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+-- Thread: Short Circuit Troubleshooting (/showthread.php?tid=7329968)
RE: Short Circuit Troubleshooting - FS7 - 05-05-2017
(05-05-2017, 09:12 AM)Cdshakes Wrote: Well, I guess this is a time where you're thankful for the AFCI doin its job and not burnin your house down!
It was a hard short, so a regular breaker would have worked the same, wouldn't it?
RE: Short Circuit Troubleshooting - TDKPE - 05-05-2017
(05-05-2017, 10:10 AM)FS7 Wrote: It was a hard short, so a regular breaker would have worked the same, wouldn't it?
It would, but the arc would have chewed away some metal, and resetting the breaker may allow small movement with temperature and subsequent arcing.
Not that I'm a big fan of AFCIs, especially in their present incarnations, but I don't disagree with the concept at least. Like GFCIs, they'll likely improve with future refinement, as most things do.
I was going to guess a staple was overdriven when the house was built, but what you found is worse. For the sparky >
RE: Short Circuit Troubleshooting - Snipe Hunter - 05-05-2017
(05-05-2017, 08:23 AM)FS7 Wrote: We have a winner.
Behind the access panel (which was screwed, caulked, and painted into place), there was a switch and an overhead light. The switch wiring was never pushed back into the box and I guess over time what was a millimeter between hot and ground turned into contact.
No mice, at least, so no worries in the future.
I am a home inspector and in many homes there is a light switch in the hallway that seems to control nothing. If I can see the attic hatch in the same hall, it's almost always the switch for the attic light. Glad you found it. Sometimes we forget they're there..... now, write it down in the breaker panel.
RE: Short Circuit Troubleshooting - Mr_Mike - 05-05-2017
Glad to see you found it.