Home Electrical Question

[Paulywood]

OK, need some help here guys. Last saturday we went to leave the house and when I tried to close the garage door Shelley told me that there was no power in the garage. There was power friday morning when I left for work. Well, Shelley and Parker were sick all week so I just looked at it thursday and 4 of the breakers in the gargage panel were turned off. The garage panel is a sub panel that feeds off the house. I turned the breakers on and 3 of them still had no power coming out of the breaker. I thought that something had happened to breakers so I bought new ones and replaced them yesterday morning. Still no power. I tried moving the wires to a different breaker and they worked fine. The three that don't work are the top right, top left and the 3rd one down on the left. There are a couple below each that work fine. I have lots of extra room in the panel so I put a brand new breaker in the panel in an empty slot. No power. By this time I was tired and confused so I gave up. Anyone have any ideas? Do I have to replace the panel? I would appreciate any help.

[GLF]

Check for a tripped breaker on your main electrical panel which feeds your sub panel. There are two legs of 110 feeding your panel equaling 220v. Each leg goes to every other breaker in your panel going down. It is not one leg of power on the left and the other on the right.

Odd numbered breakers are on the left, and even numbered breakers are on the right.

Breaker 1 would be first leg.

Breaker 3 will be the other leg.

Breaker 5 will be the first leg.

Breaker 7 will be the other leg.

etc

etc

etc

[Rodm]

I had a similar problem at a clients home. The detached garage was feed by a buried cable. A short piece of conduit with a 90* bend was used to route cable out of ground and into garage. After years slight movement ( freeze / thaw ) of the floating slab the egde of conduit cut into cable and shorted out one leg.

[coralee]

I agree with Mike in that it sounds like you lost power to half your panel. It could be a blown or bad half of the 220 breaker that feeds it or somewhere between that 220 breaker and the panel with the trouble. Even if the 220 breaker feeding it looks like its on, trip it all the way off and reset it is the easiest thing to try first. You (if your able, don't mess in a panel if your not capable)) can test each side of the breaker for power. You can also test inside the troubled panel to see if both sides of the 220 line coming in have power then you should have it narrowed down to where the issue is.

[Richard]

all good info above.

[mriversinco]

Is there a ground fault somewhere in the circuit? Sometimes they tie them into circuits and then put the actual gfi outlet in the basement. Check all your gfi outlets and see if one is tripped.

[Paulywood]

Thanks for the replies guys. I didn't check the breaker in the basement.

[GSPLAKOTA]

Nick,

If you have trouble finding the problem and would like some assistance I would be glad to help you out. I have taken your advise in the past from your post and reports on here and with them, I have become more successful at catching fish on Lake Michigan. SO I KIND OF OWE YOU..lol. I have an extensive back ground in instrumentation and electrical. I have been a field service tech. for the last 30 years, and worked for Powells Service in St. Louis 25 years ago. I'm not looking to get paid for my time, just looking to help out a fellow fisherman if you need it. My name is Dan Leonard, I have been a member on this site for the last 3 years.

I just live over in Alma on Rich Rd.

I can be reached on my work e-mail at [email protected]

[Rascal Trophy Fishing]

I wish I could have added something to this Nick, but, these guys really covered all the bases. I've never been on a sporting forum where if someone brought something like this up that they would get positive feedback, and to boot, a guy that will even come to your house for free and trouble shoot the problem. That tell us anything about the crew on GLF? I'd say so, the best people on earth imho.

[TAKIN IT EZ]

Ditto on what Ed said!! Rudey

[Paulywood]

Thanks for the help guys. I tried resetting the breaker in the basement and it didn't help. I haven't had time to dig into it further, I've been working 16 hours a day most of the week. I'll look into it a little closer next week when I have some time. And thanks for the offer Dan, I might have to take you up on it if I can't figure it out.