Faulty breaker?

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JWelectric

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I have given you answers that I think would be appropriate for what I have judged your knowledge which I only have your post to go by. I gave these answers based on over 40 years of experience in the electrical trade, over 11 years of classroom instruction, my involvement with associations such as the IAEI, NFPA, NCDOI, NCBEEC as well as the committees on which I sit.

At this point I think it best to just wait and let others answer some of your questions. I do not want to discourage anyone posting their electrical pictures and would hope that when they do asking questions they are willing to take the criticizing of the picture as well as the bragging.

With this I leave you to do as you see fit but I can’t help but wonder just how long the installation lasted in every home I see burned to the ground and the poor old people losing everything the own to an electrical fire.
 

Drick

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>>Bless his kind heart Drick was trying to be polite but made an error on the grounding conductor.

And what error would it be that I made?

-rick
 

julesy

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I believe he was referring to the comment about running a separate ground wire to the sub panel, at the start of post #17, I have included it below


The NEC mandates that ALL conductors of a circuit be in the same raceway or cable that carries the ungrounded (hot) conductors so to install one conductor by itself would be a code violation.
 

JWelectric

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300.3 (B) Conductors of the Same Circuit. All conductors of
the same circuit and, where used, the grounded conductor
and all equipment grounding conductors and bonding conductors
shall be contained within the same raceway, auxiliary
gutter, cable tray, cablebus assembly, trench, cable, or
cord, unless otherwise permitted in accordance with
300.3(B)(1) through (B)(4).

In either of these other mentioned sections the length is limited to 6 feet and it must be ran with the cable or raceway.

To simply say run a conductor between two metallic enclosures would not be correct.
 

julesy

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Thanks for the help i received in this forum. I just wanted to give an update on the topic.

There was nothing wrong with the breaker. As a number of you suggested, it was two circuits that had been connected together. It was in a closet light junction box, tucked away. I was able to correct that.

I went ahead and installed a new main panel and all new breakers. I feel much more comfortable with it now. As for the sub-panel. I plan on removing that also. I will most likely remove it completely and just run new circuits directly to the main panel. The reason why I don't want to keep it and just use it as a junction box, is that none of the circuits are grounded, and in the long run, all new wiring with proper grounding would make me feel more comfortable in the house. I also want to determine the loads on each and probably separate them in a more sensible fashion. Also, some of the circuits that are grounded in the house, use a ground that is too small based on 250.122, so they will be addressed.

I ran a new circuit for my bathroom which was the initial problem which has led to much more work than expected, but I think it is worth it.

As much as I didn't want to do all this extra work for one *little* circuit, thanks to those who insisted it should be done correctly.
 
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DonL

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Hello julesy,

I was glad that you came back with an update.

So did you get an electrician to do the work, or were you able to DIY ?

Just was wondering.

Sometimes when we see electricians doing the work half-butt , it makes you think how they got a licenses.

Not all electricians are created equal, Nor are the the people that want too DIY.

I have a big respect for Electric power, It is nothing to play around with. But You can not be scared of it either.

Have a great day.

DonL
 

julesy

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Hi DonL,

I performed all the work myself. I did have a friend who is an electrician take a look at it once complete and he was happy with what I had done.
 
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