Trailer Trash Main Power Problems

AllanJ

Number of amperes you may draw is dictated by the design of the circuit -- fatness of the wires, robustness of other components, ratings stamped on components or published in their instructions, figures published in textbooks and rules such as the National Electric Code. -- and it is enforced by the fuse or circuit breaker. This question is not answered by actually turning on power let alone measuring volts or amperes.

The purpose of measuring the number of amperes to see if that many amperes now flowing is within the circuit design limit (or to satisfy your curiosity about how many amperes a particular appliance is using which may reveal a malfunction), not to see how many amperes the circuit can withstand.

If something goes wrong (in your case voltage is lost) when you are drawing amperes less than the design limit (fuse rating) then you need to stop drawing any amperes on that circuit (stop using that circuit) and fix the problem, not write down a smaller maximum amperes rating to never exceed for the time being.

As was mentioned before, when unexpected significant voltage drops are observed, there is a good chance that a loose connection is getting hot somewhere in the circuit and that might cause a fire.

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The average homeowner who lost his house in the Oklahoma tornadoes should move for good and not rebuild. Too much complexity watchdogging the contractor. Too much a chance to be defrauded.

Stubbie

Not trying to feed him ...

Just letting him know that what he is doing is not allowed no matter where he is located and he is not the professional he wants us to believe based on his statements. From what I could tell he has a basic understanding of voltage but that is about it. Unfortunately we have no way to lock a thread .. which probably should have happened here. I feel sorry for the 'chick' .... jeeeeeze.

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" One nice thing about the NEC articles ... you have lots of choices"

Stubbie

jbfan

I meant as a group, stubbie.

I'm sure he is a pro at BS.

I hope nothing happens to the place he worked on, cause he will be long gone.

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Yes I am a Pirate, 200 years too late. "Jimmy Buffett"

Stubbie

No problem and your right enough is enough.

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" One nice thing about the NEC articles ... you have lots of choices"

Stubbie

diystephen

As this has gotten a bit out of hand, I'll add a few comments and end it. You're likely to continue doing this regardless of what anyone tells you, so here's some things you need to know/understand.

Amps allowed is not dictated by any meter, it's dictated by the NEC. Keeping it simplistic #14 wire is 15 Amp and #12 is 20A. When a load is applied, and voltage drops significantly (when measured with a multimeter) then you have a connection/corrosion problem. This is electrician stuff at the most basic level. An easy way to load a 15A circuit...find a 15A vacuum. Turn it on and check voltage again.

As an FYI, it is illegal to perform electrical work on someone elses home without a license. Get yourself a decent multimeter (you can get a multimeter that measures amps, or a clamp ammeter that also measures voltage/resistance), PPE (so you don't hurt yourself), and understand that at some point you will likely get sued.

Spitfire_onme

What am I troll for now again?

Thanks Stubbie for a nice response.

I know what that light tester is putting me close to. It's not for the faint of heart. I did that just to get photos up here. It's totally scary sometimes knowing what's running, do not want to touch poop, knowing what's going on, yet I have to take photos to try and prove a point.

The problem existed with a 30amp breaker that was shot to ****e. Somehow, this 30amp, was only drawing possibly 2amps max, but I had no way of testing what the draw of power was. I was trying to fix the problem and get help on here as fast as possible.

I knew what the problem was, but wanted to just get a second opinion. Then I end up getting ****e, still not proving that that breaker is bad and what it was doing. Have to make the girl get on her bed to take photos laying on her bed while I am useing that crappy neon light thing, just to prove a point and almost kill myself, for the mocking jerks on here.

That's what i told chick. Remind me, if I ever own a trailer park, I'm putting in new boxes every time someone new moves in.

I knew I was going to be "sued" if I touched anything beyond the cord and the box. I was just running tests. It's just lame that I know more, can do more, but do not have that stupid piece of toilet paper. Am going to do that though for the reason you have suggested. At the same time, it's like what, screw it that I'm upgrading you and helping you for free. Sue me then jerk. Then the owner comes in and replaces everything, which didn't even need to be done. 15 for a new breaker and 12 for a new outlet. He replaced the box, wiring, everything outside, just because I proved it to be that bad breaker or outlet. I mean... yay, he did that for her, but what an idiot. It wasn't a sword fight. Just figure out the problem and fix it.

Spitfire_onme

I'm sorry that I wanted to help a friend out that didn't have the 400 hundred dollars just to get it diagnosed. DIY chatroom was where I went. I already knew the problem, I already knew the answer, got it fixed without frying myself, so how am I being a troll. I'm just saying the guy with the license doesn't have a clue as to what he is doing or what's going on, so frack em. Sue me.

Chick... feel sorry for her. Cuz her friend came out, figured out the problem, got it done, without any of your help but talking ****, for freaking the ten bucks I spent. Done is freezing, she's freezing, I fixed, and now I'm a troll.

Stubbie

Nope .. not what I meant ... maybe I should have said I feel sorry for her because she was freezing .. not because you were her friend trying to help.
And I'm not faulting you for that ... happens all the time friends helping friends. It's unfortunate that the owner didn't address this with some degree of priority. What confuses me and causes me to question .. is what was there to prove to the owner ? The 'chick' obviously had no means to heat due to power loss .. Since he replaced everything seems he was being responsible .. had he known in the first place maybe you wouldn't have had to spend your money.
I'm done here .. moving on ....

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" One nice thing about the NEC articles ... you have lots of choices"

Stubbie

rrolleston

Best you learn now a friend or family member will be the first one to come after you if something goes bad. The last one in that panel will be the one to blame. I don't work for family or friends because the worse thing you can do is ruin a friendship to save them a few bucks.

I used to do work for family and friends now I just suggest they find someone else because is don't mix friends/family with business.

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Please ask me about my special discount for people that shut up and stay out of my way! With Electricity there is the right way to do it and the dead way. Just because it works does not make it safe.

Spitfire_onme

To cause a little closure. What had to be proved to the owner, was that that breaker outside which she was connected to was bad. My question to you guys on this board was... if a 30amp breaker could still be running fully by only pulling 2amps. And how you could tell what the pull of that amperage was, and why it was not letting 30amps go through it. I could only go as far as like you said non-legal issues. So the way to do it, was just get a stupid adapter for her plug to fit a normal household plug which you can see that is right next to the main plug. And everything was fine. which proved to the owner that just because he was getting 110 with a cheap meter like the one in the photos, his breaker was shot to poop.

As soon as I put a breaker on and flipped it to the open position, there was NO power even on the main bar. Nothing. Freaking weird.

rrolleston

I have seen many times where you could have voltage but loose it as soon as something was plugged in. But in is not always a breaker. Sometimes an underground feed or bad connection in one of the panels was the problem.

__________________
Please ask me about my special discount for people that shut up and stay out of my way! With Electricity there is the right way to do it and the dead way. Just because it works does not make it safe.

jbberns

If you flipped it to the open position, that is why there was now power. Happens everyday, everywhere. Every light switch in my house works that same way. Weird because none of what your saying makes any sense. Sounds to me you don't need to be doing electrical work. Talking about amps and don't have a clue what amps is. Why are you asking a question when every answer that was given, you thought you knew more than they do. I doubt if we'll hear the answer to the problem because I don't think you have a clue about what it is.

AllanJ

Nitpicking.

The "open" position of a switch or breaker is the "off" position.

An open circuit is a circuit that has a break in it somewhere (could be a switch that is flipped off) and therefore current does not flow.

You can use a drawbridge as an analogy in the sense that when it is open, land vehicles cannot get across.

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The average homeowner who lost his house in the Oklahoma tornadoes should move for good and not rebuild. Too much complexity watchdogging the contractor. Too much a chance to be defrauded.

Spitfire_onme

jbbearns. I am not trying to be a jerk here. So tell me why every person comes to me to fix the problems that so called liscened people put in? Maybe I never explained it right. It was a panic situation that I was trying to help a friend out with. What I meant by flipping it to the open position. Ok, I need to slow down for you. The main power was coming in off the cord. The main power was a 30 amp breaker. Once I put on another breaker whether it was 15 amp, 20 amp, didn't matter. There was no power onto the main bar. There was no draw. There wasn't "now" power, there was none. The whole point of this original post. I don't know about amps? Why the hell did I know that the breaker outside that she was plugged into was in the on position and only drawing 1 to 2 amps through it. Answer to the problem? Already established. Rotten 30 amp breaker in the box outside. I just had to prove that to the owner before she had to pay 400 bucks for some idiot to come out and prove what I did. I thought this was a DIY chatroom, but I guess I was wrong on that one.

Time to go do some plumbing now. Oh, fix three laptops, and do some other crud.

rrolleston I kinda thought that after you mentioned it before, but it wasn't true. That was the day I ran back out there. Checked that first. Thanks for the advice though. One thing that I didn't check until then. But it was freaking freezing.

AllanJ Is that what they teach? Not trying to be a jerk, just curious. I can see the drawbridge analogy, but to me... the road is closed. Not open. If it's closed and not allowing anything through it, how is that open? eh, we will nitpick another day.

diystephen

And this would be the question of the thread. My guess is that they're really not licensed then. Happens all the time, and there's plenty of Tv shows about it. You seem like you can talk a big game, so I'm guessing that's why they come to you. A smart person knows when to draw the line.

If you indeed knew the problem was the 30 amp breaker then why didn't you replace it? This thread would be a page long, and you would have saved someone the $400 amount that repeatedly gets mentioned...