Blew my breaker, plug grounded?

[raggyb]

Damn

It can kill you is you're smart too. Gotta pay attention to what you are doing.

Always work in a panel with one hand, right hand only. This prevents electricity from going through your heart if you did accidentally touch a bus bar. Left hand and power goes thru your heart to get to your grounded feet. Both hands and power goes through your heart. So keep your left hand in your pocket not holding something grounded while working with your right hand.

A pair of gloves can also help keep you from touching a bus bar. I have often changed main breakers without pulling the meter to kill power. Doing this requires extreme attention to what you are doing but it can be done.

G-Damn! did not know that!

 

[xtsho]

Yeah I don’t feel comfortable attempting to fix this. If I do it wrong it could send the whole place into flame or kill me and my balls aren’t too big to ask for help when I need it and in this case I need that help.

to the other fellow that asked about my plants. I have them in a back bathroom that is already clear so no need for him to go in. However they’ve been without light since I made this thread.

It's electricity. If you don't feel comfortable working with it don't. Many of us do our own stuff but myself I've worked in several construction fields and have been adding plugs, running circuits, etc... for years.

I don't feel comfortable giving you any advice other than to call a professional.

Good luck.

 

[Moabfighter]

It's electricity. If you don't feel comfortable working with it don't. Many of us do our own stuff but myself I've worked in several construction fields and have been adding plugs, running circuits, etc... for years.

I don't feel comfortable giving you any advice other than to call a professional.

Good luck.

Thank you. I’ll let everyone know what happens. I’m not playing with it anymore just gonna finish tidying room up and get dude back over.
I mean if it isn’t this plug then what.....? Electrician vaguely mentioned there could be a plug under the trailer for the water heater that went bad but water heater works fine.

 

[raggyb]

@Moabfighter you said you run 2 x 800W LED lights? Is that true 800Watts or 800 "equivalent" watts which many LED makers give? Maybe that's a tough question. If so send us the model number of the QB's so someone can look it up.

But by my math if it's 1600 Watts then since P = IV then your amps are 1600/110V = 16amps (in USA). That's too much for a 15A circuit!

Like suggested above, run an extension cord under the door to a recepticle that is on another breaker and plug one of the lights into it. Make sure it's a good extension cord like 12 guage awg. The lower guage number is better so don't make mistake of getting 16 thinking 16 is better than 12!

 

[Nizza]

you should just replace all the plugs and light switches (did you check the light switches?) first, they are cheap and easy to do
use the voltage tester and make sure they aren't live and swap them out, and see if the problem goes away. It may be alot cheaper than having an electrician do it, and as far as I know you can work on your own houses electrical

@raggyb I think he said the breaker will not un-trip but I agree splitting the load across multiple breakers would be the best solution. I like to have my lights on the same circuit as my extraction fan though, so if something does trip, the lights don't stay on and overheat the room

 

[raggyb]

@raggyb I think he said the breaker will not un-trip but I agree splitting the load across multiple breakers would be the best solution. I like to have my lights on the same circuit as my extraction fan though, so if something does trip, the lights don't stay on and overheat the room

you're right I forgot that part. but if I'm right and he had 16A going, it may have been what caused the damage in the first place. So don't fix it and plug that in the same and screw it again!

I hope the wires in the wall aren't fried. You'd think the electrician would see that, but if he isn't allowed in the grow room, how is he going to test them? P.S., that's a good idea with the fans and light on same ckt.

 

[ttystikk]

So half the circuits in the house don't work, can't find anything wrong with the plug, electrician checked out the breaker box and gave it a clean bill of health.

It's just possible that you have one leg out on your 240V service. Did you ask your electrician to make sure that the power was getting into the breaker box okay?

This would explain why some circuits work and some don't. If you have an electric stove or a dryer, check to see if they work normally. If they don't, this might be your problem and that would mean it didn't have anything to do with your grow.

When you added up the total Watts on your lights and such, it didn't seem like enough to trip even a 15A/120V breaker. That's why I'm suspicious that you may have some other issue.

 

[Nizza]

So half the circuits in the house don't work, can't find anything wrong with the plug, electrician checked out the breaker box and gave it a clean bill of health.

It's just possible that you have one leg out on your 240V service. Did you ask your electrician to make sure that the power was getting into the breaker box okay?

This would explain why some circuits work and some don't. If you have an electric stove or a dryer, check to see if they work normally. If they don't, this might be your problem and that would mean it didn't have anything to do with your grow.

When you added up the total Watts on your lights and such, it didn't seem like enough to trip even a 15A/120V breaker. That's why I'm suspicious that you may have some other issue.

I thought he was only losing power in one room and losing one leg was my first thought. You will notice random shit isn't powered but wouldn't you think with the guy opening up the panel to check breakers would have checked the main feed?

 

[Nizza]

you're right I forgot that part. but if I'm right and he had 16A going, it may have been what caused the damage in the first place. So don't fix it and plug that in the same and screw it again!

I hope the wires in the wall aren't fried. You'd think the electrician would see that, but if he isn't allowed in the grow room, how is he going to test them? P.S., that's a good idea with the fans and light on same ckt.

I agree- don't keep putting that same amount of power through that circuit, hell yea!

 

[ttystikk]

I thought he was only losing power in one room and losing one leg was my first thought. You will notice random shit isn't powered but wouldn't you think with the guy opening up the panel to check breakers would have checked the main feed?

Sometimes people get tunnel vision and don't check for all the possibilities. In any case, I'm just guessing based on incomplete information provided by someone without much electrical knowledge.

 

[Moabfighter]

You guys are on this page honestly talking stuff way over my head amps and circuits etc. i can tel you, bedroom 3 is on a “15a”, and the lights my power etc was working fine at 4:45am that morning when I woke up to piss because bathroom lights worked. My ole lady woke me up about 8 said shit was wonky. My timer is set to come on at 6am. Timer flicking on had to do it.

this time last month I was running a hlg100, 4 HLG qb 132, at 70 watts each, twoHLG qb 96 at 150 watts about each, and then myexhaust fan, and multiple fans in the tent.

electrician said breaker was fine, and direction of power loss (idk how he gauges this) was towards direction of my grow room. I have no reason to believe it’s any room but my grow room because I use minimal appliances or electronics otherwise. My oven, washer, dryer, hot water heater, fridge, etc all work fine.
my overhead lights do not nor does half my plugs about. On the direction of home as grow room. Half of living room and everything to the left is A ok.

edit the breaker that won’t click back to correct position is the grow room breaker

 

[PadawanWarrior]

You guys are on this page honestly talking stuff way over my head amps and circuits etc. i can tel you, bedroom 3 is on a “15a”, and the lights my power etc was working fine at 4:45am that morning when I woke up to piss because bathroom lights worked. My ole lady woke me up about 8 said shit was wonky. My timer is set to come on at 6am. Timer flicking on had to do it.

this time last month I was running a hlg100, 4 HLG qb 132, at 70 watts each, twoHLG qb 96 at 150 watts about each, and then myexhaust fan, and multiple fans in the tent.

electrician said breaker was fine, and direction of power loss (idk how he gauges this) was towards direction of my grow room. I have no reason to believe it’s any room but my grow room because I use minimal appliances or electronics otherwise. My oven, washer, dryer, hot water heater, fridge, etc all work fine.
my overhead lights do not nor does half my plugs about. On the direction of home as grow room. Half of living room and everything to the left is A ok.

edit the breaker that won’t click back to correct position is the grow room breaker

It sounds like there's more on that circuit than just your grow stuff. I'm no electrician though.

 

[Apalchen]

It would cost you less than 10 bucks to buy a cheap tester to make sure the electric is actually off(or just flip the main breaker) and buy a new outlet, you already got far enough that you could see how all the wires are attached. Just use a screwdriver and take them off and put them back on the new outlet. The only tools you should need is a screw driver and possibly needle nose pliers if you need to rebend the loop on the end of the wires.

Outlets are like 2 dollars, I'd try that before calling an electrician, if it doesn't work your only out 2 dollars and you learned how to replace an outlet.

EDIT: if your worried you will mix the wires up. Hold the new out upright like the old one and take one wire off the old outlet at a time and nice it to the new one. That way you have no chance of mixing them up.

 

[Mak'er Grow]

It would cost you less than 10 bucks to buy a cheap tester to make sure the electric is actually off(or just flip the main breaker) and buy a new outlet, you already got far enough that you could see how all the wires are attached. Just use a screwdriver and take them off and put them back on the new outlet. The only tools you should need is a screw driver and possibly needle nose pliers if you need to rebend the loop on the end of the wires.

Outlets are like 2 dollars, I'd try that before calling an electrician, if it doesn't work your only out 2 dollars and you learned how to replace an outlet.

EDIT: if your worried you will mix the wires up. Hold the new out upright like the old one and take one wire off the old outlet at a time and nice it to the new one. That way you have no chance of mixing them up.

Its hard to say for sure, but I don't see side screws on that outlet so no screwdriver needed...strip ends and push in to back holes of the new receptacle, but yes do 1 at a time and everything should be fine.

@Moabfighter ...in your 1 pic it does look like the plug may have some damage to the top plug...is that the one you used for timer/lights?
Have you inspected the timer or plug that was plugged in there to see if it has melted or darkened around the plug pins?

Oh and an easy check would be disconnect the wires from that outlet and check to see if breaker turns on...if breaker turns on then 10 mins and $2 or so will fix it.

 

[bgmike8]

Yeah I don’t feel comfortable attempting to fix this. If I do it wrong it could send the whole place into flame or kill me and my balls aren’t too big to ask for help when I need it and in this case I need that help.

to the other fellow that asked about my plants. I have them in a back bathroom that is already clear so no need for him to go in. However they’ve been without light since I made this thread.

If we had discovered that the receptacle was burned up i think we could have walked you through a replacement job.

But now i agree. You should get a pro.
You probably dont have a meter and you dont understand the basics of electrical.
Not a knock on you. I know a guy that can build a house from the ground up and he doesnt fuck with electric. Paid me 200 just to install a 220v 30 amp circuit.
Better safe than sorry.

 

[bgmike8]

You guys are on this page honestly talking stuff way over my head amps and circuits etc. i can tel you, bedroom 3 is on a “15a”, and the lights my power etc was working fine at 4:45am that morning when I woke up to piss because bathroom lights worked. My ole lady woke me up about 8 said shit was wonky. My timer is set to come on at 6am. Timer flicking on had to do it.

this time last month I was running a hlg100, 4 HLG qb 132, at 70 watts each, twoHLG qb 96 at 150 watts about each, and then myexhaust fan, and multiple fans in the tent.


edit the breaker that won’t click back to correct position is the grow room breaker

But just fyi. If that cheap receptacle burned up, it could have caused a short. A short would be when those two wires go in there, because of the defect, they make contact together.
So if youre comfortable unscrewing or even cutting the suspect receptacle out of the circuit, using insulated wire cutters, you may be able to reset breaker.

U you just make sure the 2 wires arent touching each other

 

[Mak'er Grow]

But just fyi. If that cheap receptacle burned up, it could have caused a short. A short would be when those two wires go in there, because of the defect, they make contact together.
So if youre comfortable unscrewing or even cutting the suspect receptacle out of the circuit, using insulated wire cutters, you may be able to reset breaker.

U you just make sure the 2 wires are touching each other

?
Ah see you caught it...lol

 

[bgmike8]

?

fixed. Holy shit.

 

[Mak'er Grow]

fixed. Holy shit.

Was hoping you could get back to your post and fix it in time...lol

 

[bgmike8]

Was hoping you could get back to your post and fix it in time...lol