Extg. CB Tracing

[mstrlucky74]

Curious, how long, about, does it take to trace out a circuit breaker(circuit)? Talking commercial space about 10,000 sq. ft.

 

[publicgood]

Probably not as long for a feeder. Branch circuits depend on underground, overhead, in-wall, accessible above ceilings, completeness of existing panel schedules, need for exact circuit breaker within a panel (opening equipment), if all devices need to be traced or just homerun, etc.

For lack of more information: 20 minutes to 3 days.

 

[mstrlucky74]

Probably not as long for a feeder. Branch circuits depend on underground, overhead, in-wall, accessible above ceilings, completeness of existing panel schedules, need for exact circuit breaker within a panel (opening equipment), if all devices need to be traced or just homerun, etc.

For lack of more information: 20 minutes to 3 days.

lol..ok

 

[publicgood]

lol..ok

If you have more background information or a specific case we could provide a better guess.

 

[JFletcher]

Curious, how long, about, does it take to trace out a circuit breaker(circuit)? Talking commercial space about 10,000 sq. ft.

To what end? Is the place shut down for some hours of the day?

Once did a circuit trace in a beauty shop where 3 1p breakers had been used to power their AC unit. Those circuits were jumped off of in a wire gutter below the panel to also feed other circuits. That took the better part of the day to find and correct.

Another time, we were contracted to install AFCI breakers in a college dorm with AL wiring. Breaker install took 15 minutes. Took 5 hours to find the 3 places where neutrals of other circuits were tied together causing them to trip.

Yet another time, we found a building that was initially single use that had been divided to be 3 businesses. Eventually found the lights and some receptacles of business A on business C's panel.

T&M.