Morning everyone

 

Morning ya'll....first snow of the year (2010) is falling right now and school is in session this morning. I can hear the kids now, it's not like they've had two weeks of vaction.

 

blah!! 22º out there.
at least the wind died down to 5 mph.

 

17º here and 10 mph with gust to 17 mph

 

Good FRIGID mornig everyone, -18F here. On the plus side, the kids are back in school. I love them more than anything, but 12 days straight with them will drive just about anyone mad.

 

Morning everyone.

The woman is back to work teaching today, so back to the house all by myself, and my pup of course

 

Good morning all!

I just gave notice at the current job!! Scary and exciting. I spend most of yesterday organizing, and my buddy came over and helped me move my giant armoire back in to the trailer. That thing is cumbersome by itself, but add in (up to) 40mph gusts... I'm amazed and incredibly thankful that we didn't drop it!!

2010 is starting off on a kick@$$ note for me!!

 

2010 started out not bad for me too, so far im 4 for 4 for hard heavy workout days (who needs a rest when I can run and sweat!) and yesterday on the way home from the city, I found a good jack handle in the middle of the road!

 

Good morning everyone.

 

Morning everyone! Just got my next greenie!!!!

 

Congrats on the job and the move back to CO.

Congrats on the new greenie.


I have a fun project going, finding the short in wiring in the laundry room. I was rooting around above the drop celing in the laundry room, feeling for cold air infiltration and looking for the easiest way to duct some heat into the room. I was making sure the insulation was good at the rim joist,making adjustments to where the lag bolts for the deck came through and twisted some of the insulation up. I happened to grab the piping for the AC and when I did, I got one of the better shocks I've ever had . I grabbed my voltage dectector and checked the pipes for the AC, sure enough, there's at least 120V there. I then check the celing grid, yep, voltage there too. Also, one of the wire shelves above the washer/dryer have voltage present too. I also checked the duct work in the laundry room, voltage there too, but ONLY in the laundry room, there is no voltage when I check it just outside the door. WTF!?!?!? I've checked where all the nails go through the wall to hold the L track for the celing grid, they all go into studs. I killed the AC circuit coming from the main breaker panel, still voltage. I killed the light circuit for the laundry room, still voltage. I kill the circuit for thr outlets in the living room/hall/ laundry room, BINGO no voltage present in the grid. Now, I need to start removing nails/checking for voltage until I find the leak.

Scary part is, how long has it been like this?????? I haven't installed anything in the laundry room for over 5 years.

 

I guess I'm a freak of nature. I love the cold. The colder it is the better I like it!

 

Bout the same around here.

I hope you get that electrical issue fixed. Scary.

congrats Brendan.

 

Holy Crap Mike!!

 

Well, I found the problem(s):

First, a nail that holds the L bracket for the drop celing to the wall HAD gone through a wire, apparently on closer inspection(a little drywall removal) the nail appeared to be into the stud from the laundry room side but had just grazed it, shooting it out at an angle and puncturing the wire, contacting only the hot wire. I suspect if it had contacted either the neutral and/or ground it would have instantly shorted out and tripped the breaker. Or, zapped the crap ouf of the bozo pounding the nail. I wrapped it in electrical tape and re stapled it to the stud.

Second, I go turn the breaker on and check the celing grid for voltage, IT IS STILL ENERGIZED!!! WTF is going on????? Though the grid still has voltage in it, the wire shelf doesn't. Neither does the AC piping or the duct work. Also, you practically have to touch the voltage tester to the grid to get it to go off, where as before anywhere within 6"-8" it would go off. So, get to checking around some more and apparently the light fixture is also feeding voltage into the celing grid. I confirm this by shutting off the breaker to the lights, which completely kills the voltage to the grid. I will be going shortly to get a new fixture for the laundry room. I confirmed that it is NOT in the wiring to the light, no punctures it the wiring at all, but in the fixture/ballast itself.



It really scares me to think what could have happened if I hadn't been poking around in the celing yesterday. It has apparently been this way (at least the nail through the wire) since we moved in over 6 years ago and who knows how much longer