20190215 Adventures

Funny story.

Blown breaker = 11, labeled "Outside W.P. Receptacle"

This is important to remember.

So Danielle blows up half the house trying to microwave something, breaker box is checked and 11 is blown, can't get it to reset, etc etc.

Went to Lowes first thing this morning, returned the breaker that didn't fit, exchanged for the 'proper' breaker (which was still too big, but I got it in there). Got home, wrestled for a while to make things work, was happy once the breaker panel looked right. Flipped the breaker to off, wired the first outlet in and mounted it, flipped the breaker to on, and metered the second outlet. No voltage. (It was like 3VAC, which is FAR less than expected). I was confused, I stared at the wires for a few minutes, getting angry. All kinds of thoughts, like what inebriated moron wired this damn house, and I trudge back downstairs to the garage and flip it to off so I can tear apart the outlet that I just reinstalled. Do that, undo all the wires I have access to on the outlet side (shares a space with the disposal) correct the 1 neutral wire issue (they WERE tied together with a wirenut), and realize that now I have too many wires. Damn, I'm gonna have to kill the disposal switch so I can actually see all the wires and figure this out. So, back to the panel so I can start tripping breakers one by one. This means off, walk inside and up the stairs to the kitchen, flip the switch and hear the disposal start up, back downstairs into the garage, flip that one on then flip another one off, wash rinse and repeat. Last breaker had the disposal on it (which was marked on the door of the panel, where I obviously didn't look, cause I'm WAY smarter than whomever wired this house), and finally nothing happens when I flip the disposal switch. Pull that bad boy out, and it's only got 3 push in spots for wire, no lugs, no additional holes. I've no idea how it works, especially considering both wires that go into it are red. Red. I'M NOT DEALING WITH RED WIRES, WHERE THE HELL DID RED COME FROM!!!??!??!?!??! So, I put that back, the LINE neutral gets wired separate from the LOAD neutral, which gets twisted with the white that turns into a red to the switch, and remount the switch. At this point, I've got a switch that I know works on breaker 16R, which is OFF, and the outlet connected to breaker 11, which is OFF. I grab the outlet and wire the load (black) side, flip it over, grab the line neutral, AND GET SHOCKED. IT WAS SHOCKING. THE DAMN BREAKER IS OFF, WTF!!!!!!!!!!!! After calming down and not punching things, I grab my meter, and sure as shit the line wire is hot. Run back downstairs to flip breaker 11 off (how it got left on is beyond me) and my blood pressure spikes. The breaker IS off. IT'S OFF. HOW DID I GET SHOCKED.

Then it hits me.

When I was flipping the breakers trying to find the (labeled) disposal, breaker 14L was in the half position. I turned it to on. Didn't even think about it, because we weren't concerned about either side of breaker 14. This....this is all my fault. Every last bit. I didn't check the box first before moving forward.

On the very positive side of this whole ordeal, the $100 spent was far cheaper than calling an electrician. I learned a TON about the house wiring, as well as electrical wiring in general. We have a new GFCI outlet, a new outdoor outlet that hasn't worked since we moved in, and 10 new outlets on the north side of the house.