Troubleshooting

A Quick Primer

The Back Story

A friend called and requested some assistance with her electrical. She had moved into a new (to her) house recently and she feared the electrical had gotten the landlord/flipper special. Spoiler turns out she was right, at least to a point. And now one of the circuits in the kitchen was no longer working. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to cook in the dark but its not a pleasant experience.

So I grabbed some tools, my limited electrical knowledge, and a lot of naivety and headed her way. Here’s what I learned.

Fundamentals and Checking Assumptions

Luckily for me, I barely have more than the fundamentals worth of knowledge. So, this was a great place to start. I removed all the covers from the switch plates, identified all the lights and switches on the circuit, removed the breaker box cover, and identified my breakers.

In the process of identifying everything, I started to jot down some ideas about how I thought the circuits were likely put together based on my knowledge. There were 3 lights, 4 light switches, 1 20A breaker, and no outlets. That meant at least one three way configuration was in play.

I checked all the switches to make sure they were in an off configuration and threw the breaker. BANG-Sizzle Well, that wasn’t what I expected. A dead short on a set of switches I thought were off is going to mean a bad part or two? Let’s move on.

Dead Short: A condition in which electrical current flows where it shouldn’t without resistance, instantly tripping a breaker.

Known Good Configurations/Parts

Knowing that this issue didn’t seem to be past the switches (they were off after all), I started to look at the breakers. There were several in the box of varying ages, some unlabeled, and some that were simply not connected (like 3 30A breakers used as fillers?)

A known good 20A breaker sat right above my problem breaker, so I shut off the power and removed the load from the breaker, making sure to label it. (Mini tip: When troubleshooting, document changes made on the fly for easy reversions.) I then placed the load from my dead short onto the breaker and reset the breaker. BANG-Sizzle. Following this line of thinking, I also moved the good circuit’s load to the faulty circuit’s breaker and received the same BANG POP as before. This helped me eliminate the breaker as a source of the trouble and move forward with known good parts.

I also began to take a continuity tester and check each of the switches on the circuit. This allowed me to make sure the switches were passing current as expected.

Complex Doesn’t Mean Broken

My next thought was to begin checking the three way switch configuration. Obviously this would have to be the problem. It has the most moving parts, its the most likely to have been screwed up, and its the most daunting of the electrical work.

I spoke to my friend who informed me the three way controlled the chandelier over the table. A chandelier she hated and didn’t actually want. I started to poke around in the three way switches and noticed that the configuration (even without removing the switches) didn’t make any sense. I remembered that there was an accepted but irritating configuration for three way’s known as a California Three Way

Since we already didn’t want the chandelier, now seemed a decent time to open up the receptacle and see how it was hung. This would also eliminate the light as being part of the issue.

Removing the chandelier and opening the receptacle cover presented us with even stranger things: a set of 3 14AWG stranded wires loosely wirenutted together. The traveler wire was also stranded and included in the wirenutting. The strangest piece was that the wires didn’t start as stranded at the switches. This meant there was a junction box somewhere I couldn’t access. (Remember Flipper special.)

Know When to Get Expert Help

At this point, I’m at a loss. The switches test fine. The breakers aren’t broken. The chandelier isn’t even attached to the ceiling. Any improperly wired thing, has to be somewhere I can’t see it.

So, I called for help. A friend who taught me everything I know about electricity is my first call. I give him a run down of the problem, what I’ve tried, what I haven’t, and what I’ve found.

Ignore the Working Weird

I get hung up on the three way and the stranded cables. It’s 14AWG and I’m used to 12-2 (2 12AWG load/line wires and one 12AWG ground wire. It’s also a California three way. Something that’s rare in my limited experience. He talks me down and back to first principles. I’ve checked the switches and breakers, have I isolated the parts of the circuit?

DOH! Of course! We’re wolf hunting here!

How do you find a wolf in Alaska?

This was such a dumb question, but one I immediately knew the answer to. You find a wolf in Alaska by listening for the howl. Then cut the woods in half and listen for the howl again. Divide those woods in half, and ultimately, you’ll find the wolf.

Conclusion

I started isolating the circuits, removing the load wire from each switch, (admittedly starting with the three way).Flipping the breaker, then reattaching the wires, and moving to the next one. Finally, I ended up finding the issue, a ground wire in one of the simple circuits, a single bulb on a single switch had worked its way over time until it was touching the Load wire. It was welded in place and was easily broke loose with a flat head and pushed further into the receptacle.

Overall, this is an uninteresting story about my electrical skills, or lack thereof. But I hope you take the headers as useful advice.

1. Check your assumptions
2. Know your parts and pieces are good
3. Complex doesn’t mean broken
4. Know When to Get Help
5. Weird doesn’t mean broken
6. Hunt the Wolf (or Break the Problem into Smaller Pieces)