part of circuit dead

[kpster]

Hi!

we recently replaced several circuit breakers (krause-hinds panel/breakers with siemans breakers)

today i have no power to parts of a circuit that the breaker was replaced. we mapped the circuit so we know what's on it and only part of it is dead.

anyway know what the heck happened? what to do?

I'm putting in a call to an electrician/friend that took a look at our system over the summer but thought i'd see if anyone here could help me understand better!
thanks!

[Java_Bob]

maybe you have insulation under the breaker lug, or the breaker could be faulty did you check it with a volt meter??

[HayZee518]

Look for a loose neutral under a wirenut in one of the boxes. If some of your outlets are push-in "quickwire" look to those first. inside the outlet there isn't much in contact with the wire when you push the wire in. Ideally outlet wires should be fastened to the screws. Those quick wire are just a time saver for the contractor and a headache down the line.

[kpster]

thanks for the replies guys.

we tracked down the problem. when we replaced breakers, we also replaced many outlets and one switch. the outlets were so bad that plugs would fall out!

the switch we replaced was a 3 way. when removing the old one, my husband noticed it wasn't grounded so made sure to ground it when the new switch was put in.

doing a bit of detective work this afternoon, he went back to the switch and removed the ground hookup. well, that's what the problem was. everything is up and running again. he also looked at all the new outlets, breakers ect but those were fine.

can you explain this 3 way switch thing? is it normal to have only one switch (of the 3 way) grounded or is that the way it works?

i have no experience with electricity (it's my weakest DIY skill!!)

thanks again

[normel]

The ground should have nothing to do with whether a circuit works or not, the ground is simply a safety feature. What did your husband do with this "ground" he removed? Are you sure it was a ground and not a current carrying wire?

[HayZee518]

Attached is a three way switch diagram of the easiest configuration. It can be complicated depending where your feeder might be. I have run into jobs where the line and load were in the same [first] box. The line and load were in the fixture box.
The bare ground wire connects to the green screw on the switch yoke and to the box ground at all locations. The neutrals are just spliced together. The three way switch ONLY switches the HOT wire, nothing else.

[kpster]

thanks hayzee. i'll pass the diagram on to my husband. maybe he can explain it to me as i'm a moron when it comes to electricity! i'm trying to learn at least the basics tho.

all i know is that there were a lot of wires going into the switch (which was cracked in two) that we replaced. i think 5 wires which included the ground.

husband did a little on-line research later on and mumbled something about ground to neutral.... he thought he figured out why the ground wire hadn't been attached on the old switch, aside from the fact that the switch didn't work when it was.

[kpster]

Turns out I have 5 wires coming into the 3 way switch/box. There are 3 black wires, 1 red wire and 1 ground wire.

I've identified one of the black wires as the common/hot, using a multimeter. My question is, do I combo the other 2 black wires together, or should 1 of the other black wires combo with the common?

Why would they run 4 wires (plus the ground) instead of 3?

[HayZee518]

Here is a simple drawing that explains the three way switching - I'll include another diagram of what I think you have. It'll take a bit of testing but I'm sure you can figure it out.