Electrical question

[Oregonhunter5]

My very good friend could figure this out in minutes. He's a damn genius. His career was big companies calling him in stat with a major electrical issue. Anywhere in the USA. He has some seriously crazy stories.

 

[Stomper]

My very good friend could figure this out in minutes. He's a damn genius. His career was big companies calling him in stat with a major electrical issue. Anywhere in the USA. He has some seriously crazy stories.

I've seen some STUPID stuff that "maintenance" crews at hotels have done... how something's didnt catch fire, blow up, or someone getting killed.... OMG

 

[Oregonhunter5]

I've seen some STUPID stuff that "maintenance" crews at hotels have done... how something's didnt catch fire, blow up, or someone getting killed.... OMG

Yea he's seen that many times. A few times he woke up on the ground. Didn't know he was laying there for,,,,,,4-5 hours till it was all said and done.

 

[Stomper]

Yea he's seen that many times. A few times he woke up on the ground. Didn't know he was laying there for,,,,,,4-5 hours till it was all said and done.

He must have one robust ticker!

 

[Oregonhunter5]

He must have one robust ticker!

He's been around a long time. Built strong. And if you ever need a high HP engine for your muscle car he's your guy.

 

[Mikej]

Went to a rental of ours today for a tripping breaker. Breaker was hot and the wire was baked on the 15 amp ckt. I asked the guy if they were running an electric heater and they were. OK fine, I cut the wire back to clean and replaced the breaker. I put my amp meter on the ckt and it was drawing just under 3 amps. I told them to turn everything off and unplug what could be unplugged. It's still drawing 3 amps. It's a duplex and I had some dirtbags in the other side and am wondering if they were ambitious enough to go into the attic and tap into this circuit? I'm going back tomorrow to verify that all loads in the place are off. Anyone got any other ideas where this load is if I verify that everything is off? Seems like 3 amps of resistance in a connection somewhere would make itself known.

Looking forward to the rest of this story....

 

[etrain16]

I'm late to the game, just found the thread. Sounds like you already have a line on some things to look for. I'm with @ron on watching for loose connections - at switches, at receptacles and at the panel. Loose connections lead to high-resistance faults that generate arcing and heat and can cause fires. Loose neutrals at the panel are common in residential wiring and can lead to electronic devices getting fried. That 3A load is kind of odd, the best thing is to do what others have suggested, cut breakers and loads systematically until you can isolate the drain. Takes time, but you should be able to find it.

Residential wiring is the worst wiring in the electrical world in my book. Rental properties even worse as tenants sometimes take it on themselves to make modifications.

 

[Oregonhunter5]

And those GFCI breakers suck!!!!!!!!!

 

[joken]

I thought I replied to this, but must not have posted it. The loads were not all turned off and that's all it was. They thought they knew everything on that breaker as it had been tripping for a week and a half and they didn't call me.