faulty circuit breaker?

[peugnetl]

Hey:
I have in my home service for 120/240V w/o an equipment ground wire.
I have in the breaker box mainly all 20A breakers for the "small" stuff.
I also have two 15A breakers single, one on top of the other. As it turns out, the one on top was huming and after switching it to the off position, I got a reading of nearly 3V using a voltmeter. So I replaced it. After putting in the new 15A breaker with the correct ratings, I took another voltage reading while it was in the off position and the same thing happend. Only that this time there was no humming. Then I switched the other 15A breaker to the off position, the one below the new one, and the meter reached zero volts at the new breaker.
Does anyone has experience with this type of issue.
Thank you, Luis.

 

[caosesvida]

Re: faulty circuit breaker?

sounds like you have a circuit that is sharing a neutral. It is not uncommon to get 3v reading to ground from a circuit like that while the other breaker is on. The humming is probably coming from somewher else. You need to ground your system asap, or you will really have some problems.

 

[pierre]

Re: faulty circuit breaker?

It is also possible that the conductors are in close proximity to each other and there is some induction occurring.

Pierre