Part of circuit out

schill

I own an apartment building that is 105 years old. One of the breakers popped ;we reset it, but I believe 3 apartments have no electric to half of the units. I put power on what I believe is the end of the run on the 3rd floor and all of the dead outlets and lghts will run. I have an electrician who tested all the breakers and they were good . The electrician then asked me to change all the outlets in these apartments which I did except for a few good ones. I also pulled some of the lights and don't see anything. He recommends putting a new breaker on this run and not worrying about it. A friend says I need to find where the problem occured. Any advice???

goose134

I'm getting mixed messages here. He says all your breakers are fine but replace one and forget it. Your electrician has you change the receptacles? What is he doing? Also, why is one circuit feeding more than one apartment? Or am I reading it wrong?

Stubbie

Are you saying you backfed a circuit from the end of the run?? Exactly what did you do...give more detail.

I don't think Goose or I understand why you did this or why you would be asked to do that.
Bad advice unless you can break and isolate the existing circuit so your not sharing a neutral.

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Stubbie

frenchelectrican

tell ya the truth i am little mixed with this also but really it took me by suprised why the electrician did not bother to check it more deeper on this matter.

i am supecting you have a open netural or hot somewhere but it will be found but it will take time.

i dont know what the exsting condtion you have at your place so you may have K&T or older style of MWBC etc etc,,

but one thing it kinda turn me off a little i am sure few other may agree with me [ i am electrician btw ] why he describe and tell ya to change the repectales.

it kinda bother me i feel he is not doing a good searching on this matter.

Merci, Marc

schill

THE ELECTRICIAN WANTS TO ADD A NEW BREAKER TO THE PART OF THE CIRCUIT THAT IS OUT. i AM CONCERNED AND WANT TO FIND WHERE THE BREAK IS

jbfan

I think you need to find a new electrician!!!
I'm sure that a new breaker will backfeed the circuit and make it very dangerous.
You need to find out why the breaker tripped, and find the problem with the outlets not working.

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schill

tHE ELECTRICIAN USUALLY ONLY DOES SERVICE UPGRADES AND HE DID ONE IN THIS BUILDING ABOUT 12 YEARS AGO.hE CAME OVER BECAUSE WE THOUGHT IT WAS A CIRCUIT BREAKER THAT WAS BAD AND THAT THE 3RD FLOOR CIRCUIT PANEL MIGHT NEED REPLACING. HIS ADVICE WAS TO CHECK THE OULETS AND REPLACE THEM TO HOPEFULLY FIND THE BREAK. I ALSO THOUGHT OF ISOLATING THE CIRCUIT AND THEN RUNNING A NEW BREAKER ,BUTWHAT TECHNIQUE DO YOU USE TO FIND THE PROBLEM??

schill

wHAT PROCEDURE DOES AN ELECTRICIAN USE TO FIND THE PROBLEM.

schill

How Much Time Does It Usually Take To Find A problem Like This??

frenchelectrican

We will like to help you but one thing please do not "SHOUT" [ use the upper case letters ] in the forum in here the upper case letter sound like you are yelling at us.


Anyway let get back to this topic for a min

how long to find this troublesome connection ?? hard to say somecase it will take few minutes to find it and some case like a full day depending on how the wires were ran and what else who know it been hook up over the years.

you may have to find a electrician that have the toner that device will able track the wires where it goes and should able find a open splice somewhere along the run but only one weak link with the toners is they dont work too well with the BX cables

Merci, Marc

DIYLI

I had the same problem last year. Most of my den downstairs was out, but the breaker was on. I replaced all of the affected switches and outlets (only 6 total) and still nothing. It turned out there was another outlet upstairs on the same circuit. My wife remembered hearing a pop and burning smell weeks earlier behind the piano, but forgot to tell me. I pulled that outlet and sure enough the black wire was loose and charred without the the breaker tripping. This outlet was was used during the holidays for our Christmas village. My guess is when we removed the plugs to put away the set it jarred the outlet wire loose. I replaced the outlet and everything worked. In between all this I contacted my fire department to make sure nothing dangerous was going on behind the walls. They brought in their infared camera to check for heat sources behind the walls and gave the all clear. At least I was able to sleep at night until the problem was found and fixed.