on the screws and
i'll bet the problem goes away. While you're at it, do all the outlets in
the house.

steve



"ron" wrote in message
oups.com...
I had a new circuit breaker box installed 3 years ago by a licensed
electrician, the old one was a Federal Pacific "fire starter".
Everything was fine until a few days ago. When I turn on the TV, the
power for that entire circuit goes off WITHOUT tripping the circuit
breaker. The rest of the house has power.
If I wait for a few minutes the power for the circuit (not just the
socket that the TV is plugged in to) that shut down COMES BACK ON BY
ITSELF and I can turn on the TV with no problem (until the next time).
The problem does not happen all the time, probably every other time I
turn on the TV.. We have been having record temperatures here for the
past 10 days or so with no rain (105-110).
If there was a short in the TV you would think the circuit breaker
would trip.

Anyone have an idea what's going on?

Steve Barker wrote:
I'll bet a dollar to twelve donuts, your outlets are "backstabbed" . I'll
also bet that one of them in the series is where your problem
is. Find out which outlets are on that circuit, kill it at the
breaker panel and start taking them apart. If they are backstabbed,
put the wires on the screws and i'll bet the problem goes away. While
you're at it, do all the outlets in the house.

steve


Good bet.



"ron" wrote in message
oups.com...
I had a new circuit breaker box installed 3 years ago by a licensed
electrician, the old one was a Federal Pacific "fire starter".
Everything was fine until a few days ago. When I turn on the TV, the
power for that entire circuit goes off WITHOUT tripping the circuit
breaker. The rest of the house has power.
If I wait for a few minutes the power for the circuit (not just the
socket that the TV is plugged in to) that shut down COMES BACK ON BY
ITSELF and I can turn on the TV with no problem (until the next
time). The problem does not happen all the time, probably every
other time I turn on the TV.. We have been having record
temperatures here for the past 10 days or so with no rain (105-110).
If there was a short in the TV you would think the circuit breaker
would trip.

Anyone have an idea what's going on?

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit

On Aug 15, 7:59 pm, "Joseph Meehan"
wrote:
Steve Barker wrote:
I'll bet a dollar to twelve donuts, your outlets are "backstabbed" . I'll
also bet that one of them in the series is where your problem
is. Find out which outlets are on that circuit, kill it at the
breaker panel and start taking them apart. If they are backstabbed,
put the wires on the screws and i'll bet the problem goes away. While
you're at it, do all the outlets in the house.

steve

Good bet.







"ron" wrote in message
roups.com...
I had a new circuit breaker box installed 3 years ago by a licensed
electrician, the old one was a Federal Pacific "fire starter".
Everything was fine until a few days ago. When I turn on the TV, the
power for that entire circuit goes off WITHOUT tripping the circuit
breaker. The rest of the house has power.
If I wait for a few minutes the power for the circuit (not just the
socket that the TV is plugged in to) that shut down COMES BACK ON BY
ITSELF and I can turn on the TV with no problem (until the next
time). The problem does not happen all the time, probably every
other time I turn on the TV.. We have been having record
temperatures here for the past 10 days or so with no rain (105-110).
If there was a short in the TV you would think the circuit breaker
would trip.

Anyone have an idea what's going on?

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Yeah probably an outlet at the beginning of the branch, I cant believe
anyone would use the outlet itself in series to continue the run load,
but it happens. I try never to cut the run, just loop the screws like
christmas lights, if I have to cut the run I pigtail out to the outlet
and let a good twist with wire nut carry the run load. It's crappy
wiring to use the device to continue the run load.

RickH wrote:
It's crappy
wiring to use the device to continue the run load.

It's standard practice around here to use the device to continue the run
load. That's why it has two screws on each side. There are some
exceptions, as below:

Some areas require a pigtail for hots, but that's a local override.

The neutral must be pigtailed if it's for a split-wire circuit.

The ground generally needs to be pigtailed, but around here standard
practice if there are only two ground conductors is to use the two
screws in the box and continue one of the conductors on to the load.

Reducing the number of pigtails means that the box is less stuffed.

Chris

On Aug 16, 2:01 pm, Chris Friesen wrote:
RickH wrote:
It's crappy
wiring to use the device to continue the run load.

It's standard practice around here to use the device to continue the run
load. That's why it has two screws on each side. There are some
exceptions, as below:

Some areas require a pigtail for hots, but that's a local override.

The neutral must be pigtailed if it's for a split-wire circuit.

The ground generally needs to be pigtailed, but around here standard
practice if there are only two ground conductors is to use the two
screws in the box and continue one of the conductors on to the load.

Reducing the number of pigtails means that the box is less stuffed.

Chris

I avoid the spring-loaded backwire outlets, the only good backwire
outlets I've seen are the kind with no spring where the screw pulls a
clamp within the outlet, but those are about $5.00 a piece. I guess
it's up to common sense if you've overstuffed the box or just want to
get it done fast with the springs even if you have lots of room.
Boxes dont get as stuffed here because romex is prohibited in Chicago
and many of its suburbs.

RickH wrote:

I avoid the spring-loaded backwire outlets

Absolutely. My post did not say anything at all about
backstabbing...only about using the device to continue the run load.

I never backstab, but I do use the two side screws rather than
pigtailing everything.

Chris

Chris Friesen wrote:

RickH wrote:

I avoid the spring-loaded backwire outlets

Absolutely. My post did not say anything at all about
backstabbing...only about using the device to continue the run load.

I never backstab, but I do use the two side screws rather than
pigtailing everything.

Chris

I definitely prefer the back wire (screw clamp) type devices over using
the side screws. I also *NEVER* use the POS push wire (spring catch)
devices. The clamp type back wire devices are vastly better than side
screws when using stranded wire.

Pete C.