Half my kitchen where the stove is and half a bedroom are on the same two breakers 15/(15) and a 40/30/30/(40).. one of the breakers as been replaced (15/15) but nothing works unless I turn the stove on and even then the lights twitch and the stove doesn’t get very hot.. what could be the problem??
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Sounds something like this question and you should report an power outage to power company. diy.stackexchange.com/questions/190093/…– crip659Jul 20, 2021 at 2:06
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1You've likely got a bunch of problems. Let's start with: upload a picture of your electric panel. Aside from stove and other major appliances, code says you should have 2 x 20A circuits for kitchen (not used elsewhere), 1 for laundry (not used elsewhere). 15A and/or fewer circuits is often the case in older houses (by design, code requirements have changed) or where larger houses have been split into apartments, etc. But what you have right now is dangerous. Start with a picture and we'll see what we can figure out.– manassehkatz-Moving 2 CodidactJul 20, 2021 at 2:32
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Are only the lights in the bedroom affected, or is this problem happening in other places in your house as well?– ThreePhaseEelJul 20, 2021 at 2:42
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The trailer is about 30 yrs old and I don’t think any of the breakers have been changed until this week. All but two have been replaced. Two outlet in the bedroom don’t work and 3 outlets and the stove don’t work.. unless I turn the stove on then the lights come on but twitch. Nothing in the panel box is labeled.– LisaJul 20, 2021 at 2:48
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Breakers don't usually need changing, even after 30 years, unless there is (a) a problem (e.g., faulty breakers, frequent overloads, etc.) or (b) a need to upgrade to a larger panel. "All but two have been replaced" lends a lot of credence to "things were replaced but not quite right" or "wires got moved around when replacing breakers".– manassehkatz-Moving 2 CodidactJul 20, 2021 at 3:09
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2 Answers
"Half the house didn't have power" you still have that problem.
When half the house loses power, all of your breakers are OK. The problem is somewhere else. It doesn't sound like you've done anything at all to cure that problem.
Usually, the problem is up at the pole -- the service drop from the power company is whipping in the wind, and one of the hot wires gets fatigued and breaks. And usually, the power company fixes that for free.
Anyway, it's easy to "fool yourself" into thinking circuits are working again, simply by turning on a 240V load. The power will flow through the 240V load and light up the dead phase. This will make appliances seem to come back (but it'll be pretty marginal).
The way to test for this is turn off every single 240V load. It helps to understand what a 240V breaker looks like. It helps even more to understand how panels are laid out. If turning off all your 240V breakers makes half the house go dead again, then the original problem remains.
You can actually get into more trouble by replacing breakers with the wrong brand. Any given panel is only legal/safe with certain specific circuit breakers. Among the lines of 1" breakers, all of them will "seem to" interchange, and it is easy to put the wrong breaker in the wrong panel. However, they don't work properly when you do that, and they can damage the panel buses and even start a fire.
answered Jul 20, 2021 at 5:23
Harper - Reinstate MonicaHarper - Reinstate Monica
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There was a bad wire underground from the pole to the house. Thank y’all for the help!
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Thanks for the followup, and a failed direct bury splice or cable would definitely do it! Jul 23, 2021 at 0:18