[Jstimpson]

So we just framed in our basment. I wired it and landed the circuit on its own breaker. But when I was landing it in the panel my ground wire touch the heater breaker hot wire and the panel at the same time and caused a short.. it also tripped the dining room circuit, even tho that breaker was not where the contact was. Now none my heaters work, not even the one that is on a totally different circuit and breaker. But also if I plug in a space heater into one of the dining room outlets the lights will dim to the point that they're almost completely off and the heater doesn't even turn on. And if I try it on the new basement circuit both the basement lights and dining room lights and basement will dim way down and they are not even on the same breaker. Did I screw these breakers up and need to replace the or could it be one of the phase from the meter or something?

 

[brian john]

Do you have a voltage tester? Hopefully a digital multimeter?

Check the voltage at the line side of the main circuit breaker (or is there a fused main) sounds like you lost one leg, may have a bad main circuit breaker, blown a fuse or utility fuse.

But it also seems like it could be a neutral issue. A neutral issue can be a major problem as ou can lose other equipment.

You have any electricians you work with?

1. Turn off all the circuit breakers and the main (have a flash light) Line to line and line to neutral
2. Measure voltage at the line side of the main circuit breaker. Line to line and line to neutral
3. Turn the main back on test voltage on the load side of the main. Line to line and line to neutral
4. Turn the circuit breakers back on one at a time and measure voltage at each.

 

[macmikeman]

Switch your main breaker off all the way and then back on. One pole is not contacting.

 

[Meadow]

Switch your main breaker off all the way and then back on. One pole is not contacting.

Just hope he didnt blow a splice at the weather head. Unlikely but bolted faults can expose weaknesses.

 

[Edrick]

Holy dejavu batman someone else on here is having this exact problem

 

[Jstimpson]

No I thought I posted one in the wrong forum

 

[bobelectric]

How do you post with no power ?

 

[macmikeman]

How do you post with no power ?

He ran to the other side of the room

 

[99cents]

Do yourself a favor and buy a headlamp so you can work on panels dead.

 

[daveEM]

I did that once as an apprentice, or something similar. Lunch time, fully wrapped ugly green van outside. Winter. Blew the fuse out on the pole.

Utility guys took about 45 minutes to get there. Half the neighbourhood had a peanut butter sandwich for lunch that day.

 

[brian john]

I think most here MAY HAVE over stepped their ability at least once helping a family member or friend, it is embarrassing, Hopefully he works it out SAFELY.

 

[Jstimpson]

so this morning I was able to turn everything off for about 5 minutes and after turning it back on, it now works perfectly... lesson I learned, turn everything off when working in the panel..

 

[Jstimpson]

How do you post with no power ?

Cell phone Duh! haha I'm just playing not meaning to be rude just a smart ass. but anyways the only circuit that wouldn't work were the heaters and then two others. other than that the rest of the house was working perfectly. but now after being able to completely shut down the whole panel breaker by breaker for about 5 minutes everything works

 

[99cents]

Just a question, were you taught to work on panels live while on the job? If so, that's not cool. There are occasions when you have to work on them live, such as troubleshooting and when critical circuits must remain energized, but they shouldn't be teaching you laziness.