got a little problem with my house and would like to seek some advice.

lost power to one breaker during electrical storm last night. it will not recet. jumps off immediately. i switched the breaker in question out with a known good one.. same results. everything is unplugged from the circuit as far as i can figure.

i had some flickering and breaker tripping on that very same circuit during high draw winter months. maybe related.

oh yeah, and the house is like 1920something version (100A,) miles seem to have been easy ones. lol

no idea where to start basically. i traced some wires but i still don't have a complete picture of what's what. nothing seems out of ordinary thusfar. will have to get really creative i bet.

thanks for your

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72 W114/M130

RedMeat cartoon

You must have a hot grounded out someplace. You can check with an ohm meter. Check from the hot terminal on the breaker to the ground or neutral bar.

If that determines that you have a short circuit then you have to find where it is. What does the circuit feed? Just outlets? Lights? Major appliance?
respond back and I can give you some tips. I'm not an electrician but had rental property and have done some of everything.

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1959 Gravely LI, 1963 Gravely L8, 1973 Gravely C12
1982 380SL
1978 450 SEL 6.9 euro restoration at 63% and climbing
1987 300 D
2005 CDI European Delivery
2006 CDI Handed down to daughter
2007 GL CDI. Wifes

First find out what that circuit powers anything that is connected to that circuit. If nothing is connected and it is still flashing you need to start at one end of the circuit and move until you find the short.

You house is likely Knob And Tube which a real PIA. BUT if you have older switchs they can cause the problem you describe but it sound like a motor is pulling a heavy load.

It maybe grounded but it sounds like a load issue, if you have devices plugged into the circuit your ohm meter will fool you so don't let that lead you to the wrong conclusion. Do you have a sump pump? You should really use an Amp Probe to see if it is pulling a load.

thanks for quick responces. no one thing drawing a heavy load, just too many things on the circuit and only too much when i had electric heaters plugged in this winter. right now two overhead lights, and many (6+) wall plug-ins. it's mostly my front room but a few outlests in the other adjacent rooms are on that circuit and so is part of the basement. upstairs, where it seems the front room is supplied from, all the wires are separate as in one wire (+) and then another wire for the (-)

will have to try to make sure everything i can think of is unplugged for sure and then give it a try with the multi meter if i can even located it right now. lol

mm, i am thinking that if it is grounded somewhere then it would seem like a load issue too, no?

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72 W114/M130

RedMeat cartoon

Better fix it before the World Cup.

Sorry, hope it's a simple fix. Wish I could help.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

You need to determine if it's load related or a short.

Remove every single device from all outlets in the circuit. You must be positive about this. It's the only way to positively rule out a short.

Make sure the breaker is off.

Connect an ohmmeter to any outlet on the circuit and see if there is continuity between + and -. With all devices disconnected, there should be no continuity between these two lines. However, if you are not careful, and any devices remain in the circuit, it will show continuity and you will not have a valid conclusion. Switched devices, such as lightbulbs, will not affect the test.

If you can get to the point where there is no continuity between + and -, then the problem is load related. Flip the breaker on and start adding things back onto the clean circuit until the breaker trips. Now you have found your culprit.

If you can't get to this point, then it's more difficult and you have to start disconnecting wires within the walls to attempt to find the short. This is the worst (but also the least likely) scenario.

Everything is related to ground but technically a bad device is a load issue. Make sure you take the light bulbs out. if it were me I would that the switches on the circuit apart first then the receptacles. Start with the box closest to the panel and work your way out. if this happend while it was raining I would check any outdoor lights first.

and be careful a multimeter without true rms will pick up inductive current and give you goofy readings.

One other thought when you disconnect the line from the panel check the voltage of the disconnected line because you may have a double feed.

No need to remove the lighbulbs if they are switched.

Unless you are thinking of a switch failure??

If you can't energize the circut... (breaker keeps tripping) ~cut the power to the breaker pannel and ~pull the wires for that circut, and start your testing right there. You'll have to follow wires and tear into a few walls most likley... I would be looking for damaged wires or bad switches/outlets you know are on it... maybe pull your lighting and reinstall... good luck.

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-Marty

1986 300E 220,000 miles+ transmission impossible
(Now waiting under a bridge in order to become one)

Reading your M103 duty cycle:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/831799-post13.html
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/831807-post14.html

Yea old switches suck and they switched with the nuetral sometimes in the old days.

thanks guys.. looking for tools and then i'll fish a little more. mind you the house is old so are the wires. there are hardly any boxes here.. most of the junctions upstairs that i was able to find were just tapped and taped. everything else is in the walls. i'll report back with any new findings.

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72 W114/M130

RedMeat cartoon

I've done a lot of electrical repairs on old buildings and from your description,I bet you got the hot wire overheated from a high amp draw,then it melted insulation some where along the line,and the hot wire is either touching the neutral or ground,if you even have a ground with that old of electrical.Best way to check that is make sure everything is unplugged,all light bulbs removed,then check for continuity between neutral and hot line when both for the same circuit are disconnected from the fuse/breaker box. To do this accurately tho,got to make sure there are no loads at all on the circuit.Another thing I have seen is outlets shorted internally.That will drive any electrician batty.

It honestly sucks to be you, when I had the electrical company I kept a 70 year old fart master around just to troubleshoot old houses when he quit I quit dealing with old houses.

Yep, I sympathize. This house was built in 1921 and they certainly did not use any wire nuts back in those days.

Boxes are few and far between........I'm sure that there are taped connections in the walls.

I replace it........gradually.

Fortunately, it's not knob and tube..........although........at one time in it's past........this was definitely the situation.