Captorofsin1
Member
- Location
- Florida
- Occupation
- Electrical contractor
Hello everyone. Just need a "sounding board".
Qo panel.
Yesterday I was at a call. Any load on the circuit would trip the combination art fault breaker (just want to make it clear that it's not an old school AFCI).
Any receptacle I plug a lamp into and turn the lamp on it would flash and then the breaker wood trip. Same thing with the ceiling fans and the light kit on the ceiling fan. Turn on for split second and then break her trip.
Tried swapping out to a new breaker. Same scenario.
Reinstalled CAFCI breaker. Then I got the right idea of removing just the neutral (leaving hot and pigtail connected). Even with the load neutral disconnected off the arc fall breaker it would trip as soon as I turned on any lamp plugged into any receptacal on the circuit. I would flip the wall switches (ceiling fan would light kit) and same thing (motor would turn briefly and/or light would flash briefly and then arc fault breaker would trip).
*This was only when there was a load. If I had the ceiling fan (light or motor) turned off (pull strings) and turned wall switches to "on" position, it would hold. I could plug a lamp into any receptacle and as soon as I turned on lamp, breaker wood trip.
That small flash of light tells me that the circuit is finding a path back home somewhere else
*JUST TO REITERATE, THIS IS WITH THE LOAD NEUTRAL DISCONNECTED FROM THE ART FALL BREAKER*
The house appeared (as per what I saw in the panel, new receptacles, in the wiring going to the receptacle) to have been rewired in the last 10(?) years. In my professional opinion, the rewire was done by an electrical contractor. This tells me that (more than likely, but you never know
) that know neutrals were crossed anywhere. My intuition's telling me that more than likely somebody got overzealous with the staples when they were stapling the Romex and caused a break in the neutral (inside the jacket)... Fill in the blanks...
Opinions?
Qo panel.
Yesterday I was at a call. Any load on the circuit would trip the combination art fault breaker (just want to make it clear that it's not an old school AFCI).
Any receptacle I plug a lamp into and turn the lamp on it would flash and then the breaker wood trip. Same thing with the ceiling fans and the light kit on the ceiling fan. Turn on for split second and then break her trip.
Tried swapping out to a new breaker. Same scenario.
Reinstalled CAFCI breaker. Then I got the right idea of removing just the neutral (leaving hot and pigtail connected). Even with the load neutral disconnected off the arc fall breaker it would trip as soon as I turned on any lamp plugged into any receptacal on the circuit. I would flip the wall switches (ceiling fan would light kit) and same thing (motor would turn briefly and/or light would flash briefly and then arc fault breaker would trip).
*This was only when there was a load. If I had the ceiling fan (light or motor) turned off (pull strings) and turned wall switches to "on" position, it would hold. I could plug a lamp into any receptacle and as soon as I turned on lamp, breaker wood trip.
That small flash of light tells me that the circuit is finding a path back home somewhere else
*JUST TO REITERATE, THIS IS WITH THE LOAD NEUTRAL DISCONNECTED FROM THE ART FALL BREAKER*
The house appeared (as per what I saw in the panel, new receptacles, in the wiring going to the receptacle) to have been rewired in the last 10(?) years. In my professional opinion, the rewire was done by an electrical contractor. This tells me that (more than likely, but you never know
) that know neutrals were crossed anywhere. My intuition's telling me that more than likely somebody got overzealous with the staples when they were stapling the Romex and caused a break in the neutral (inside the jacket)... Fill in the blanks...Opinions?
