- Location
- Tennessee NEC:2017
- Occupation
- Semi-Retired Electrician
I recently finished a cabin final on a job that I did not rough-in. I won't go into all that details. I had every circuit working and the panel labeled, ready for final inspection when I left. HO calls the day before the scheduled inspection saying his light stopped working in his master bedroom. He said according to his plug-in tester the receptacles worked and he thinks he needs a new breaker. I told him the lights and receptacles are on the same circuit. I was about to tell him that he needed to change his light bulbs when he gave me the rest of the story. He said he plugged a space heater in and it didn't work anywhere in the room. I asked about other items plugged in and he said nothing works. I told him to check the breaker and told him how to reset it. He said it was on but nothing works, only the light on the breaker. This is an AFCI breaker and lights up temporarily when turned on. He says it isn't on and won't reset. I told him I would come as soon as I could but to reschedule his final inspection.
Now I don't know why he even told me about the light not working making it sound like that was all that wasn't working, when in actuality, nothing worked. I understood a little more when I got there. First thing I did was reset the breaker and it held. I went to the room and plugged in my tester. The lights on the tester indicated the receptacles had power with wiring correct. So I checked the switch and it had power. I thought, surely he tried new bulbs. I put in a new bulb and nothing. I then took my meter and checked the receptacles. I only read 90V and knew right off the neutral was lost. I put the meter in LoZ and checked again and got like 3V. This confirmed a lost neutral. I couldn't understand why my plug-in tester had all the lights on with a lost neutral.
This is where the fun began. I went to the panel and checked from the load side of the breaker to neutral and got 120V. I even used my pigtail socket and the bulb lit so I know it was good at the panel. I went to the room and tried to guess how the circuit was run and chose what I thought was the home run. I was doing this so I could see what might be working and go from there to see what wasn't working. I removed the receptacle and removed the conductors. Went back and turned on the circuit to see if I was right. No, so I took a few more apart until I saw which way the circuit was ran. After finding what I thought was the HR, I ended up having two boxes with a hot with all the conductors separated. So I knew it wasn't in the "daisy chain" around the room.
The only way I could have two hots was if there was a junction box somewhere. Knowing that, and the fact I didn't find any loose connections on the neutrals in the room, I went on a search for a JB. I went to the basement and sure enough there was a JB up in the floor joists right under the bedroom. I confirmed the box contained the circuits by turning on/off the breaker and checking with my non-contact tester. I removed the cover and found 4 neutrals under a wire nut. I could see one of them didn't appear to be all the way in. I pulled on it expecting it to pull out but it didn't. I took the wire nut off and saw that the one wire was barely touching. I restripped the wires and twisted them well, then put the wire nut back on. Checked the circuit and all was working.
What I think was happening was the wire was touching just enough to light the tester but not enough to carry a load. I don't know how it worked for so long then stopped unless it was from house settling or vibration. He did say it quit right after the power came back on when it had been off for a week due to an ice storm. Maybe a surge in power from all the lines down before the power went completely off caused it. Had there not been a JB, and the outlets just "daisy chained", I would have found a loose/lost neutral in a room in no time. This one took a while!
Now I don't know why he even told me about the light not working making it sound like that was all that wasn't working, when in actuality, nothing worked. I understood a little more when I got there. First thing I did was reset the breaker and it held. I went to the room and plugged in my tester. The lights on the tester indicated the receptacles had power with wiring correct. So I checked the switch and it had power. I thought, surely he tried new bulbs. I put in a new bulb and nothing. I then took my meter and checked the receptacles. I only read 90V and knew right off the neutral was lost. I put the meter in LoZ and checked again and got like 3V. This confirmed a lost neutral. I couldn't understand why my plug-in tester had all the lights on with a lost neutral.
This is where the fun began. I went to the panel and checked from the load side of the breaker to neutral and got 120V. I even used my pigtail socket and the bulb lit so I know it was good at the panel. I went to the room and tried to guess how the circuit was run and chose what I thought was the home run. I was doing this so I could see what might be working and go from there to see what wasn't working. I removed the receptacle and removed the conductors. Went back and turned on the circuit to see if I was right. No, so I took a few more apart until I saw which way the circuit was ran. After finding what I thought was the HR, I ended up having two boxes with a hot with all the conductors separated. So I knew it wasn't in the "daisy chain" around the room.
The only way I could have two hots was if there was a junction box somewhere. Knowing that, and the fact I didn't find any loose connections on the neutrals in the room, I went on a search for a JB. I went to the basement and sure enough there was a JB up in the floor joists right under the bedroom. I confirmed the box contained the circuits by turning on/off the breaker and checking with my non-contact tester. I removed the cover and found 4 neutrals under a wire nut. I could see one of them didn't appear to be all the way in. I pulled on it expecting it to pull out but it didn't. I took the wire nut off and saw that the one wire was barely touching. I restripped the wires and twisted them well, then put the wire nut back on. Checked the circuit and all was working.
What I think was happening was the wire was touching just enough to light the tester but not enough to carry a load. I don't know how it worked for so long then stopped unless it was from house settling or vibration. He did say it quit right after the power came back on when it had been off for a week due to an ice storm. Maybe a surge in power from all the lines down before the power went completely off caused it. Had there not been a JB, and the outlets just "daisy chained", I would have found a loose/lost neutral in a room in no time. This one took a while!
