- #1
turbo
Gold Member
- 3,165
- 56
OK, it wasn't all that fun. A few days ago, my kitchen light fixture over the sink started acting up - not working or working only intermittently. The box over the sink contains a two-up receptacle and a switch. I figured that the switch was toast, so I prepared to wire in a new one. Imagine my "surprise" when I had killed the breaker that fed the receptacles only to find that the light switch was hot. I've had hand-to-hand AC jolts before, but I don't recommend it for entertainment. Anyway, I found only 100V from hot to neutral, 20V from neutral to ground, and 120V from hot to ground. I was getting flummoxed, so I called my brother-in-law who is an electrician, and is a good troubleshooter.
We identified the breaker that controlled that light switch, and the lights and receptacles in the bathroom, and started tearing into those boxes. Finally, we found a cluster of neutrals, wire-nutted in the ceiling of the bathroom, re-connected them, and solved the problem. The circuit to the kitchen sink light was losing the reference from neutral to ground, due to an inadequate connection to neutral in the bathroom ceiling.
Today, I took a gift card from a filling-station chain to my brother-in-law as a thank-you. He protested, but accepted. I don't know what I'd do without him. I have built and repaired tube-driven amplifiers for years, but when I get into home wiring with everything hidden in boxes and behind walls, I lack the imagination to troubleshoot effectively. Plus, I make stupid mistakes, like not putting a multimeter on a switch when the double receptacle was cold. Dumb!
We identified the breaker that controlled that light switch, and the lights and receptacles in the bathroom, and started tearing into those boxes. Finally, we found a cluster of neutrals, wire-nutted in the ceiling of the bathroom, re-connected them, and solved the problem. The circuit to the kitchen sink light was losing the reference from neutral to ground, due to an inadequate connection to neutral in the bathroom ceiling.
Today, I took a gift card from a filling-station chain to my brother-in-law as a thank-you. He protested, but accepted. I don't know what I'd do without him. I have built and repaired tube-driven amplifiers for years, but when I get into home wiring with everything hidden in boxes and behind walls, I lack the imagination to troubleshoot effectively. Plus, I make stupid mistakes, like not putting a multimeter on a switch when the double receptacle was cold. Dumb!