Replies

1. 
   Sphere | Dec 14, 2007 02:48am | #1

   Sniff each outlet you all messed with, one ( or more) should smell scorched.

   Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks

   "People that never get carried away should be"

2. 
   IMERC | Dec 14, 2007 03:12am | #2

   did you run these from the breaker box or did you da a take off from an exisiting....

   do a visual to see tha all yur black wires are hooked uo to the brass screws and the white to the silver...

   you could have caused the ground to come in contact the hot side when you put the recepitical in it's box...

   at 4 recepticals... this won't take long...

    

   Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming

   WOW!!! What a Ride!
   Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!

3. 
   junkhound | Dec 14, 2007 03:17am | #3

   main fuse has tripped

   First, we need to get how, what, when , where, etc.

   a fuse does not 'trip' it blows. 

   do you have fuses or circuit breakers?

   did you daisy chain the outlets from existing outlets or add a breaker to a panel?

   some additional details will aid in troubleshootign via web. 

   Did whatever it was trip when something was plugged in or simply tripped while you were gone? 

   Most likley, you hooked a white wire to a brass screw or a green wire to a brass screw or a black wire to a silver screw.

1. 
   user-111700 | Dec 14, 2007 03:42am | #4

   thingamajiggies,geesh i gotta know what stuff is called? We took out existing outlets and replaced with new white ones.it was a color thing to start with, white being better than beige,right?Its a girl thing I guess, but I'm feeling a bit foolish about the whole thing right now.And it was a breaker not a fuse. And when I try to reset it, it won't stay . anyways , we live in Florida so we won't freeze or anything, lol

1. 
   Sphere | Dec 14, 2007 03:44am | #5

   Pull em back out and double check everything.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks

   "People that never get carried away should be"

2. 
   junkhound | Dec 14, 2007 03:49am | #6

   And when I try to reset it, it won't stay

   Ya got white, green and black wires mixed up somewhere or multiple places .

   Turn off the breaker, take'em out.  Make sure the white wire goes to the silver screw, the bare or green wire (probably a bare wire) to the hex green screw on one corner of the outlet, and the black wire to the brass colored screw,

   Never hook a white and black wire to the same side.

   If you don't have kids, turn the breaker back on while hubby is hooking up the last black wire, you may learn some new words <G>  - just kidding about turning the breaker on to give hubby some unwanted excitement.

   Good luck.

    

1. 
   user-111700 | Dec 15, 2007 03:42am | #17

   You hit the nail on the head. We had both wires on the same side. Thanks for the advise. I think I've pretty much made a few people here mad at me for not calling an electrician. My father , a long time in Heaven now, was an electrician, so I treat electricity with respect honestly. Any way thanks everybody for your responses and I love this forum. You are all wonderful guys and Merry Christmas to you all ! Now on to another adventure, I'll be back with my next dilema you can be sure of that. Thanks again Susan

4. 
   northeastvt | Dec 14, 2007 04:26am | #7

   Susan,

     Did it trip when you first turned it on , or did it trip after you had turned it on, and were at dinner? And was the beaker handle in the middle or in the off position?(after tripping...)

   Dennis

   
   

   ---

   Edited 12/13/2007 8:27 pm ET by northeastvt

5. 
   DanH | Dec 14, 2007 04:40am | #8

   It's very suspicious that the main tripped. Disconnect the circuit you were working on at the breaker panel (trip the breaker and then remove the wire from it) and see if the main will reset. If not then time to call an electrician.

   And take the suggestion to sniff around for odors of burning wires.

   If your view never changes you're following the wrong leader
1. 
   Jeff_Clarke | Dec 14, 2007 06:50am | #9

   It's time NOW to call an electrician dontcha think?   He's likely created a dead short somewhere ... you don't want him taking on panel box wiring at this point.   Susan - you should definitely avoid trying to reset the breaker multiple times because you can cause even bigger problems 

   Jeff 

   Edited 12/14/2007 12:49 am ET by Jeff_Clarke

1. 
   junkhound | Dec 14, 2007 07:00am | #10

   avoid trying to reset the breaker multiple times because you can blow the dead short (if that's what it is) open ... then you've got an open feed in your walls ...

   Can you reference any published case histories to back up that type statement???

   That is a pretty outlandish statement, esp for a 14 or 12 AWG wire with a 15 or 20 A  breaker. MY BS meter sure went off on that one.

1. 
   Jeff_Clarke | Dec 14, 2007 08:48am | #12

   fair enough ... but you've never seen someone melt a wire?  With a dead short you're OK with turning the breaker back on multiple times 'just to test it'???

   Jeff

   Edited 12/14/2007 12:51 am ET by Jeff_Clarke

1. 
   junkhound | Dec 14, 2007 09:02am | #13

   but you've never seen someone melt a wire? 

   I've exploded up to 2/0 in testing, broken 250 MCM with 4 megamp currents due to mag forces in testing in VERY controlled situations (nuclear lightning simulation, missile silos).

   I have no problem reclosing a breaker for troubleshooting a few times.  Granted, reclosing a 500 A breaker on a 4160 system more than twice would be totally dumb and indicate a lack of knowledge, but a 120 breaker at 20 A, I'd advise Susan to check the colors as stated and try at least 3 or 4 more times (but not doing in hubby by closing the breaker while he has a black wire in hand <G>?)

2. 
   Jay20 | Dec 14, 2007 07:02am | #11

   This reminds me of the movie Down Periscope with Kelsey Grammer. Either do what the communication individual had to do or be safe and call an Electrician. This is a to unsafe situation to try to tackle without basic electrical knowledge. Jay

   Edited 12/13/2007 11:04 pm ET by Jay20

6. 
   JTC1 | Dec 14, 2007 03:54pm | #14

   Susan,

   Hopefully you have followed the suggestions from Sphere and IMERC, found the problem and all is well.

   I understand that electrical terminology is not a strong point, please clarify the following statement >>.....the main fuse has tripped.....<<. Later established that this was actually a breaker.

   My question --- are you referring to the BIG breaker in the panel which shuts down the power to the whole house? or just one of the smaller breakers which only controls power to one circuit in the house?

   If the main breaker (the big one, whole house) is tripping - I would suggest you call an electrician - and point out which outlets you worked in.

   If it is just a single circuit breaker which is tripping - following the suggestions already given will find your problem shortly.

   I strongly suspect that it is only a single circuit breaker which has tripped  - if the main breaker was tripped - how would you be running your computer to post?  'Course it could be a laptop with ........"

   Good luck!

   Jim

   Edit: Pay close attention to post .16 and .17 regarding the procedure for resetting the breaker.  Not all brands reset in the same way.  The point to post .16 is that you may never have reset the tripped breaker at all.

   Never underestimate the value of a sharp pencil or good light.

   
   

   ---

   Edited 12/14/2007 4:57 pm ET by JTC1

1. 
   ravz | Dec 14, 2007 07:30pm | #15

   Pehaps the breaker won't turn back on because she hasent pushed it to off first, and then on.. I know when ive seen tripped breakers, they need to be pushed all the way to off, then back to on.

    

    

   Edited 12/14/2007 11:31 am ET by ravz

1. 
   JTC1 | Dec 15, 2007 12:52am | #16

   Excellent point.

   Not positive of Susan's level of familiarity with the care and feeding of breakers.

   Square D QO's have to be turned all the way off before they will reset - probably some other brands too.

   Cutler Hammer just flip back on.

   JimNever underestimate the value of a sharp pencil or good light.